2 Samuel 14:17, commentary and pictures

The words belong to the plea of the wise woman of Tekoa to King David for his banished son Absalom, arranged through Joab's intercession to pacify David toward Absalom. In them she calls the king's word comforting, credits him with discerning good and bad with wisdom like an angel of God, and expresses confidence that his reassuring decision will be fulfilled and that the Lord will be with him. The verse stands in the history of David's heavy disgrace and sorrow over his sons Amnon and Absalom, with its difficulties, his inability to control his sons, Absalom's rebellion, the death of the petted idol of the kingdom, David's lament and return to Jerusalem, his troubles with Joab, and his numbering of the people, showing the awful evil of a multiplicity of wives to which those miseries are largely traced.

It stands in the history of 2 Samuel 11-24 and 1 Kings 1-2 in which Nathan's denunciation after David's great wickedness in the case of Uriah was completely accomplished in the judgments that came upon David. The account is told with such detailed faithfulness that it stamps it with inspiration and shows that God neither covers up nor excuses the sins even of the greatest kings, though David's sin gave great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, while David himself placed on record a most humble confession of his transgression for all future time. David's being pacified toward Absalom through another's appeal is an instance of favor granted for another's sake, proving that God will do much more for Jesus' sake.

The woman's appeal is applied to Mary as asking God to spare sinners who turn to her, pleading not to lose another child after losing Jesus.