2 Samuel 14:8-14 – Prefer mercy to judgment

Like Nathan, the woman from Tekoa, instructed by Joab, told David a story with the objective of getting him to allow Absalom, his banished son, to come home. The story as we have learned from 2 Samuel 14:4-7 was about that woman’s two sons who fought with each other while working in the field together. One of them killed the other in the fight. And now all the members of her family were demanding that the woman hand over the life of the surviving son. Her dilemma was that if she did according to their demand, she would be deprived of her only means of support in life. Besides, her husband would be bereft of someone to carry on the family name. Here she was seeking David for a decisive action to end her dilemma.

David responded by asking her to return home first and he would give her an answer later concerning what to do. He was trying to delay giving any judgment. But like the persistent widow in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:2-8 on the unjust judge, the woman refused to let him procrastinate. She would not leave until an answer was forthcoming. What the woman said in verse 9 seems to imply that David was unwilling to be involved in the guilt by judging on the matter. The lady then assured David that she would bear the sole responsibility for whatever guilt resulting from his decision. Realizing that he could not delay the judgment, David asked her to bring those who were pressuring her to him, and he would order them to stop harassing her. Even that did not satisfy that woman. She persistently pressed the king in the name of God for an assurance that her surviving son would go unharmed. David was cornered into assuring her that not a single hair on the surviving son’s head would fall to the ground, thus guaranteeing that her son would be saved. 

Wisely, in verses 12-14, the woman then made the application of the story by first seeking permission from David to speak. The king assertively told her to say what was in her mind. Then she boldly pointed to the king’s inconsistency without mentioning Absalom’s name. She asked him why he was willing to assure the safety of her surviving son yet would not ensure the safe return of his own banished son. In so doing, David was not exercising mercy. He was in fact doing harm to the people of God by not pardoning and allowing his son, the favorite of the people, to return. She continued to reason with David saying that death would come upon everyone. Once a person died, he or she would be like water spilled on the ground that could not be gathered back again. She was probably alluding to the death of Amnon here. In the last part of verse 14, we see how it was applied to David. Though the king deserved to die, for taking the life of Uriah yet God found a way to let him live and be reconciled to Him. Therefore David could emulate God and find a way to allow his banished son to return, though he rightly deserved death.

The account here points us to God’s mercy. All of us, like David and Absalom, are sinners and fallen short of God’s glory. And for our sin, we all deserve death because the wages of sin is death. Yet God in His love for us found a way, at great sacrifice to Himself, to forgive and pardon us in Christ. These verses call for us to emulate God and be more forgiving and merciful in life. No matter how much wrong we may have received at the hands of others, we will do well to find a place in our hearts to be magnanimous, merciful, and forgiving. If we repay good for evil, we will be doing exactly what God would do. According to James 2:13, “…judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” So be merciful!