2 Samuel 14:7

_AND, BEHOLD, THE WHOLE FAMILY IS RISEN AGAINST THINE HANDMAID, AND THEY SAID, DELIVER HIM THAT SMOTE HIS BROTHER, THAT WE MAY KILL HIM, FOR THE LIFE OF HIS BROTHER WHOM HE SLEW; AND WE WILL DESTROY THE HEIR ALSO: AND SO THEY SHALL QUENCH MY COAL WHICH IS LEFT, AND SHALL NOT LEAVE TO MY HUSBAND NEITHER NAME NOR REMAINDER UPON THE EARTH._ They shall quench my coal which is left. The life of man is compared in Scripture to a light. To quench the light of Israel (2 Samuel 21:17) is to destroy the king's life; to ordain a lamp for any one (Psalms 132:17) is to grant him posterity; to quench a coal signifies here the extinction of this woman's only remaining hope that the name and family of her husband would be preserved. The figure is a beautiful one: a coal, live, but lying under a he

1-20 We may notice here, how this widow pleads God's mercy, and his clemency toward poor guilty sinners. The state of sinners is a state of banishment from God. God pardons none to the dishonour of his law and justice, nor any who are impenitent; nor to the encouragement of crimes, or the hurt of others....

Verse 2 Samuel 14:7. _THE WHOLE FAMILY IS RISEN_] They took on them the part of the _avenger of blood_; the nearest akin to the murdered person having a right to slay the murderer. _THEY SHALL QUENCH MY COAL WHICH IS LEFT_] A man and his descendants or successors are often termed in Scripture _a lamp_ or _light_. So, 2 Samuel 21:17, the men of David said, when they sware that he should no more go out with them to battle, _That thou_ _QUENCH not the LIGHT of Israel_. See also Psalms 132:17. And to _raise up a lamp_ to a person signifies his having a posterity to continue his name and family upon the earth: thus, _quench my coal_ that is left

THE WHOLE FAMILY ... - This indicates that all the king’s sons, and the whole court, were against Absalom, and that the knowledge of this was what hindered David from yielding to his affection and recalling him....

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, BEHOLD, THE WHOLE FAMILY IS RISEN AGAINST THINE HANDMAID,.... Who had sheltered her son, that slew his brother, from the avenger of blood; and not only the next akin, the avenger of blood, but even all the kindred and relations of the deceased, those of her husband's family rose up as one man, demanding justice: AND THEY SAID, DELIVER HIM THAT SMOTE HIS BROTHER, THAT WE MAY KILL HIM FOR THE LIFE OF HIS BROTHER WHOM HE SLEW; pretending great regard to the deceased, and a zeal for justice, when the main thing aimed at was to get the inheritance into their own hands, as appears by what follows: AND WE WILL DESTROY THE HEIR ALSO; and hereby she would insinuate to the king, that the reason why the rest of the king's sons spake against Absalom to him, and stirred him up to punish him with death, was because he was heir to the crown, and they thought by removing him to make way for thems...

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

_the whole family_, &c. The whole clan demanded blood-revenge, according to the primitive custom, sanctioned and regulated by the Mosaic Law. See Numbers 35:19; Deuteronomy 19:12-13. _and we will destroy the heir also_ The woman puts these words THAT WE MAY KILL HIM … AND DESTROY THE HEIR ALSO into the mouth of her kinsmen, in order to make their conduct appear in the worst possible light, as actuated not so much by a wish to observe the law as by covetousness and a desire to share the inheritance among themselves. Cp. Matthew 21:38. _they shall quench my coal which is left_ The surviving son, who is the last hope for the continuance of his family, is compared to the live

SO THEY SHALL QUENCH MY COAL WHICH IS LEFT— The expression is singularly beautiful and expressive. Heathen authors seem to have borrowed it from hence. Plato and Lucian call the few men who survived the deluge ζωπυρα, _live coals,_ who were to re-kindle the vital flame, and continue the human race: and in Scripture a man and his successors are often called a _lamp_ or _light:_ see chap. 2 Samuel 21:17. Psalms 132:17 and Calmet and Le Clerc....