2 Samuel 14:26

_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._ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THESE VERSES....

25-27 Nothing is said of Absalom's wisdom and piety. All here said of him is, that he was very handsome. A poor commendation for a man that had nothing else in him valuable. Many a polluted, deformed soul dwells in a fair and comely body. And we read that he had a very fine head of hair. It was a burden to him, but he would not cut it as long as he could bear the weight. That which feeds and gratifies pride, is not complained of, though uneasy. May the Lord grant us the beauty of holiness, and the adorning of a meek and quiet spirit! Only those who fear God are truly happy....

Verse 2 Samuel 14:26. _WHEN HE POLLED HIS HEAD_] Not at any particular period, but when the hair became too heavy for him. On this account of the extraordinary weight of Absalom's hair, see the observations at the end of this chapter. 2 Samuel 14:30....

TWO HUNDRED SHEKELS ... - The exact weight cannot be determined. If these “shekels after the king’s weight” were the same as “shekels of the sanctuary,” the weight would be about 6 lbs., which is incredible; “twenty” shekels is more probable....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 14:1 THE KING'S HEART WAS TOWARD ABSALOM. Again there is a diversity of view as to the right rendering. The preposition does not usually mean "toward," but "against," and is so rendered in 2 Samuel 14:13. The whole phrase occurs again only in Daniel 11:28, and certainly there implies enmity. The whole attitude of David towards Absalom is one of persistent hostility, and, even when Joab had obtained his recall, for two full years he would not admit him into his presence. What has led most commentators to force the meaning here and in 2 Samuel 13:39 is the

AND WHEN HE POLLED HIS HEAD,.... Or cut off the hair of it; for that was one thing, a good head of hair which he had, that made him look very comely and beautiful: FOR IT WAS AT EVERY YEAR'S END THAT HE POLLED [IT]; or cut it off once a year; but the Jews say w he was a perpetual Nazarite: BECAUSE [THE HAIR] WAS HEAVY UPON HIM, AND THEREFORE HE POLLED IT; it grew so very thick and long in one year's time, that he was obliged to cut it; and what might add to the weight of it, its being oiled and powdered; and, as some say, with the dust of gold, to make it look yellow and glistering: HE WEIGHED THE HAIR OF HIS HEAD AT TWO HUNDRED SHEKELS, AFTER THE KING'S WEIGHT; and a shekel being the weight of half an ounce of avoirdupois weight, as Bishop Cumberland x has shown from various writers, the weight of his hair must be an hundred ounces; which was a very great weight indeed on his head. S...

4. DAVID AND ABSALOM CHAPTER 14 _ 1. Joab's scheme (2 Samuel 14:1)_ 2. The woman of Tekoah before the king (2 Samuel 14:4) 3. Joab brings Absalom to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 14:21) 4. Absalom's beauty (2 Samuel 14:25) 5. Absalom sees his father (2 Samuel 14:28) In all these records of those sad events we hear not a word that David inquired of the Lord. Joab now appears upon the scene again and that for evil, though he did not mean to do evil to the king. He concocts a scheme by whi

2 SAMUEL 14. THE RETURN OF ABSALOM (J). 2 SAMUEL 14:1. Joab perceives the king's longing for his son (p. 67), and sends to him a woman of Tekoa (p. 31), about 5 miles S. of Beth-lehem, with a trumped-up tale that she was in danger of being left childless, because one of her two sons had killed his brother, and the kinsfolk wished to put the survivor to death. The king promised to intervene. 2 SAMUEL 14:9. The woman continued to importune him, and at last she seems to admit that her story is a parable and to apply it to the king. 2 Samuel 14:14 is difficult; the first part, no doubt, means, Life is uncertain, either the king or his son may die at any time; then it will be too late for

FOR, Note the Figure of speech _Parenthesis._ App-6. KING'S WEIGHT: to distinguish it from the sacred shekel. See App-51....

Absalom's person and family 26. _polled_ From _poll_, the head, comes the verb _to poll_, to cut the hair. _two hundred shekels after the king's weight_ If the royal shekel was the same as the sacred shekel, two hundred shekels would be about six pounds, an extraordinary weight. But perhaps the royal shekel was smaller, or as is so often the case with numbers, there may be some error in the text. It was not considered effeminate for men to wear their hair long: the Nazarites did so (Numbers 6:5), and Josephus says that Solomon's body-guard had long flowing hair. Modern Arabs frequently allow the hair to grow to its natural length....