Sheba’s rebellion crushed
20
📚And there happened to be a wicked man 📖 there, whose name was Sheba. He was the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. And he blew a trumpet and said, “We have no part in David, nor do we have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, O Israel!” 2 📚So every man of Israel went away from David and followed Sheba, the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah stayed with their king, from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
20:2 A brief time before (2 Sam 19:43) the men of these northern tribes insisted they had ten shares in David. Now they say they have none. The affection of the masses is a fickle thing (Num 14:10; 1 Sam 30:6; Matt 27:20-26).⚜
3 📚And David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, his concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and put them under guard and provided for them, but he did not go in to them. So they were confined to the day of their death, living as widows.
4 📚Then the king said to Amasa 📖, “Assemble the men of Judah for me within three days, and you be present here”. 5 📚So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah, but he stayed away longer than the set time 📖 which David had fixed for him.
6 📚And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba, the son of Bichri, will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your lord’s servants and pursue him, so that he does not get away into fortified cities and escape us”.
20:6 David turned for help again to one of the sons of Zeruiah who were “too much” for him, whom he had called “adversaries” (2 Sam 19:21-22). Indeed they were adversaries of everything gentle, humble, and spiritual.⚜
7 📚And Joab’s men and the Kerethites and the Pelethites 📖 and all the mighty men went out after him, and they left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.
8 📚When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. And Joab was dressed in his military tunic, and over it was a belt with a sword fastened to his waist in its scabbard. And as he went on it fell out.
9 📚And Joab said to Amasa, “Are you in good health, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him 📖. 10 📚But Amasa paid no attention to the sword that was in Joab’s hand, so he struck him with it in the stomach, and spilled out his bowels onto the ground and did not strike him again. And he died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba, the son of Bichri.
11 📚And one of Joab’s men stood near him and said, “Whoever favours Joab and whoever is for David, let him go after Joab”. 12 📚And Amasa was wallowing in blood in the middle of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he moved Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a cloth over him, seeing that everyone who came near him stood still. 13 📚When he had been moved out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.
14 📚And he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth-Maachah 📖 and all the Berites, and they were gathered together and also went after him. 15 📚And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-Maachah, and they threw up a mound against the city, and it stood by the wall; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to bring it down. 16 📚Then a wise woman cried out from the city, “Listen! Listen! Please say to Joab, ‘Come near here, so that I may speak with you.’ ” 17 📚And when he had come near her, the woman said, “Are you Joab?”
And he answered, “I am”.
Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your maid servant”.
And he answered, “I am listening”.
18 📚Then she spoke, saying, “In olden times they used to speak, saying, ‘They will surely ask counsel at Abel’ and so they ended any dispute. 19 📚I am one of the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You are seeking to destroy a city and a mother 📖 in Israel. Why would you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?”
20 📚And Joab answered and said, “Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. 21 📚The case is not like that; but a man from Mount Ephraim, Sheba by name, the son of Bichri, has raised his hand against the king, against David. Only hand him over, and I will depart from the city”.
And the woman said to Joab, “Look, his head will be thrown to you over the wall”. 22 📚Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba, the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they withdrew from the city, each man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem 📖 to the king.
David's Officers
23 📚Now Joab was over all the army of Israel, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and over the Pelethites, 24 📚and Adoram 📖 was over the tribute, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder, 25 📚and Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests, 26 📚and Ira the Jairite also was a minister under David.