2 Samuel 14 · a question people ask
Did David want Absalom back?
The chapter's first verse is the only one that speaks of David's heart, and it tells what Joab perceived: "the king’s heart was toward Absalom" (14:1). In Hebrew it is lev hammelekh al Avshalom, the king's heart on Absalom, and the little word al can point either way: Brown-Driver-Briggs lists among its senses "towards, to, against". Christians read David in two main ways here. Both agree on what the chapter says: Joab sent a woman to the king with a story (14:2-3), David granted it (14:21), kept Absalom from his face for "two full years" (14:28), and at last "the king kissed Absalom" (14:33). The chapter doesn't say what David felt.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
His heart went out to Absalom
Those who read it this way take 14:1 as the WEB gives it, "toward Absalom", and read it with the verses just before: "David mourned for his son every day" (13:37), and "King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was comforted concerning Amnon, since he was dead" (13:39). On this reading Joab saw a father who wanted his son back, and gave him a way to do it (14:20-21).
2 Samuel 14:1 · 2 Samuel 13:37 · 2 Samuel 13:39 · 2 Samuel 14:20-21
His heart was set against Absalom
Those who read it this way take al in 14:1 in its sense "against", and point to what follows. It took a staged story to bring the king to act (14:2-3), and she tells him he "does not bring home again his banished one" (14:13). When Absalom comes, the king says, "let him not see my face" (14:24), and two full years pass without it (14:28). On this reading Joab saw a king still set against his son, and worked to change it (14:20).
2 Samuel 14:1-3 · 2 Samuel 14:13 · 2 Samuel 14:20 · 2 Samuel 14:24 · 2 Samuel 14:28
The verses
“Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom. Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there, and said to her, “Please act like a mourner, and put on mourning clothing, please, and don’t anoint yourself with oil; but be as a woman who has mourned a long time for the dead. Go in to the king and speak like this to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth.”
“The king said to Joab, “Behold now, I have granted this thing. Go therefore, and bring the young man Absalom back.””
“Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, and he didn’t see the king’s face.”
“So Joab came to the king and told him; and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king; and the king kissed Absalom.”