2 Samuel 14 is the fourteenth chapter of the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the second part of Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. Jewish tradition attributes the book to the prophet Samuel, with later additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan; modern scholarship, however, regards it as a compilation of independent texts dated to . This chapter contains the account of David's reign in Jerusalem. This chapter contains the account of David's reign in Jerusalem. This section covers 2 Samuel 9–20 and extends to 1 Kings 1–2, focusing on the power struggles among the sons of David to succeed his throne before "the kingdom was secured in Solomon's hands".
Text This chapter was originally written in the Biblical Hebrew. It is divided into 33 verses.
Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts containing this chapter in Biblical Hebrew belong to the Masoretic Textual tradition, including the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including 4Q51 (4QSam; ), with extant verses 1–3, 14, 15, 18–19, and 33,Dead sea scrolls - 2 Samuel4Q51 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library and 4Q53 (4QSam; ) with extant verses 7–33.4Q53 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (compiled in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).
Analysis Christian scholar Craig Morrison identifies the following structure in the chapter:
Joab devises a plan, sending the wise woman of Tekoa to the king and putting words in her mouth (14:1–3) The woman induces David to reconsider Absalom's exile (14:4–17) David recognizes Joab's role in the woman's appeal and changes his decision concerning Absalom's exile (14:18–20) David implements his decision by authorizing Absalom's return, but he continues to exclude him from the royal presence (14:21–28) Interlude describing Absalom's appearance and children (14:25–27) Absalom devises a plan, sending Joab to the king with a message that results in his reconciliation with David (14:29–33)
The opening and closing scenes correspond through plans devised by Joab and Absalom. At the beginning, Joab perceives that David's thoughts are directed toward Absalom and sends the wise woman of Tekoa to present a carefully prepared appeal for Absalom's return; at the end, Absalom compels Joab to carry his own appeal to David, resulting in a formal reconciliation between father and son. Morrison identifies the turning point as David's recognition that Joab had arranged the woman's intervention, after which David authorizes Absalom's return while initially refusing to receive him at court.
Rabbinic literature The Rabbinic literature, a collection of post-biblical Jewish commentaries and legal and theological hermeneutical texts, and exegeses, discusses both the Tekoite woman's wisdom and the mourning traditions that Joab instructed her to follow. Midrash Tadshe (), a short (, ) named for its opening interpretation of Genesis 1:11, counts the Tekoite woman among the "twenty-three truly upright and righteous women who came out of Israel," writes Hebrew Bible scholar Claudia V. Camp in the Jewish Women's Archive. The Talmud, in tractate Menachot (), records Rabbi Johanan bar Nappaha's explanation that Joab's choice of a wise woman from Tekoa was based on the fact that Tekoa's residents commonly used olive oil, which indicated that wisdom was widespread among them: In tractate Moed Katan (), the Gemara uses Joab's instructions to the woman of Tekoa to derive two statutes of the () of mourning. It first states that a mourner is prohibited from laundering during the mourning period, citing the biblical account of the Tekoite woman feigning mourning and wearing mourning garments. It subsequently states that a mourner is prohibited from bathing, deriving this restriction from Joab's statement "and do not anoint yourself with oil", because, in the Gemara's words, "bathing is included within anointing" ().
Rabbi Isaac Abarbanel (; 1437–1508), commenting on the opening of the chapter, argues that Joab instructed the woman to present herself as a widow because David, as king, was expected to protect widows and orphans and would therefore be disposed to hear her appeal sympathetically. He further reasons that, though Joab placed the substance of the appeal in her mouth, the mission required a wise woman who could understand his instructions and respond appropriately if her conversation with David departed from the prepared argument.
Absalom returned to Jerusalem (14:1–27) Joab realized David's thoughts were on Absalom and devised a plan to secure Absalom's return to Jerusalem. He recruited a wise woman from Tekoa and instructed her to impersonate a bereaved widow and present a fictitious legal petition to the king. The designation "wise woman" () may indicate rhetorical skill, practical judgment, or an established role in political mediation; a similarly designated woman later negotiates with Joab on behalf of Abel-beth-maachah in 2 Samuel 20.
The woman's petition resembles Nathan's parable in 2 Samuel 12, as both narratives present David with an apparent injustice and obtain a royal judgment before revealing its relevance to the king's own conduct. Her account also recalls the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4: two brothers struggle in the countryside, one kills the other, and an authority intervenes to protect the surviving brother from retaliatory killing. In Genesis, Cain receives a divine assurance of protection, whereas the woman's surviving son receives David's royal oath that no one will harm him. The episode also anticipates Joab's later encounter with the wise woman of Abel-beth-maachah, as both women employ public argument to avert further bloodshed and influence a decision involving Joab and the monarchy.
