Глава 14

Reconciliation between David and Absalom 2 Samuel 14:2. And Joab sent to Tekoa, and took a smart woman from there and said to her: pretend to be crying and put on sad clothes, and do not anoint yourself with oil, and pretend to be a woman who cried for many days for the dead; Tekoa - south of Jerusalem, between Bethlehem and Hebron. 2 Samuel 14:7. And behold, the whole family has risen up against your servant, and they say: “Give up your brother’s murderer; We will kill him for the soul of his brother, which he destroyed, and we will destroy even the heir.” And so they will extinguish the rest of my spark, so as not to leave my husband a name and descendants on the face of the earth. 2 Samuel 14:9. But the woman of Tekoit said to the king, “On me, my lord the king, let the guilt be on my father’s house, but the king and his throne are innocent.” “The king and his throne are innocent” - in preventing bloody retribution to the murderer (see Num.35:6,11-32; Deut.4:42,19:3,4; Josh.20:3). 2 Samuel 14:11. She said: Remember, O king, the Lord your God, so that the avengers of blood do not multiply and destroy my son. And the king said: The Lord lives! not a hair of your son shall fall to the ground. “Remember, O king,” your promise and, for the sake of “the Lord your God,” fulfill it, so that the avengers of blood do not multiply and destroy my son. 2 Samuel 14:13. He said: speak. And the woman said, Why do you think so against the people of God? The king, having uttered this word, blamed himself, because he did not return his exile. “Why do you think so against the people of God?” i.e. why do you, sir, so decisively oppose the ancient custom of the Israeli people to avenge the innocent blood of a murderer killed by the blood, and you yourself find yourself to some extent guilty of the same, since you are still exacting exile from your son Absalom for the blood he shed of his brother Amnon? 2 Samuel 14:14. We will die and be like water poured on the ground, which cannot be collected; but God does not want to destroy the soul and is thinking about how not to reject the rejected one from Himself. If God himself spares the sinner and accepts the rejected, then should we, nonentities, surpass Him in our severity towards those who have sinned? 2 Samuel 14:24. And the king said: Let him return to his house, but not see my face. And Absalom went to his house, but did not see the king’s face. “But he does not see my face” - as a sign that Absalom’s return to his homeland did not yet mean his complete forgiveness for the crime he had committed. 2 Samuel 14:26. When he shaved his head—and he shaved it every year because it weighed him down—the hairs of his head weighed two hundred shekels according to the king’s weight. The shekel “according to the king’s weight” is the same as the “holy” shekel introduced into use by Moses. The weight and value of the sacred shekel were equal to two ancient (lesser weight and value) shekels, i.e. the sacred shekel in terms of weight was equal to 1 lot, and in terms of value - 86 kopecks (see Biblical Archeology of Archimandrite Jerome, vol. I, pp. 268-289). 2 Samuel 14:29. And Absalom sent for Joab to send him to the king, but he did not want to come to him. I sent it another time; but he didn’t want to come. It is obvious that Joab worked for Absalom not so much out of devotion to the latter, but out of a desire to please David (cf. 2 Sam. 14: 1–3). 2 Samuel 14:32. And Absalom said to Joab, Behold, I sent for thee, saying, Come hither, and I will send thee to the king, saying, Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to stay there. I want to see the king's face. If I am guilty, then kill me. The position of the disgraced man at court, after previous honor and affection, seemed to Absalom difficult to bear, and he resorted to very drastic measures to see Joab and beg him to petition the king for a complete pardon for his guilty son. 2 Samuel 14:33. And Joab went to the king and told him this. And the king called Absalom; he came to the king, [bowed down to him] and fell with his face on the ground before the king; and the king kissed Absalom. “And the king kissed Absalom” - as a sign of his forgiveness. You might be interested in: