Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of 2 Samuel
Chapter 14: That His Banished Be Not Expelled From Him
Joab schemes to bring the exiled Absalom home, sending a wise woman with a parable that wrings from David a great gospel truth: God 'doth devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.' Yet David's own reconciliation with his son is half-hearted, brought home but kept at arm's length, and the unhealed breach will fester into rebellion.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of 2 Samuel chapter 14. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Chapter 14 turns on one of the great gospel sentences of the Old Testament, even as it records a flawed, half-hearted reconciliation. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
The Wise Woman of Tekoah (2 Samuel 14:1-11)
Joab sends a wise woman with a staged plea, drawing from David a pledge to spare a condemned son.
There Shall Not One Hair of Thy Son Fall
"Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom. And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead: And come to the king, and speak on this manner unto him. So Joab put the words in her mouth. And when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king. And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead. And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and slew him. And, behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth. And the king said unto the woman, Go to thine house, and I will give charge concerning thee. And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house: and the king and his throne be guiltless. And the king said, Whosoever saith ought unto thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more. Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth."
Word Study
"a wise woman," Hebrew ishshah chakamah (אִשָּׁה חֲכָמָה), "a woman of wisdom, skill, discernment." Joab, perceiving David's longing for Absalom, employs a "wise woman" (ishshah chakamah) of Tekoah to move the king, much as Nathan once used a parable, though Joab's motive is politics, not righteousness. She feigns a case parallel to David's: a widow with two sons, one of whom killed the other, and now the avengers of blood demand the survivor's life, which would leave her utterly bereft, quenching her "coal which is left." Her staged appeal draws David step by step into pledging protection for the condemned son, culminating in a solemn oath, "there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth." It is a clever trap: David, moved to mercy for a stranger's son, is being maneuvered to grant the same to his own. The scene shows both the power of a well-framed appeal and the danger of judging a case before knowing its true bearing. Wisdom can be bent to serve an agenda; the same skill that Nathan used for God's purposes, Joab here uses for his own.
Explanation
Joab reads David's heart: the king longs for his exiled son Absalom but cannot bring himself to act. So Joab arranges a piece of theater. He coaches a wise woman of Tekoah to come before David disguised as a grieving widow with a legal dilemma. Her (fictional) surviving son, having killed his brother, is now demanded by the family's avengers of blood, but his death would leave her without heir or name. She pleads, and David, moved, promises to protect the young man, first vaguely, then, pressed further, with a binding oath in the name of the LORD: "there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth." Only now, having secured the principle of mercy for a bloodguilty son, is she ready to spring the application. David has, unknowingly, judged his own case.
Gospel Focus
The wise woman's parable, like Nathan's, gets past the king's defenses by leading him to rule on a case before he sees it is his own. It reminds us how easily we judge in the abstract what we resist in the personal, and how our own words can come home to us. But it also raises the question this chapter will press: mercy is good, yet mercy must be joined to truth and justice, or it becomes mere sentiment. David is being moved to spare a son; the question is whether it will be a righteous reconciliation or a papered-over breach. The wisdom of God alone holds mercy and justice together, and it is that very holding-together that the next section will unveil in one of Scripture's greatest gospel sentences. For now, note the power and the peril of persuasion: words can move a king to mercy, but only God's own means can make mercy and righteousness kiss (Psalm 85:10).
God Devises Means for the Banished (2 Samuel 14:12-20)
The woman applies her parable, uttering a profound truth: God devises means that His banished be not expelled from Him.
Yet Doth He Devise Means
"Then the woman said, Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on. And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished. For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid. For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be with thee. Then the king answered and said unto the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak. And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, As thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid: To fetch about this form of speech hath thy servant Joab done this thing: and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth."
Word Study
"he devise means," Hebrew chashab machashabot (חָשַׁב מַחֲשָׁבוֹת), "he devises devices, plans plans." Here is the jewel of the chapter, spoken almost in passing yet reaching to the heart of the gospel: "neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means (chashab machashabot), that his banished be not expelled from him." The woman's point is that God is both just, "no respecter of persons", and merciful, devising a way to bring back the banished. Though her aim was Absalom's return, the words soar far above their occasion. They describe the great problem of redemption: how can a holy God, who by no means clears the guilty, bring back the banished sinner without denying His own justice? And they announce the answer: God devises means. That devised means is the cross of Jesus Christ, where "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Psalm 85:10), where God is "just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). The banished are not merely pardoned by a wink at sin; God has planned a way to bring them home that fully satisfies His justice. Our whole salvation is a means devised by God so that His banished ones need not be expelled from Him.
Explanation
Having secured David's oath of mercy, the woman applies the parable: why then does the king not "fetch home again his banished" son Absalom? She reasons that life is short and death final, "we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground", and that even God, though no respecter of persons, devises means to bring back the banished. The argument moves David. He then discerns the hand behind the scheme, "Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this?", and the woman admits Joab framed the whole appeal. David, flattered as one wise "as an angel of God," is persuaded. The scene is a mixture: a manipulative plot by Joab, yet carrying, in the woman's words, a truth deeper than she knew, that God finds a way to restore the banished. Human scheming and divine truth run side by side.
Gospel Focus
"Yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him." No sentence in this dark stretch of Scripture shines brighter. Since Eden, man has been the banished one, driven out from God's presence by sin, "as water spilt on the ground," beyond our own power to gather up. And God, the offended Judge who "will by no means clear the guilty" (Exodus 34:7), could not simply overlook it. So He devised means. The whole plan of redemption, the promised Seed, the tabernacle and its blood, the coming of God Himself in flesh, the cross, the empty tomb, is the means God devised so that His banished ones might come home without His justice being set aside. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). At Calvary, mercy and truth met, and the door was opened for every exile to return. If you feel yourself banished, spilt out, beyond recall, hear it: God has devised the means. In Christ the banished come home, and are not expelled, but embraced.
