2 Samuel 20--The Rebellion of Sheba

2 Samuel 20
English Standard Version

The Rebellion of Sheba
20 Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said,
“We have no portion in David,
and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse;
every man to his tents, O Israel!”

2 So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.

4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.” 5 So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed him. 6 And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us.” 7 And there went out after him Joab's men and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. 8 When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier's garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out. 9 And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab's hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died.

Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. 11 And one of Joab's young men took his stand by Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.” 12 And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway. And anyone who came by, seeing him, stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him. 13 When he was taken out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

14 And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah, and all the Bichrites assembled and followed him in. 15 And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah. They cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart, and they were battering the wall to throw it down. 16 Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, ‘Come here, that I may speak to you.’” 17 And he came near her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” And he answered, “I am listening.” 18 Then she said, “They used to say in former times, ‘Let them but ask counsel at Abel,’ and so they settled a matter. 19 I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the heritage of the LORD?” 20 Joab answered, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy! 21 That is not true. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, called Sheba the son of Bichri, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give up him alone, and I will withdraw from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head shall 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. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, every man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

23 Now Joab was in command of all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites; 24 and Adoram was in charge of the forced labor; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; 25 and Sheva was secretary; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 26 and Ira the Jairite was also David's priest.

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Things were looking so good for a few minutes, but then another "worthless man" took advantage of the division that happened last chapter--no surprise that this man was of the tribe of Benjamin, the same as King Saul was--and blew the trumpet to gather the people to himself so that he could be king over Israel.  He refused to submit to the authority of King David and encouraged everyone else to also rebel.  It wasn't hard to convince Israel to follow Sheba from the Jordan to Jerusalem, but this time David did not retreat--he pressed on towards Jerusalem to take on Sheba and the rebellious Israelites.

When David got to Jerusalem, he made sure to give food and other provisions to the concubines who had been keeping his house, but he did not go into them at that time, or ever again, but instead shut them up in his house to protect them from the invading forces.  He left them under guard to keep them safe, but it seems he never returned to them to have relations with any of them ever again, though he remained alive, it would be as if he were dead to them.  The text describes this as saying they lived as if they were widows, though David was still very much alive.

David called to the commander of his army (this is now Amasa and not Joab), and tells him to rally all the men of Judah for war and have them come together within three days, however, Amasa himself somehow missed the deadline set by David, so the troops were led into battle by the second-in-command, Joab's brother Abishai.  They were joined by Joab's men as well as all the special forces we talked about before that were made up of non-Israelite fighting men who had bound themselves to David in the past.  When they got to Gibeon, Amasa and the forces he had gathered joined up with with Abishai and Joab and their forces.  Joab decided to take the opportunity to eliminate his competition, for Joab had previously been the commander of the armies of Israel and believed that position should still belong to him.  David removed him from that position after Joab had murdered Absalom and because Judah hesitated to come back to David with Joab still in command (we can see now why that was, because Joab is as much a murderer as he is a soldier).  Joab pretended to great Amasa and then when Amasa got close, Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard and killed him with a sword that he had hidden (probably a short sword).  The first blow was enough to make Amasa fall to the ground and die.

Joab and Abishai pursued the rebels, and one of Joab's young men stood by Amasa's body encouraging the soldiers to swear allegiance both the Joab and to David.  Since Amas's body was in the open roadway, everyone who passed by stopped to look at the body, but eventually the man (presumably the young man of Joab's forces that was encouraging the other soldiers to follow Joab's lead) saw the distraction this was causing and covered Amasa with some clothing and put him in a field so that the soldiers would not be distracted.  After this, all the soldiers followed after Joab and Abishai and pursued Sheba and his forces.

Sheba and his men took refuge in a city called Abel that was an old city known for the wisdom that its people had.  Apparently people used to come from far away to seek their advice on difficult issues.  When Joab and his men started to lay siege to the city, a wise woman from the city called for Joab and asked him why he wanted to destroy and swallow up such an important city and kill all the people there.  He revealed to the woman that he wasn't interested in the city, only in Sheba, for he had rebelled against King David, and Joab would be more than happy to call off the siege if the city would deliver up Sheba to him.  The woman understands and says that Joab should expect the head of Sheba to be thrown over the wall soon.  The people of the city agree with the wisdom of the woman, and when the head of Sheba was thrown over the wall to Joab, Joab blew the trumpet to announce the end of hostilities, and every man returned to his own home.  Joab then returned to Jerusalem to the king (he's going to have to make up some story about what happened to Amasa and explain why it was that he was once again leading the army).

The text doesn't tell us what Joab said to David, but apparently it was enough for David to reinstate him as commander of the armies of Israel because a list of the king's cabinet is given at the end of this section, and Joab is listed among them.  It would seem that the others who were in battle with them did not snitch on Joab or if they did that David turned a blind-eye to what Joab did this time.  Even if Joab escaped justice here on earth, he will still answer to the LORD for what he did.  It will be good for David to have Joab back in command again as there will be many more battles for he and David to fight together.  We'll talk about some of them the in the next couple of passages