2 Samuel 14:29

2Sa 14:29 Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king; but he would not come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he would not come.

Ver. 29. But he would not come to him.] As disliking his pride and ambition, saith Pellican; as fearing lest David thereby might suspect that there was some secret practice or conspiracy betwixt them, saith Diodate.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Sa_14:29-32

Absalom sent for Joab . . . but he would not come to him.

The barley-field on fire

Absalom had fled from Jerusalem under fear of Davids anger; he was after a time permitted to return, but he was not admitted into the presence of the king. Earnestly desiring to be restored to his former posts of honour and favour, he besought Joab to come to him, intending to request him to act as mediator. Joab, having lost much of his liking for the young prince, refused to come; and, though he was sent for repeatedly, he declined to attend at his desire. Absalom therefore thought of a most wicked, but most effective plan of bringing Joab into his company. He bade his servants set Joabs field of barley on fire. This brought Joab down in high wrath to ask the question, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire? This was all that, Absalom wanted; he wished an interview, and he was not scrupuluous as to the method by which he obtained it. The burning of the barley-field brought Joab into his presence, and Absaloms ends were accomplished. 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 more his than they are ours. In Absaloms case it was wrong; in Gods case he has a right to do as he wills with his own. He takes away from us our most choice delight, upon which we have set out heart, and then we enquire at, his hands, Wherefore contendest thou with me?

I. The text with reference to believers in christ. We cannot expect to avoid tribulation. If other mens barley-fields are not burned, ours will be. If the Father uses the rod nowhere else, he will surely make his true children smart. Your Saviour hath left, you a double legacy, In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in Me ye shall have peace. Gold must be tried in the fire: and truly the Lord hath a fire in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem.

1. You have first, this sweet reflection, that there is no curse in your cross.

2. That your troubles are all apportioned to you by Divine wisdom and love. As for their number, if He appoint them ten they never can be eleven. As for their weight, he who weigheth the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance, takes care to measure your troubles, and you shall not have a grain more than His infinite wisdom sees fit.

3. That under your cross you have many special comforts. There are cordials which God giveth to sick saints which He never putteth to the lips of those who are in health. Dark caverns keep not back the miners, if they know that diamonds are to be found there: you need net fear suffering when you remember what riches it yields to your soul. There is no hearing the nightingale without night, and there are some promises which only sing to us in trouble. It is in the cellar of affliction that the good old wine of the kingdom is stored. You shall never see Christs face so well as when all others turn their backs upon you. When you have come into such confusion that human wisdom is at a nonplus, then shall you see Gods wisdom manifest and clear.

4. That your trials work your lasting good by bringing you nearer and nearer to your God.

(1) Our heavenly Father often sends for us and we will not come. He sends for us to exercise a more simple faith in Him.

(2) At another time He calls us to closer communion with Himself. We have been sitting on the doorstep of Gods house, and He bids us advance into the banquetting hall and sup with Him, but we decline the honour. He has admitted us into the inner chambers, but there are secret rooms not yet, opened to us; He invites Us to enter them, but we hold back. Jesus longs to have near communion with His people.

(3) Frequently the call is to more fervent prayer.

(4) Often, too, He calls us to a higher state of piety.

II. A few words to the sinner.

I. God also has sent for you, O unconverted man, God has often sent, for you. Early in your childhood your mothers prayers sought to woo you to a Saviours love, and your godly fathers first instructions were as so many meshes of the net in which it was desired that you should be taken; but you have broken through all these and lived to sin away early impressions and youthful promises.

2. If God is sending these, are you listening to them? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Burning the barley field

Now, just as the shrewd young prince dealt with Joab in order to bring him unto him, so God employs a regimen of discipline very often in order to bring wayward hearts to Himself. Many a reader may have had his barley-field set on fire; there are some even now whose fields are wrapped in flames or are covered with the ashes of extinguished hopes. With backsliders this method is often Gods last resorts. He sees that the wayward wanderers care more for their earthly possessions than they do for His honour or His service. So He touches them in the tenderest spot, and sweeps away the objects they love too well. They have become idolaters, and He sternly dashes their idols to atoms.

