2 Samuel 14:10 - Printer Friendly

ESV: The king said, "If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall never touch you again."

NIV: The king replied, "If anyone says anything to you, bring them to me, and they will not bother you again."

NASB: So the king said, 'Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you anymore.'

CSB: "Whoever speaks to you," the king said, "bring him to me. He will not trouble you again!"

NLT: If anyone objects,' the king said, 'bring him to me. I can assure you he will never harm you again!'

KJV: And the king said, Whosoever saith ought unto thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more.

NKJV: So the king said, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you anymore.”

Joab, David's nephew and the commander of his army, wants to help David focus. After David's son Absalom murdered his brother Amnon for raping their sister, Absalom fled to his maternal grandfather, the king of Geshur. It's been three years, and David's grief for Amnon has changed to longing (2 Samuel 13). Joab believes it's time for Absalom to come home.

Joab enlists the help of a clever woman from a nearby town. She dresses like a mourning widow and tells David that her husband died, and then one of her sons killed the other. Her clansmen want to execute her remaining son, leaving her husband without an heir. David agrees to think about it. To pardon a murderer is difficult in the face of God's laws (Genesis 9:6; 2 Samuel 14:2–9). It overrides the authority of the local town elders. When she offers to take his guilt, he tells her that if anyone has a problem with the stay of execution, they can come to him.

The woman pushes a little further and get what she wants: David promises her son will not be killed (2 Samuel 14:11). Now she can reveal her true purpose. If David can forgive a murderer he's never met, surely he can bring his own son Absalom back from exile (2 Samuel 14:12–13). Through her manipulative words, David recognizes Joab's direction. She admits Joab put her up to the charade, and David tells Joab to bring Absalom back to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 14:18–21).

Second Samuel 14:1–11 describes Joab's effort to convinces David to bring Absalom home. David is distracted by thoughts of Absalom, his son, currently in exile for killing his own brother. Joab believes this continued absence is bad for Israel. He arranges for a woman to tell David a story of family violence and murder. This ends with a lesson about the goodness of forgiveness. David agrees to her premise, and she challenges him to apply it to his own situation (2 Samuel 14:12–17).

Second Samuel 14 sets the scene for Absalom's rebellion against David. Joab wants David to forgive Absalom for murdering his brother and end his exile. Joab has a woman pretend to be a widow, who tells a story about a murderous son to convince David to pardon his own son. David brings Absalom home to Jerusalem, but not to the court or family. Joab eventually convinces David to see Absalom and the two are officially reconciled. With freedom, status, and ambition, Absalom starts a campaign to draw the people's hearts away from David and toward himself (2 Samuel 15:1–6).

Second Samuel 14 continues God's promise that tragedy will plague David's family. This is a curse for David's sin against Uriah and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:9–11). David's son Amnon raped his own half-sister Tamar. Tamar's full brother Absalom avenged her by killing Amnon, then fled to his maternal grandfather (2 Samuel 13). David thinks about Absalom, and Joab convinces David to bring him home and reconcile with him. Absalom wins the hearts of the people and takes the throne while David flees. Eventually, Absalom will be dead, and David will be a chastened man and wiser king. (2 Samuel 15–20).

Second Samuel continues the story of David, who will become king over Judah. The other tribes of Israel are resistant, eventually sparking a civil war. David wins and makes Jerusalem his capital. Early success is followed by moral failure and controversy in David's house. The book of 1 Kings will begin by detailing David's decline and death.