Absalom Brought Home, Yet Kept Away (2 Samuel 14:21-33)
David lets Absalom return but refuses to see his face, and the incomplete reconciliation breeds fresh resentment.
Let Him Not See My Face
"And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again. And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, To day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant. So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house, and saw not the king's face. But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year's end that he polled it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's weight. And unto Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a fair countenance. So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king's face. Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king; but he would not come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he would not come. Therefore he said unto his servants, See, Joab's field is near mine, and he hath barley there; go and set it on fire. And Absalom's servants set the field on fire. Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire? And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto thee, saying, Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Geshur? it had been good for me to have been there still: now therefore let me see the king's face; and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me. So Joab came to the king, and told him: and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom."
Word Study
"let him not see my face," Hebrew panai lo yireh (וּפָנַי לֹא יִרְאֶה), "and my face he shall not see." David's reconciliation is only half done: "bring the young man Absalom again," but "let him not see my face." To be denied the king's face is to be near yet estranged, home but not welcomed, pardoned in place but not in fellowship. It is the worst of both worlds, and it breeds resentment rather than healing it. Two full years of this festering distance produce not repentance in Absalom but a proud impatience that will soon flower into rebellion. The chapter also lingers, tellingly, on Absalom's flawless outward beauty, "no blemish in him", and his glorious hair, while his heart is rotten with pride and ambition; a warning against judging by appearance (1 Samuel 16:7). Half-forgiveness is a dangerous thing. It stands in stark contrast to God's full reconciliation in Christ, in whom the banished are not merely allowed back into the country but brought face to face, "we... beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18), for God "hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Explanation
David agrees to bring Absalom back, and Joab fetches him from Geshur. But the reconciliation is grudging: Absalom may live in Jerusalem, "but let him not see my face." For two years Absalom is home yet estranged, near the throne but barred from the king's presence. The writer notes his celebrated outward beauty and his famous heavy hair, hints of the vanity and pride beneath. Frustrated at Joab's refusal to help him gain an audience, Absalom sets Joab's barley field on fire to force his attention, a glimpse of his ruthless will. At last Joab arranges the meeting, and David kisses his son. But the long, cold estrangement has done its damage. What looks like reconciliation is only its shell; the breach was never truly healed, and Absalom's heart, unhumbled and resentful, is already turning toward the rebellion of the next chapter.
Gospel Focus
David's half-reconciliation is a warning and a foil. To bring the banished near but refuse him your face is not true restoration; it heals nothing and breeds fresh bitterness. How different is the reconciliation God devises in Christ. He does not merely tolerate the returning sinner at a distance; He brings us face to face, "made us accepted in the beloved" (Ephesians 1:6), granting us to behold "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." There is no half-forgiveness with God; when He reconciles, He embraces fully, seats us at the table, calls us sons. And the chapter's dwelling on Absalom's flawless exterior over his rotten heart warns us again that "man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). Beware admiring the beauty that hides pride; and beware, in your own dealings, the grudging, face-withholding "forgiveness" that is no forgiveness at all. Forgive as God in Christ forgave you, fully, warmly, face to face (Ephesians 4:32).
Chapter 14 in Review
2 Samuel 14 turns on Joab's scheme to bring the exiled Absalom home. He sends a wise woman of Tekoah with a staged parable that draws from David an oath of mercy for a condemned son, and then applies it to Absalom, uttering in the process one of Scripture's great gospel sentences: God "doth devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him." David, perceiving Joab's hand, agrees to bring Absalom back, but grants only a half-reconciliation, home in Jerusalem yet forbidden the king's face for two full years. The estrangement festers, Absalom burns Joab's field to force a meeting, and at last David kisses him, though the breach is not truly healed.
For the Apostolic reader, the chapter's brightest word is that God devises means to restore the banished. Since Eden man has been the exile, spilt out beyond his own recall, yet God, who by no means clears the guilty, has planned a way, the cross of Christ, where mercy and truth meet, so that His banished ones come home without His justice being denied. Against this shines David's flawed, grudging reconciliation as a warning: half-forgiveness that keeps the restored at arm's length heals nothing. God's reconciliation in Christ is full and face to face, and He calls us to forgive as fully as we have been forgiven.
- God "doth devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him", the gospel of the cross in a sentence.
- God is both just, "no respecter of persons", and merciful; the cross holds both together.
- David's half-reconciliation, home but "let him not see my face," healed nothing and bred resentment.
- Absalom's flawless beauty hid a rotten heart; "the LORD looketh on the heart," not the outward appearance.
Questions for Reflection
- Do you know yourself as one of God's banished, brought home by the means He devised in Christ?
- Is there a reconciliation in your life that is only half done, near but face withheld?
- Do you forgive fully and face to face, as God in Christ forgave you, or grudgingly and at a distance?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The wise woman's parable; mercy joined to truth: 2 Samuel 14:1-11; Psalm 85:10.
- God devises means for the banished; the reconciling cross: 2 Samuel 14:12-20; Exodus 34:7; Psalm 85:10; Romans 3:26; 2 Corinthians 5:19.
- Absalom's half-reconciliation; God's full acceptance; the heart, not the appearance: 2 Samuel 14:21-33; Ephesians 1:6; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 4:6; 1 Samuel 16:7; Ephesians 4:32.