The woman presents herself as a widow whose two sons fought in the countryside, where one killed the other. She claims that her wider kinship group now demands the surviving son's death, which would leave her deceased husband without an heir and extinguish the family's remaining line (14:5–7). Her predicament places the obligation to answer one son's death in tension with the need to preserve the surviving son and her husband's name. David initially promises to issue an order on her behalf (14:8), but the woman continues pressing him until he swears that no one will harm her son (14:9–11).
After obtaining the oath, the woman applies David's judgment to Absalom's exile, arguing that the king has effectively pronounced judgment against himself by protecting her fictitious son while refusing to restore his own banished son (14:12–14). Her argument is not an exact legal analogy: the surviving son in her story allegedly killed his brother during an unpremeditated struggle, whereas Absalom arranged Amnon's death in advance. The petition instead appeals to the preservation of family continuity, the limits of retaliation, and the permanence of death. In this respect, the narrative invites David to weigh bloodguilt and royal justice against the future of his household and dynasty.
Christian theologian Andrew Steinmann identifies several correspondences between the woman's account and the story of Cain and Abel: in each narrative two brothers are together in the countryside, one kills the other, and an authority intervenes to prevent retaliatory killing. Genesis describes a divine warning against anyone who kills Cain (Genesis 4:13–15), while the woman elicits David's promise of protection for her surviving son (2 Samuel 14:7–11). Christian scholar Robert D. Bergen suggests that Joab, assuming David is a master of Torah, framed the petition with these narrative parallels in mind, expecting David to recognize a precedent from the judgment God delivered to Cain for protecting a fratricide from further retaliation.
David recognizes that Joab arranged the woman's intervention but nevertheless authorizes Absalom's return to Jerusalem (14:18–23). He does not initially restore Absalom fully to court, ordering him to remain in his own house and prohibiting him from entering the royal presence (14:24). The following interlude describes Absalom's appearance, the periodic cutting and weighing of his hair, and his children (14:25–27). Jones interprets these details as contributing to Absalom's public image and anticipating the political support he later attracts.
Verse 27 And to Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter whose name was Tamar; she was a woman of beautiful appearance. "Three sons" (): The boys' names are not given. English bishop Charles Ellicott argued that they may have died in infancy and used 2 Samuel 18:18 to support his claim:Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) (1905). Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers. 2 Samuel 14. London: Cassell and Company, Limited, [1905-1906]. Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019. "Tamar" (): Absalom's daughter is named after her paternal aunt, who is likewise introduced as beautiful in 2 Samuel 13:1. Some manuscripts of the Septuagint add that Absalom's daughter became the wife of Rehoboam, the last king of the united Kingdom of Israel, and the mother of Abijah of Judah. This addition is difficult to reconcile with the account in 1 Kings 15:2, which identifies Abijah's mother as Maacah, a daughter of Absalom; 2 Chronicles 11:20–22, which likewise identifies her as Maacah, a daughter of Absalom; and 2 Chronicles 13:2, which identifies her as Micaiah, a daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. The precise genealogy is therefore uncertain, and attempts to identify Tamar as the mother of Maacah or Micaiah remain reconstructions rather than information stated in the Masoretic Text.Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors). On "2 Samuel 14". In: The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2019.Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. 2 Samuel 14. Accessed 28 April 2019.
Absalom reconciled to David (14:28–33) After Absalom has lived in Jerusalem for two years without being allowed to speak to David, he summons Joab twice, but Joab refuses to meet with him. Absalom then orders his servants to set fire to Joab's barley field, compelling Joab to speak with David on his behalf (14:28–32). Joab conveys Absalom's appeal to David, after which Absalom is summoned before the king, prostrates himself, and receives a kiss from his father (14:33). The gesture marks their formal reconciliation and Absalom's restoration to the royal presence, though the narrative does not state that it resolves the underlying conflict between them.
The Gemara later connects the burning of Joab's field with the apparent contradiction between the three sons attributed to Absalom in 2 Samuel 14:27 and his statement in 2 Samuel 18:18 that he had no son to preserve his name. In tractate Sotah, Rav Yitzḥak bar Avdimi interprets the latter statement to mean that Absalom had no son considered fit for kingship. Rav Ḥisda instead cites a tradition that one who burns another person's produce leaves no son to inherit from him and applies it to Absalom because he burned Joab's barley field. These aggadic interpretations connect Absalom's coercion of Joab with the later failure of his family line and political ambitions, rather than treating the burning solely as an effective means of obtaining an audience with David.
Verse 33 Joab went to the king and told him. He then summoned Absalom, who came to the king and prostrated himself before him with his face to the ground; and the king kissed Absalom.