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The whole family is risen - They took on them the part of the avenger of blood; the nearest akin to the murdered person having a right to slay the murderer.

They shall quench my coal which is left - A man and his descendants or successors are often termed in Scripture a lamp or light. So, 2 Samuel 21:17, the men of David said, when they sware that he should no more go out with them to battle, That thou Quench not the Light of Israel. See also Psalm 132:17. And to raise up a lamp to a person signifies his having a posterity to continue his name and family upon the earth: thus, quench my coal that is left means destroying all hope of posterity, and extinguishing the family from among the people. The heathens made use of the same similitude. The few persons who survived the deluge of Deucalion are termed ζωπυρα living coals, because by them the vital flame of the human race was to be rekindled on the earth.

The whole family … - This indicates that all the king‘s sons, and the whole court, were against Absalom, and that the knowledge of this was what hindered David from yielding to his affection and recalling him.

We may notice here, how this widow pleads God's mercy, and his clemency toward poor guilty sinners. The state of sinners is a state of banishment from God. God pardons none to the dishonour of his law and justice, nor any who are impenitent; nor to the encouragement of crimes, or the hurt of others.