Context No. 2450 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 14:11-17: in context

11Then she said, “Please let the king remember the LORD your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son.” He said, “As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.” 12Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Say on.” 13The woman said, “Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring home again his banished one. 14For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him. 15Now therefore, seeing that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid. Your servant said, ‘I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.’ 16For the king will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. 17Then your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May the LORD, your God, be with you.’”

A wise woman from Tekoa, coached by Joab, comes to David with an invented story to move him toward reconciling with his exiled son Absalom. In the middle of her plea she says something truer than the scheme it serves: we must all die, like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again; yet God does not simply take life away, but devises means so that the banished one is not left an outcast forever.

Set aside the manipulation for a moment, because the line about God stands on its own. Her picture of God is of one who is not content to let the estranged stay estranged, who actively works out ways to bring back the one who has been cast off. God devises means. He is not passive about separation; he is inventive about restoration, engineering paths home for people who feel permanently shut out. It is a startling glimpse, offered almost in passing, of a God bent toward gathering back rather than casting away.

Do I believe God is actively devising a way to bring back someone who feels banished, or that some estrangement is simply final?

Sources

2 Samuel 14:14: neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him.
2 Samuel 14:13: the king does not bring home again his banished one.
Luke 15:20: But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him.