Matthew Poole and continuators on 2 Samuel 14:13

13 And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God ? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty , in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished .

If thou wouldst not permit the avengers of Blood to molest me, or to destroy my Son, who are but two persons; how unreasonable is it that thou shouldst proceed in thy indeavours to avenge Amnon's blood upon Absalom, whose death would be highly injurious and grievous to the whole Commonwealth of Israel, all whose eyes are upon him as the Heir of the Crown, and a wise, and valiant, and amiable person, unhappy onely in this one act of killing Amnon, which was done upon an high and hainous provocation, and whereof thou thy self didst give the occasion by permitting Amnon to go unpunished?

By thy Word, and Promise, and Oath given to me for my Son, thou condemnest thy self for not allowing the same equity towards thy own Son.

To wit, Absalom, from that Heathenish Countrey where he is in evident danger of being infected with their Idolatry and other vices: which is likely to be a great and publick mischief to all thy people, if he come to Reign in thy stead, which he is very likely to do. It is true, there was a considerable disparity between her Sons, and Absalom's case, the one being a rash and sudden action, the other a deliberate and premeditated Murther; but that may seem to be balanced in some measure; partly, by Amnon's great and lasting provocation; and principally, by the vast difference between a private injury, which was her case, and a publick calamity and grievance, which she affirmed, and the King easily believed was Absalom's case: And what David said in the case of Ioab's Murther of Abner, That he could not revenge it, because the sons of Zeruiah were too hard for him, 2 Sam. 3. 39. the like peradventure might have been said in this case, where the Peoples hearts may seem to have been universally and vehemently set upon Absalom, and the rather, because his long banishment moved their pity, and his absence made him more desirable, as it frequently happens among people; and therefore it might really be out of the Kings power to punish him; and so he might seem to be obliged to spare him for the common safety of his whole Kingdom.