A Wise Woman of Tekoa
Joab uses a wise woman in disguise to convince David to return the exiled Absalom to Jerusalem
Joab the son of Zeruiah knew King David's heart went out to Absalom, so he sent to Tekoa and summoned a wise woman to pretend to talk to David. “Pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning garments. Do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead. Go to the king and speak thus to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth.
She fell on her face before King David and claimed to be a widow with two sons, one of whom killed the other. The whole clan wants her to give up her surviving heir to put him to death. David told her to return home and await orders, but she insisted the guilt fall on herself. The king promised to protect her, but she wanted him to invoke the LORD that her son would not be killed, and David swore.
The woman then claimed his decision convicts himself, since he has not brought his banished one home. We must all die, but God devises means so that exiles will not remain an outcast. She knew the king would set her at rest for he is like the angel of God to discern good and evil. He asked if Joab sent her, and she confirmed he wants to change the course of things, but David has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth.