2 Samuel 14:11
"Please," she replied, "may the king invoke the LORD your God to prevent the avenger of blood from increasing the devastation, so that my son may not be destroyed!" "As surely as the LORD lives," he vowed, "not a hair of your son's head will fall to the ground."
Sermons
Remembrance of GodG. Wood 2 Samuel 14:11
The Woman of TekoahB. Dale 2 Samuel 14:1-20
The Parable of the Woman of TekoaA London Minister2 Samuel 14:5-20














Let the king remember the Lord thy God. This passage occurs in a singular bit of history, which illustrates, inter alia, the carefulness which even the most favoured and powerful of the subjects of an Eastern monarch must at times exercise in seeking to influence him; and, on the other hand, the accessibility of such a monarch to the meanest subject desirous of his interposition. Perhaps, however, this "wise woman" may have belonged to a class which, like prophets, could (or would) take special liberties with royal and other great persons (comp. 2 Samuel 20:16-22, the only other passage in which the phrase, "wise woman," occurs in the same sense). This woman showed herself "wise" in her management of the case which Joab had entrusted to her. It was after she had succeeded in making a favourable impression upon David, that, desirous of a more solemn and specific assurance, she addressed him in the words of the text. This appeal had the desired effect: the king declared with an oath that no harm should be done to her son, whom she had represented as in danger of death from having killed his brother. The exhortation is over suitable and seasonable.

I. THE REMEMBRANCE OF GOD WHICH SHOULD BE PRACTISED. It includes mindfulness of:

1. His existence and perfections.

2. His relation to the universe and to ourselves - Creator, Sustainer, Ruler, Redeemer, Father of spirits, etc.

3. His revelations and commands.

4. His goodness to us. What he has done, is doing, and has promised to do.

II. WHEN WE SHOULD REMEMBER HIM. When should we not? The remembrance should be:

1. Habitual. "I have set the Lord always before me" (Psalm 16:8); "Be ye mindful always of his covenant" (1 Chronicles 16:15).

2. At stated times. Without special remembrances the habitual will not be maintained. Hence the value of the hours of devotion, private and public.

3. At times of special need. When duty is hard, temptation urgent, trouble pressing.

III. WHO ARE REQUIRED TO REMEMBER HIM. All - kings as well as subjects. The higher men are raised above their fellow men, the more they need to keep in mind him who is higher than they, and who will call them to account. The greater the trust God has committed to any, and the more they are independent of others in discharging it, the more they need to look to God for help in discerning and practising what is right. In an unlimited, or only. partially limited, monarchy, the king has peculiar reason to keep the King of kings in mind, that he may be preserved from injustice, partiality, and oppression. But people of all classes are bound to remember God, and live as in his sight.

IV. WHY WE SHOULD CHERISH SUCH REMEMBRANCES.

1. It is our duty. From our relation to God, and from his commandments. And it is no less absurd than impious to forget him "with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:13) more than with any and all others.

2. It is greatly for our profit. It will be productive of:

(1) Piety and holiness. These spring from the knowledge of God, but only as it is kept in mind. To have God in our creed, but not in our memory, is much the same as to have no God at all. It is thought which stirs emotion and nourishes moral principle.

(2) Strength and safety under temptation.

(3) Happiness. In ordinary life, and in times of trial and suffering. Remembrance of God will sanctify all things, heighten all innocent pleasures, turn duties into delights, afford consolation and support when all else fails.

3. It will save from the pangs of too late remembrances on earth or in hell. (See Proverbs 5:11-14; Luke 16:25, "Son, remember.") Mindfulness of God is universal in the eternal world, for joy or sorrow.

V. THE NEED THERE IS TO REMIND MEN OF THIS DUTY. "Let the king remember," etc. Men are apt to forget God, even when the memory of him is most desirable and incumbent. Such forgetfulness may spring from:

1. Negligence.

2. The pressure of other thoughts. The worldly. The anxious and troubled. It is often a great kindness to remind troubled Christians of their God.

