2 Samuel 14:18 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Then the king answered the woman, "Do not hide from me anything I ask you." And the woman said, "Let my lord the king speak."

NIV: Then the king said to the woman, "Don’t keep from me the answer to what I am going to ask you." "Let my lord the king speak," the woman said.

NASB: Then the king answered and said to the woman, 'Please do not hide anything from me that I am about to ask you.' And the woman said, 'Let my lord the king please speak.'

CSB: Then the king answered the woman, "I’m going to ask you something; don’t conceal it from me!" "Let my lord the king speak," the woman replied.

NLT: I must know one thing,' the king replied, 'and tell me the truth.' 'Yes, my lord the king,' she responded.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not hide from me anything that I ask you.” And the woman said, “Please, let my lord the king speak.”

Like a good actor, the wise woman from Tekoa fully committed to the role Joab gave her. She spoke as if she were a widow and the mother of a murderer. She has also illustrated to the king, without saying so explicitly, that pardoning Absalom and bringing him home to Jerusalem would not only be a good for Israel, but it would be consistent with the character of God (2 Samuel 14:1–17).

But David seems to see through the performance. He demands truth no matter what he asks her. She agrees. He asks if Joab is behind her performance (2 Samuel 14:19).

She had flattered David for his wisdom before (2 Samuel 14:17). When the truth comes out, she intensifies her praises. David's exactly right. It's all Joab. Joab told her what to say (2 Samuel 14:19). It's Joab's agenda. David must have the "wisdom of the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth" (2 Samuel 14:20). David is the messenger of God's truth and will.

We're not sure why she speaks like this. She's probably afraid of how David will respond when he learns she's been lying to him. She's not a widow whose son killed his brother. Her kinsmen are not trying to execute her husband's only heir. She convinced David to pardon a murderer who doesn't exist for the sole purpose of convincing him to pardon his son the murderer.

The text doesn't say if David responds to her, but he does speak to Joab. Absalom can come home (2 Samuel 14:21).

Second Samuel 14:12–20 records David's realization that he's being manipulated. Joab sent a woman to ask David to pardon her son for murdering his brother; David agrees (2 Samuel 14:1–11). She pivots and tells David to forgive his own son, Absalom, for killing his brother Amnon. David recognizes Joab's hand in the situation but agrees to bring Absalom home from exile. Absalom takes the opportunity to win the people's loyalty and conspire to take the throne (2 Samuel 15).

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.