2 Samuel 14:2

Joab sent to Tekoah, &c.— Tekoah was a city in the tribe of Judah, and lay about twelve miles south of Jerusalem. Joab's conduct in this affair was remarkably artful: he chose a widow, because her condition of life was more proper to move compassion; one who lived at a distance from Jerusalem, as her case might not be so readily inquired into; and a woman advanced in years, as Josephus asserts, that her application might have the more weight. She appeared in a habit of mourning, to heighten the idea of her distress, and that her circumstances, her mournful tale, her dress, and her person, might make one united impression on the king, and secure her his attention. The whole design of her speech was to frame a case similar to that of David, in order to convince him how much more reasonable it was to preserve Absalom. But there was great art in not making the similitude too plain and visible, lest the king should perceive the intention of the woman's petition, before she had obtained a grant of pardon for her son, and came to make the application to the king.