Commentaria in II Regum (II Samuelis)
Chapter 14
Joab, by the persuasive speech of the woman of Thecua, reconciles Absalom to David, but so that David does not admit him into his sight. Then, verse 25, the beauty, hair and offspring of Absalom are described, and the burning of Joab’s corn; stirred by which Joab arranges for him to be admitted to David’s kiss.
1. Now Joab the son of Sarvia, perceiving that the king’s heart was turned to Absalom, 2. Sent to Thecua, and fetched from thence a wise woman, and said to her: Feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, that thou mayest be as a woman that hath been a long time mourning for one dead, 3. And thou shalt go in to the king, and shalt speak to him in this manner. And Joab put the words in her mouth. 4. So when the woman of Thecua came in to the king, she fell before him upon the ground, and adored, and said: Save me, O king. 5. And the king said to her: What is the matter with thee? And she answered: Alas, I am a widow woman; for my husband is dead. 6. And thy handmaid had two sons, who quarrelled 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 kindred rising up against thy handmaid, saith: Deliver him that hath killed his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he hath murdered, and may destroy the heir; and they seek to quench my spark which is left, that they may leave my husband no name, nor remainder upon earth. 8. And the king said to the woman: Go to thy house, and I will give orders concerning thee. 9. And the woman of Thecua said to the king: Upon me, my lord, O king, be this iniquity, and upon the house of my father; but let the king and his throne be guiltless. 10. And the king said: Whosoever shall gainsay thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more. 11. And she said: Let the king remember the Lord his God, that the next of kin may not be multiplied to take revenge, and that they may in no wise kill my son. And he said: As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the ground. 12. The woman therefore said: Let thy handmaid speak one word to my lord the king. And he said: Speak. 13. And the woman said: Why hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God, and why hath the king spoken this word, to sin, and not bring home again his banished one? 14. We all die, and like waters that return no more we fall down into the earth; neither will God have a soul to perish, but retracteth, meditating that he who is cast off should not altogether perish. 15. Now therefore I am come to speak this word to my lord the king in the presence of the people. And thy handmaid said: I will speak to the king, it may be the king will perform the request of his handmaid. 16. And the king hath hearkened to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of all that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. 17. Let thy handmaid therefore say, that the word of my lord the king may be made as a sacrifice. For as an angel of God, so is my lord the king, that he is neither moved with blessing nor cursing; wherefore the Lord thy God is also with thee. 18. And the king answering, said to the woman: Hide not from me the thing that I ask thee. And the woman said to him: Speak, my lord the king. 19. And the king said: Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? The woman answered, and said: As thy soul liveth, my lord the king, neither to the left hand, nor to the right, from all that my lord the king hath spoken; for thy servant Joab he commanded me, and he put all these words into the mouth of thy handmaid. 20. That I should come about with this form of speech, thy servant Joab commanded this; but thou, my lord the king, art wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to understand all things upon earth. 21. And the king said to Joab: Behold, I am appeased and have done thy word; go therefore, and bring again the boy Absalom. 22. And Joab falling to the ground upon his face, adored, and thanked the king, and Joab said: This day thy servant hath understood that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king; for thou hast fulfilled the request of thy servant. 23. So Joab arose and went to Gessur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24. But the king said: Let him return to his house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his house, and saw not the king’s face. 25. But in all Israel there was not a man so comely, and so exceedingly beautiful as Absalom; from the sole of the foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. 26. And when he polled his hair (now he was polled once a year, because his hair was burdensome to him), he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred sicles, by the common weight. 27. And there were born to Absalom three sons, and one daughter named Thamar, of a handsome form. 28. And Absalom dwelt two years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king’s face. 29. Therefore he sent to Joab, to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. And when he had sent the second time, and he would not come to him, 30. He said to his servants: You know the field of Joab near my field, that hath a crop of barley; go therefore, and set it on fire. So the servants of Absalom set the corn on fire. And the servants of Joab coming, with their garments rent, said: The servants of Absalom have set on fire
1. THAT THE KING’S HEART WAS TURNED TO ABSALOM,—first because he was the third son born to him, and so nearly next to succeed him in the kingdom; next because he was beautiful and of royal appearance, as is said in verse 25; next because he had had a just occasion on his part, namely the violation inflicted on his sister, whose chastity he had avenged. For this was held by all in great praise, and was reckoned a heroic deed. Hence the Gentiles celebrate Lucretia, who, being violated by force by Sextus Tarquin, son of King Tarquinius Superbus, stabbed herself out of grief and love of chastity. For which cause Tarquin with his family was driven from the city, and consuls were put in place of kings, Junius Brutus and L. Collatinus, the husband of Lucretia. See Valerius Maximus, book 6, chapter 1, where among other things he recounts this memorable deed: “Virginius,” he says, “of plebeian family but a patrician in spirit, spared not his own blood, lest his house be stained with shame. For when Appius Claudius the decemvir, relying on the strength of his power, pursued the violation of his virgin daughter with persistence, he led the girl down into the forum and killed her: the slayer of a chaste girl, whom the father preferred to have defiled.”
2. HE SENT TO THECUA, AND FETCHED FROM THENCE A WISE WOMAN.—Thecua was a city situated on a mountain, abounding in most fertile pastures, distant from Bethlehem six miles, and from Jerusalem nine. So St. Jerome, Adrichomius and others. Hence it is fabled that the people of Thecua were wiser than others, because Thecua is fertile in olives and olive trees: for regions fertile in oil, they say, produce wise men; as the same Thecua produced the prophets Amos and Habacuc: indeed the Rabbis assert that this woman of Thecua was the grandmother of the prophet Amos, but they prove it by no argument except that both were born of Thecua.
6. THY HANDMAID HAD TWO SONS WHO QUARRELLED, etc., AND THE ONE STRUCK THE OTHER.—The Hebrews, and among them Rabanus and Angelomus, hold that this is not a fable, but a true history, which befell this woman and her two sons, and which she applied equally to Absalom and Amnon. But the rest everywhere hold that it is a fable aptly devised for the purpose, and the narrative itself sufficiently indicates it.