Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Joab, through the fair-speaking of the woman of Tekoa, reconciles Absalom to David, but so that David does not admit him to his presence. Then, verse 25, the beauty, hair, offspring of Absalom are described, as well as his burning of Joab's fields; stirred by which Joab arranges for him to be admitted to David's kiss.
Vulgate Text: 2 Kings 14:1-33
1. Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was turned toward Absalom; 2. and he sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman, and said to her: Pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel, and do not anoint yourself with oil, that you may be like a woman who has been mourning for a long time over one who is dead. 3. And you shall go in to the king and speak to him in this manner. And Joab put the words in her mouth. 4. And when the woman of Tekoa had come in to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and bowed, and said: Help, O king. 5. And the king said to her: What is the matter with you? She answered: Alas, I am a widow woman, for my husband is dead. 6. And your handmaid had two sons, and they quarreled with each other in the field, and there was no one to part them; and the one struck the other and killed him. 7. And behold, the whole family rising against your handmaid says: Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he slew, and that we may destroy the heir; and they seek to quench the spark that remains to me, so that no name or remnant of my husband may be left upon the earth. 8. And the king said to the woman: Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you. 9. And the woman of Tekoa said to the king: Upon me, my lord the king, be the iniquity, and upon the house of my father; but let the king and his throne be guiltless. 10. And the king said: Whoever shall speak against you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you anymore. 11. And she said: Let the king remember the Lord his God, that the avengers of blood be not multiplied to destroy, and that they not destroy my son. And he said: As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground. 12. Then the woman said: Let your handmaid speak a word to my lord the king. And he said: Speak. 13. And the woman said: Why have you thought such a thing against the people of God? And the king has spoken this word, so as to be guilty, in not bringing home his exiled one? 14. We all die, and like waters that return no more, we fall into the earth; neither does God wish that a soul should perish, but He considers plans, so that he who has been cast out may not utterly perish. 15. Now therefore I have come to speak this word to my lord the king before the people; and your handmaid said: I will speak to the king; perhaps the king will fulfill the word of his handmaid. 16. And the king has listened, to deliver his handmaid from the hand of all who would destroy me and my son together from the inheritance of God. 17. Let your handmaid therefore say, that the word of my lord the king be made as a sacrifice; for even as an Angel of God, so is my lord the king, that he is neither moved by blessing nor by cursing; and the Lord your God is with you. 18. And the king answered and said to the woman: Do not hide from me the thing that I ask you. And the woman said to him: Speak, my lord the king. 19. And the king said: Is not the hand of Joab with you in all this? The woman answered and said: By the health of your soul, my lord the king, it is neither to the left nor to the right of all that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab, he commanded me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid, 20. that I should turn this speech around; but your servant Joab commanded this; but you, my lord the king, are wise, according to the wisdom of an Angel of God, so that you understand all things upon the earth. 21. And the king said to Joab: Behold, I am appeased and have granted your request; go therefore and bring back the young man Absalom. 22. And Joab, falling on his face to the ground, bowed and blessed the king; and Joab said: Today your servant has understood that I have found grace in your sight, my lord the king; for you have fulfilled the request of your servant. 23. So Joab arose and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24. But the king said: Let him return to his house, but let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his house, but did not see the king's face. 25. Now in all Israel there was not a man so handsome and so distinguished as Absalom; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. 26. And when he shaved his head — for once a year he shaved it, because the hair burdened him — he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels by the public weight. 27. And there were born to Absalom three sons and one daughter, whose name was Tamar, and she was very beautiful. 28. And Absalom dwelt in Jerusalem for two years, and did not see the king's face. 29. He sent therefore to Joab, to send him to the king; but Joab would not come to him. And when he had sent the second time and Joab would not come, 30. he said to his servants: You know the field of Joab near my field, which has a crop of barley; go therefore and set it on fire. So the servants of Absalom set the field on fire. And Joab's servants came with their garments torn and said: The servants of Absalom have set part of the field on fire. 31. And Joab arose and came to Absalom in his house, and said: Why have your servants set my field on fire? 32. And Absalom answered Joab: I sent to you asking you to come to me, that I might send you to the king, to say to him: Why did I come from Geshur? It would have been better for me to be still there; I beg you therefore that I may see the face of the king; and if he is mindful of my iniquity, let him kill me. 33. So Joab went in to the king and reported this to him; and Absalom was called and went in to the king and prostrated himself on the ground before him; and the king kissed Absalom.
Verse 1: The King's Heart Turned Toward Absalom
1. THE KING'S HEART WAS TURNED TOWARD ABSALOM -- both because he was the third son born to him, and therefore almost next in line to succeed him in the kingdom; and because he was handsome and of royal appearance; and because he had had a just occasion for the killing, namely the violation committed against his sister, whose chastity he had championed. For this was considered by all as a matter of great praise, and regarded as a heroic deed. Whence the Gentiles celebrate Lucretia, who, having been violated by force by Sextus Tarquinius, son of King Tarquinius Superbus, stabbed herself from grief and love of chastity.
