Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 14:15
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.
15. Now therefore, &c.] Simply, And now. There seems to be a studied ambiguity about this verse. If “the people” means the family who had demanded the surrender of her son, she is artfully returning to her own petition, to prevent the king from suspecting that her whole story is a fiction: if, as is more natural, “the people” means the nation, she is excusing her boldness on the ground that she was forced by them into speaking thus.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The people have made me afraid – She pretends still that her suit was a real one, and that she was in fear of the people (the whole family, 2Sa 14:7) setting upon her and her son.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
It is because the people have made me afraid; the truth is, I was even forced to this bold address to thee by the disposition and condition of thy people, who are discontented at Absaloms perpetual banishment, and full of fears; either lest, upon thy death, which none knoweth how soon it may happen, they should be involved in a civil war about thy successor; or lest, in the mean time, if Absalom by his father-in-laws assistance invade the land, and endeavour by force to regain and secure his right to the succession, the people, who have a great opinion of him, and kindness for him, and think he is very hardly used, should take up arms for him; or lest he who is thy heir and successor should by continual and familiar conversation with heathens be ensnared in their errors, or alienated from the true religion, and from Gods worship, from which he is now utterly excluded.
And thy handmaid said, or, therefore thy handmaid said; either within myself, i.e. I intended; or to the people, to quiet them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king,…. Of the case of Absalom, under a feigned one of hers:
[it is] because the people have made me afraid; having heard of their whisperings, murmurings, and uneasiness among them, because Absalom was not sent for home, fearing there would be an insurrection in the nation, or an invasion of it by Absalom at the request of his friends; in which he might be supported by the king of Geshur; or however that disputes would arise about the succession, at the death of David; on these accounts she determined to speak to the king, and him them to him in the manner she had done; though some understand this of the discouragement the people laid her under, telling her the king would not hear her; nevertheless she was resolved to make trial:
and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be the king will perform the request of his handmaid; not only with respect to her own son, as feigned; but with respect to Absalom, the grand thing in view.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(15) Because the people have made me afraid.The woman here seeks to excuse her boldness in addressing the king by the pressure brought to bear upon her from without; but whether she means this in regard to what she has said of Absalom, or of her own. affairs, is very doubtful. In the former case the people would mean the nation generally; in the latter, her own family connections. Certainly in the next verse she returns to her own affairs to keep up the pretence of reality; but here there seems to be an intentional and studied ambiguity.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. The people have made me afraid The whole family mentioned in 2Sa 14:7, who rose as blood avengers against the heir.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Sa 14:15 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.
Ver. 15. It is because the people have made me afraid, ] viz, Lest they should be left in a desolate condition: as myself should be, losing my second, and now only son; since Absalom is the hope of the people.
I will now speak unto the king.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Reciprocal: Job 9:23 – he will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Sa 14:15. Now, therefore, that I am come, &c. But here, apprehending 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, 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 sons case before the king: which she, confiding in his mercy, had, at length, adventured to do. Delaney.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
14:15 Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, [it is] because the people {i} 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.
(i) For I thought they would kill my son.