14:31 Then Joab got up and came to Absalom’s house. He said to him, “Why did your servants set my portion of field on fire?”
1 tc The LXX adds here the following words: “And the servants of Absalom burned them up. And the servants of Joab came to him, rending their garments. They said….”
2 tn The word “Joab’s” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 sn Refusal to obey the king was risky even for a queen in the ancient world. It is not clear why Vashti behaved so rashly and put herself in such danger. Apparently she anticipated humiliation of some kind and was unwilling to subject herself to it, in spite of the obvious dangers. There is no justification in the biblical text for an ancient Jewish targumic tradition that the king told her to appear before his guests dressed in nothing but her royal high turban, that is, essentially naked.
4 tn Heb “at the word of the king”; NASB “at the king’s command.”
5 tn Heb “burned in him” (so KJV).
6 tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.