Compulsory measures

For two whole years Joab paid no attention to the returned son of David, but the moment his barley-field was set on fire he paid Absalom a visit of inquiry. It was crafty on the part of Absalom. Perhaps he looked upon it as a last resort and thought the end would lustily the means. But there is a spiritual use of this incident which is well worth considering. Is it not so that when we will not go to God lovingly, voluntarily, He sets our barley-fields on fire, saying, Now they will pray? We desert His Church, we abandon His book, we release ourselves from all religious responsibilities; God calls, and we will not hear; then He sets all the harvest in a blaze, and we become religious instantaneously. We are richer if we have lost a barley-field, and found the God of the harvest. He will make up the barley-field to us, if so be we accept the providence aright, and say, This is Gods thought concerning us. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Sa 14:29. Absalom sent for Joab — This vain young man, whose only excellence seems to have been his singular beauty, weary with being so long detained in that confinement and obscurity, so mortifying to his pride, and so unfriendly to his popularity, sent a messenger to Joab, to desire to speak with him, in order to prevail upon him to solicit, by his intercession with the king, to be admitted to his presence. But he would not come to him — “The reader little versed in courts is apt to be surprised to see Joab so zealous to get Absalom recalled from exile, and afterward so cold and indifferent to have him re-established in his father’s favour. The truth is, when Joab had greatly gratified the king and gained credit with him, by bringing back Absalom to Jerusalem, he had little reason, as a minister, to be solicitous to bring him near the king’s person, and restore him to full favour; because, in that case, he might naturally apprehend that Absalom’s interest with his father might impair his own.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:29 Joab persuaded David to welcome Absalom back (14:21-22) but then backed off from assisting Absalom further; perhaps Joab wanted to avoid aiding a would-be usurper (15:1-12).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(29) He would not come.—Joab felt that he had already gone far enough in procuring Absalom’s return, and, as he still continued under the displeasure of the king, he was not disposed to do anything more. Possibly also he thought Absalom should have shown some sign of penitence for his great crime.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28–33. Absalom readmitted to David’s presence through Joab’s mediation

29. he would not come to him] Not choosing to incur David’s displeasure by visiting Absalom while he was still in disgrace.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king,.... To introduce him into his presence, being uneasy to be thus confined at his own house, and not suffered to come to court:

but he would not come to him; knowing the king's mind, and being unwilling to disoblige him by a troublesome solicitation:

and when he sent again the second time, he would not come; knowing his business with him; and perhaps between the first time of his sending and this he had sounded the king about it, and found it was not agreeable to him to admit him to access to him as yet.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To him. Joab, like a crafty courtier, would neither disoblige the king nor the prince, and therefore wished not to meddle in this affair; as he might either excite the suspicions of the own, or the resentment of the other. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

To have sent him to the king; that by his mediation he might be admitted into the king’s favour and presence.

He would not come; partly, because perceiving David’s affections to be cold to Absalom, he would not venture his own interest for him, especially in desiring that which he feared he should be denied; partly, lest by interceding further for Absalom, he should revive the remembrance of his former murder, and meet with the reproach of one murderer’s interceding for another; and partly, because by converse with Absalom he observed his temper to be such, that if once he were fully restored to the king’s favour, he would not only eclipse and oppose Joab’s interest and power with the king, but also attempt high things, not without danger to the king and kingdom, as it happened.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

29. He would not come — Joab deemed it prudent for him to avoid any intimacy with Absalom. Perhaps during his two years’ residence in Jerusalem some of his aspirations to the throne had become manifest, and Joab, seeing the king did not visit him or allow him to come to his palace, thought it best for himself to be cautious.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Absalom sent for Joab. As Joab had been the means of bringing him back, Absalom naturally regarded him as a friend. But Joab had performed the former service for other reasons, and it does not seem as if he really had any affection for Absalom.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.