Joab’s Subterfuge

As we noted in yesterday’s study, David’s true attitude toward his fratricidal son Absalom is difficult to discern. Is he filled with longing to reach out to him as a loving, forgiving father, or does he want to pursue him as a king establishing justice? Chapter 14 seems to support the latter option, as we will see.

For reasons that are not made clear, David’s army commander, his nephew Joab, wants to see the breach between David and Absalom resolved. Commentators speculate that he believes the situation presents a danger to the nation, that David’s stubborn refusal to allow Absalom to return is making Absalom so resentful that he might attack from Geshur or rebel if he ever does come home. Such speculation may rely too heavily on Scripture’s accounts of what happens next, thereby crediting Joab with more political prescience than he actually possesses. But in any case, it seems clear that Joab has been pleading Absalom’s cause before the king, to no avail. So he now resorts to subterfuge to get David’s agreement for Absalom’s return.

Joab finds a “wise woman,” instructs her to go to David in the guise of a woman in mourning, and tells her exactly what to say. Her story, like Nathan’s (ch. 12), is basically a parable designed to induce the king to act on his own principles. Approaching David in a deferential fashion, the woman explains that she is a widow who had two sons until they had a disagreement and one killed the other. She, the dead son’s closest relative, is not desirous that the surviving son should be put to death for his crime. But her extended family is insisting on the death penalty, improperly applying the law because, as they freely admit, they want to get rid of him so that his inheritance will go to them. If this happens, the woman complains, she will be bereaved and her husband’s line will be ended.

David promises to look into the case and hand down a decision. But the woman isn’t satisfied with that—she wants a ruling right away, and she states that she is willing for God to hold her accountable if she has misrepresented her case. David then promises protection for her, but she presses him again to guarantee the safety of her son, asking him to issue a pardon and seal it with an oath. And David does so. He does not know it, but he has just stepped into Joab’s snare.