Then the woman said, &c.— The woman, having so far gained her point, begged leave to say one word further; and, having obtained permission, immediately proceeded, 2 Samuel 14:13 to expostulate with the king upon his own conduct, and his unkindness to the people of GOD, in not pardoning his own son, and bringing him back from exile. His mercy to her son made him self-condemned in relation to his own. She then added a very natural and seasonable reflection, 2 Samuel 14:14 that death was the common lot of all men, some by one means, some by another; that in that state we are like water spilled upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; that God, if he pleased, could strike the offender dead; but inasmuch as he did not, it was because he would leave room for mercy; that he had devised means in his own law to arrest the avenger of blood, and in his appointed time to recall the man-slayer from his exile in the city of refuge: Numbers 35:25. But here, apprehending that she might have gone too far, and made too free with majesty, in expostulating so plainly upon a point of such importance, she excused this presumption, 2 Samuel 14:15 from the force put upon her by her people, who had so severely threatened her, that in this extremity she plainly saw she had no resource or hope of relief, but in laying her son's case before the king; which she, 2 Samuel 14:16-17 confiding in his majesty's mercy, and assuring herself that he would hear her with his wonted clemency, at length adventured to do; hoping that it might be a means of saving both herself and her son from being destroyed out of the inheritance of God, insinuating that her own life was wrapped up in his. We may here observe, that the single design and address of this device are sufficient proofs, if there were no other, to evince the Jewish people to have been neither unpolite nor uninformed. The clause in the 13th verse, for the king doth speak this thing, &c. is thus rendered by Houbigant, for the king's purpose not to recall his exile is a kind of fault. The words in the 14th verse, neither doth God respect any person, may be rendered according to the ancient versions, but the Lord doth not take away the life.
2 Samuel 14:12-17
12 Then the woman said, Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on.
13 And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished.
14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.
15 Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.
16 For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.
17 Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable:c for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be with thee.