2 Samuel 14:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Then she said, "Please let the king invoke the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood kill no more, and my son be not destroyed." He said, "As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground."

NIV: She said, "Then let the king invoke the Lord his God to prevent the avenger of blood from adding to the destruction, so that my son will not be destroyed." "As surely as the Lord lives," he said, "not one hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground."

NASB: Then she said, 'May the king please remember the Lord your God, so that the avenger of blood will not continue to destroy, otherwise they will destroy my son.' And he said, 'As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.'

CSB: She replied, "Please, may the king invoke the Lord your God, so that the avenger of blood will not increase the loss, and they will not eliminate my son!" "As the Lord lives," he vowed, "not a hair of your son will fall to the ground."

NLT: Then she said, 'Please swear to me by the Lord your God that you won’t let anyone take vengeance against my son. I want no more bloodshed.' 'As surely as the Lord lives,' he replied, 'not a hair on your son’s head will be disturbed!'

KJV: 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.

NKJV: Then she said, “Please let the king remember the Lord your God, and do not permit the avenger of blood to destroy anymore, lest they destroy my son.” And he said, “ As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”

The woman from Tekoa makes her final, impassioned plea that David use all his authority as king to spare the life of her son. David fully agrees to do so. She asks that David speak from his position as the one anointed king by the Lord, and to command that the avenger of blood be ordered not to destroy her son.

The avenger of blood was an official position described in the law of Moses (Numbers 35:16–28). He was tasked with finding and killing a person found guilty of murder. The avenger may have been a member of the clan or hired by the clan to carry out the assignment. This method served to stop families from escalating revenge against each other in an ongoing feud. In this woman's case, the motive of such a clan may have been to free the clan from the guilt of allowing a murderer to walk free. In other words, the woman was asking for David to rule against precedent and the strong feelings of some in her clan. David agrees, taking an oath on the existence of the Lord that her son would be spared and not even harmed. He states his willingness to use his authority as king to overcome all objections and save her son.

Yet the woman's story and request are all fiction. These are traps designed to get David to use his authority as king to pardon Absalom and spare him from the death penalty for murder. The woman will finally reveal this, at least partly, in the following verses.

David's comment that "not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground" is foreshadowing, as is a later description of Absalom's thick, luxurious hair (2 Samuel 14:26). When Absalom returns, will drive David out of Jerusalem, sit on David's throne, and take David's concubines on the roof of David's house (15:1–31; 16:15–23). Absalom will only be caught when his lush hair gets tangled in a tree branch. Joab finds him dangling helplessly and, ever loyal to David, kills him with javelins. Absalom dies as he hangs, with no hair dropping to the ground (2 Samuel 18:9–15).

The woman presses David to swear to God. This resembles the Legion of demons who cried out to Jesus, "I adjure you by God, do not torment men" (Mark 5:7). It's a powerful request. Jesus refused. David gives in.

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).