October 2, 2024 - 2 Samuel 14:1-11

October 2, 2024 - 2 Samuel 14:1-11

 

14 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah knew that the king’s heart went out to Absalom.  2  And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman and said to her, “Pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning garments. Do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead.  3  Go to the king and speak thus to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth. 4  When the woman of Tekoa came to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and paid homage and said, “Save me, O king.”  5  And the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead.  6  And your servant had two sons, and they quarreled with one another in the field. There was no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.  7  And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.’ And so they would destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.” 8  Then 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, “On me be the guilt, my lord the king, and on my father’s house; let the king and his throne be guiltless.”  10  The king said, “If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall never touch you again.”  11  Then she said, “Please let the king invoke the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood kill no more, and my son be not

destroyed.” He said, “As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”

 

Here we see Joab involved in another scheme that includes a woman from Tekoa.  Joab tells the woman to go before the king mourning and tells her exactly what to say to the king involving the death of one brother killing another.  He literally puts the words in her mouth to share before the king.  As the passage concludes we see the king promises to order the one living son not be killed as the ‘clan’ insisted upon. 

 

Do you find yourself in the midst of a family that is broken without reconciliation?  What causes us to stay in a broken state?  If one party refuses to reconcile, what should you do?  Ponder these questions and seek God’s guidance.