2 Samuel 14:11

Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) Let the king remember the Lord.—Having thus far succeeded, the crafty woman still further leads on the king to bind himself with the solemnity of an oath.

Benson Commentary

2 Samuel 14:11. Let the king remember the Lord thy God — In whose presence thou hast made me this promise, to stay the avenger of blood from causing any further destruction in my family. She intended to draw him thus distantly and insensibly into the obligation of an oath: and her address had the desired effect; for the king, to convince her of the integrity of his intentions, immediately answered, As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the ground.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:1-20 We may notice here, how this widow pleads God's mercy, and his clemency toward poor guilty sinners. The state of sinners is a state of banishment from God. God pardons none to the dishonour of his law and justice, nor any who are impenitent; nor to the encouragement of crimes, or the hurt of others.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The iniquity be on me ... - Compare the principle in Genesis 9:5-6; Numbers 35:30-34. The woman therefore says, if there is any such guilt in sparing my son, may it rest upon me and my house, not on David and his throne. Compare 2 Samuel 3:28. The cunning speech of the woman extracted a more direct promise of protection from the king 2 Samuel 14:1.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. the woman said … O king, the iniquity be on me—that is, the iniquity of arresting the course of justice and pardoning a homicide, whom the Goel was bound to slay wherever he might find him, unless in a city of refuge. This was exceeding the royal prerogative, and acting in the character of an absolute monarch. The woman's language refers to a common precaution taken by the Hebrew judges and magistrates, solemnly to transfer from themselves the responsibility of the blood they doomed to be shed, either to the accusers or the criminals (2Sa 1:16; 3:28); and sometimes the accusers took it upon themselves (Mt 27:25).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Let the king remember the Lord thy God: the sense is, either, first, Make mention (as this Hebrew verb is oft rendered) of the name of the Lord thy God, to wit, in an oath, i.e. swear to me by God, that thou wilt protect me and my son against the revenger of blood; for so David did in compliance with this desire of hers. Only she was forced to express her mind in more general and ambiguous terms, because it had been presumption and rudeness for her in plain terms to desire the king’s oath, as if she durst not trust his word; yet withal she insinuates her meaning so plainly that the king understood it; and yet so handsomely and elegantly, that the king was much pleased with her wisdom, and thereby inclined to grant her request. Or, secondly, this, Remember the gracious nature of thy God, who is not too severe and rigorous to mark at all that is amiss, nor doth cut off every man-slayer, as appears from Num 35, and from the example of Cain, and from thyself, O king; though this she expresseth not, but only useth such words which she knew would give so wise and good a king occasion to reflect upon himself, and upon the goodness of God in sparing him, though a wilful murderer, that thereby he might be obliged to imitate God, in sparing the person whom she designed. Or, thirdly, this, Remember the Lord in whose presence thou hast made me this promise, and who will be a witness against thee, if thou breakest it.

That thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, Heb. lest the avenger of blood multiply to destroy, i. e. lest they cause one destruction to another, and add my surviving son to him who is slain already. Or, lest thou dost multiply avengers of blood to destroy, i. e. lest by thy connivance at their cruel and malicious proceedings against my son, thou dost encourage avengers of blood to the like furious practices, and thereby increase the number of that sort of men, and upon that pretence occasion multitudes of murders.

Lest they destroy my son; or, and let them not destroy my son; the future tense being put for the imperative mood, as is frequent.

There shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth, i. e. he shall not suffer the least damage. We have the same phrase used 1 Samuel 14:45 1 Kings 1:52 Acts 27:34: compare Matthew 10:30.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the Lord thy God,.... Who is a God gracious and merciful, and imitate him in showing mercy to the distressed; pitying their case, having compassion upon them, and relieving them, as she hoped he would commiserate her case, and provide for the safety of her son. Some think she desires not only to give his word, but his oath, for her son's safety: "remember the Lord thy God"; i.e. make mention of him, as men do when they swear by him; swear to me by the Lord thy God:

that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son, or, "from multiplying the avenger of blood" (o); that there might not rise one after another to destroy her son: her meaning is, that the king would swear to her, and give out a general prohibition, an universal edict, that no one should slay her son; otherwise if only the avenger of blood that was next of kin was forbidden, others would rise up one after another, so that he would never be in safety:

and he said, as the Lord liveth; if she desired an oath, he granted her request, and swore by the living God:

there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth; so far shall his life be from being touched, or taken away, that the least hurt shall not be done him, as this proverbial expression signifies.

(o) "a multiplicando redemptorem sanguinis", Montanus; so the Tigurine version.

Geneva Study Bible

Then said she, I pray thee, let the king {f} remember the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.

(f) Swear that they will not revenge the blood, which are many in number.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. let the king remember the Lord thy God] She presses for the further assurance of an oath in the name of God.

there shall not one hair, &c.] Cp. 1 Samuel 14:45; 1 Kings 1:52; Matthew 10:30; Luke 21:18; Acts 27:34.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - I pray thee, let the king remember, etc. Thenius says that the woman plays well the part of a talkative gossip, but really she was using the skill for which Joab employed her in bringing the king to give her son a free pardon. Nothing short of this would serve Absalom, who already was so far forgiven as to be in no fear of actual punishment. It is remarkable that David does not hesitate finally to grant this without making further inquiry, though he must have known that a mother's pleas were not likely to be very impartial. Moreover, while in ver. 9 she had acknowledged that there might be a breach of the law in pardoning a murderer, she now appeals to the mercy of Jehovah, who had himself provided limits to the anger of the avenger of blood (see Numbers 35.). He had thus shown himself to be a God of equity, in whom mercy triumphed over the rigid enactments of law. The words which follow more exactly mean, "That the avenger of blood do not multiply destruction, and that they destroy not my son." Moved by this entreaty, the king grants her son full pardon, under the solemn guaranty of an oath. 2 Samuel 14:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The crafty woman was not yet satisfied with this, and sought by repeating her petition to induce the king to confirm his promise on oath, that she might bind him the more firmly. She therefore said still further: "I pray thee, let the king remember Jehovah thy God, that the avenger of blood may no more prepare destruction, and that they may not destroy my son." The Chethib הרבּית is probably a copyist's error for הרבות, for which the Masoretes would write הרבּת, the construct state of הרבּה, - a form of the inf. abs. which is not commonly used, and which may possibly have been chosen because הרבּה had become altogether an adverb (vid., Ewald, 240, e.). The context requires the inf. constr. הרבות: that the avenger of blood may not multiply (make much) to destroy, i.e., may not add to the destruction; and הרבּית is probably only a verbal noun used instead of the infinitive. The king immediately promised on oath that her son should not suffer the least harm.