3. Dislike of God. Unwillingness that he should interfere with life and action.

4. Love of sin. The pleasure of sin, if not sin itself, would be impossible if God were thought of.

5. Pride and self satisfaction (Deuteronomy 8:10-19). Finally:

1. Remembrance of God, spontaneously and lovingly cherished, is a good evidence of sincere piety.

2. The compatibility or incompatibility of it with any act or habit furnishes a safe guide when distinct precepts are wanting. - G.W.

And the soul of King David longed to go forth unto Absalom.
"I well remember," says a present-day writer, "the effect produced on my mind on being told by a servant, soon after I had recovered from a dangerous illness, that during the crisis of the malady my father was seen to shed tears. Though far from being a stern parent, he was not an emotional man; and the statement was a revelation to me, at least in degree. It is now more than half a century ago, but it will never be forgotten.".

People
Absalom, Joab, Tamar, Zeruiah
Places
Geshur, Jerusalem, Tekoa
Topics
Add, Adding, Avenger, Blood, Continue, Cut, Death, Destroy, Destroyed, Destruction, Fall, Further, Gives, Ground, Hair, Invoke, Kept, Lest, Mind, Otherwise, Please, Prevent, Punishment, Redeemer, Remember, Revengers, Slay, Son's, Suffer, Surely, Wouldest
Outline
1. Joab, suborning a widow of Tekoah to incline the king's heart to fetch Absalom,
21. brings him home to Jerusalem
25. Absalom's beauty, hair, and children
28. After two years, Absalom is brought into the king's presence by Joab

Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Samuel 14:11

     5155   hair
     7310   avenger of blood

2 Samuel 14:1-20

     5383   lawsuits

2 Samuel 14:1-24

     6682   mediation

2 Samuel 14:1-33

     6684   mediator

2 Samuel 14:4-14

     5438   parables

Library
God's Banished Ones
'God doth devise means, that His banished be not expelled from Him.' 2 SAMUEL xiv. 14. David's good-for-nothing son Absalom had brought about the murder of one of his brothers, and had fled the country. His father weakly loved the brilliant blackguard, and would fain have had him back, but was restrained by a sense of kingly duty. Joab, the astute Commander-in- chief, a devoted friend of David, saw how the land lay, and formed a plan to give the king an excuse for doing what he wished to do. So
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Barley Field on Fire
Omitting the sin of the deed, we have here a picture of what is often done by our gracious God, with the wisest and best design. Often he sendeth for us, not for his profit, but for ours. He would have us come near to him and receive a blessing at his hands; but we are foolish and cold-hearted and wicked, and we will not come. He, knowing that we will not come by any other means, sendeth a serious trial: he sets our barley-field on fire; which he has a right to do, seeing our barley-fields are far
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

The Blessed Privilege of Seeing God Explained
They shall see God. Matthew 5:8 These words are linked to the former and they are a great incentive to heart-purity. The pure heart shall see the pure God. There is a double sight which the saints have of God. 1 In this life; that is, spiritually by the eye of faith. Faith sees God's glorious attributes in the glass of his Word. Faith beholds him showing forth himself through the lattice of his ordinances. Thus Moses saw him who was invisible (Hebrews 11:27). Believers see God's glory as it were
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

The Hebrew Sages and their Proverbs
[Sidenote: Role of the sages in Israel's life] In the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer. xviii. 18; Ezek. vii. 26) three distinct classes of religious teachers were recognized by the people: the prophets, the priests, and the wise men or sages. From their lips and pens have come practically all the writings of the Old Testament. Of these three classes the wise men or sages are far less prominent or well known. They wrote no history of Israel, they preached no public sermons, nor do they appear
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Samuel
Alike from the literary and the historical point of view, the book[1] of Samuel stands midway between the book of Judges and the book of Kings. As we have already seen, the Deuteronomic book of Judges in all probability ran into Samuel and ended in ch. xii.; while the story of David, begun in Samuel, embraces the first two chapters of the first book of Kings. The book of Samuel is not very happily named, as much of it is devoted to Saul and the greater part to David; yet it is not altogether inappropriate,
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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