Verse 2: The Wise Woman of Tekoa
2. HE SENT TO TEKOA, AND BROUGHT FROM THERE A WISE WOMAN. -- Tekoa was a city situated on a mountain, abounding in very rich pastures, six miles from Bethlehem, nine from Jerusalem. So St. Jerome, Adrichomius, and others.
6. YOUR HANDMAID HAD TWO SONS WHO QUARRELED, etc. -- The Hebrews, and from them Rabanus and Angelomus, consider this not to be a fable but a true history.
Verse 7: The Spark That Remains
7. AND THEY SEEK TO EXTINGUISH MY SPARK WHICH IS LEFT -- that is, my only son who is left to me, to be the spark by which I may rekindle, restore, and propagate the nearly extinguished family of myself and my husband. For just as when a fire is consumed, embers and sparks are left under the ashes, from which the fire can be rekindled; so when all other sons are destroyed, the last one remains, as a spark from which the family line may be raised up, and its name and memory preserved.
Verse 8: David's Judgment
8. GO TO YOUR HOUSE, AND I WILL GIVE ORDERS CONCERNING YOU -- that is to say, I will see to it that your son is preserved. You may ask whether this judgment of David was just, because the law of God commanded that a murderer be killed. I answer: The law commanded the killing of a public murderer, whose murder could be publicly proved in court by witnesses. For the law of Deuteronomy XVII, 6, commands that no one be killed unless convicted by two witnesses. But this was a secret fratricide, at which no witness had been present. So Vatablus.
Verse 14: We All Die Like Waters
14. WE ALL DIE, AND LIKE WATERS WE SLIP AWAY INTO THE EARTH, WHICH DO NOT RETURN. -- This is the second argument of the Tekoite woman, that David should grant pardon to Absalom: Human life is transient and fleeting; even if Amnon had not been killed, he would equally have had to die shortly.
NOR DOES GOD WILL THAT A SOUL SHOULD PERISH. -- This is the third argument drawn from the imitation of God's mercy, which often at the prayers of sinners, or of saints praying for sinners, mitigates or revokes the sentence of death pronounced against them.
FOR AS THE ANGEL OF GOD, SO IS MY LORD THE KING, THAT HE IS MOVED NEITHER BY BLESSING NOR BY CURSE. -- The Tekoite woman by flattery seeks to win David's goodwill, as if to say: Your kindness, O king, like an Angel hears all things calmly, both bad and good, and judges sincerely about all things.
Verse 19: The Hand of Joab
19. IS NOT THE HAND OF JOAB WITH YOU? -- that is to say, Is it not by the work and direction of Joab that you do and say all these things?
NEITHER TO THE LEFT NOR TO THE RIGHT -- that is to say, It is nothing other than what you have most shrewdly detected, namely that I do all these things at the instigation of Joab.
Verse 21: Absalom's Recall
21. BEHOLD, I HAVE BEEN APPEASED AND GRANTED YOUR REQUEST -- to spare Absalom and recall him from exile. You may ask whether David sinned by sparing Absalom the murderer. Cajetan responds that laws decree in general what is to be done commonly and regularly, but singular cases are left to the prudence of the Prince. There was danger that the grandfather, the king of Geshur, would aid Absalom, and wars would arise about succession to the kingdom among David's sons; which to avoid, David wisely spared Absalom.
Verse 25: The Beauty of Absalom
25. NOW THERE WAS NOT A MAN AS BEAUTIFUL AS ABSALOM IN ALL ISRAEL. -- Scripture here mentions the beauty of Absalom incidentally, to indicate why he was acceptable and popular with everyone, and to tropologically indicate how vain all the goods of this life are, and how mixed with evils. For Absalom was most beautiful in body, but most dark in mind, and therefore fell into a most dreadful death.
26. HE WAS SHORN ONCE A YEAR, BECAUSE HIS HAIR WAS HEAVY UPON HIM. -- THE HAIR OF HIS HEAD WEIGHED TWO HUNDRED SHEKELS. -- A shekel was a coin weighing four drachmas, that is half an ounce: therefore two hundred shekels weighed one hundred ounces, which make eight pounds and four ounces.
Verse 27: Absalom's Children
27. AND TO ABSALOM WERE BORN THREE SONS. -- All of these died before their father. Whence Absalom, chapter XVIII, verse 18, is said to have been without children. So Theodoret.
AND ONE DAUGHTER NAMED TAMAR, OF ELEGANT FORM. -- It is likely that this name was given her from Tamar, the aunt and sister of Absalom.
Verse 33: The King's Kiss
32. AND ABSALOM ANSWERED JOAB: I SENT TO YOU ENTREATING YOU TO COME TO ME, THAT I MIGHT SEND YOU TO THE KING, AND YOU MIGHT SAY TO HIM: WHY DID I COME FROM GESHUR? IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR ME TO BE THERE STILL; I BESEECH YOU THEREFORE LET ME SEE THE FACE OF THE KING: AND IF HE REMEMBERS MY INIQUITY, LET HIM KILL ME. 33. Joab therefore went in to the king and told him everything; and Absalom was summoned and came in to the king, and bowed with his face to the ground before him; and the king kissed Absalom.