2 Samuel 20 – Study
For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.
Passage: 2 Sam 20:1-23
1 Now a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bikri, a Benjaminite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and shouted,
‘We have no share in David,
no part in Jesse’s son!
Every man to his tent, Israel!’
2 So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bikri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
3 When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them but had no sexual relations with them. They were kept in confinement till the day of their death, living as widows.
4 Then the king said to Amasa, ‘Summon the men of Judah to come to me within three days, and be here yourself.’ 5 But when Amasa went to summon Judah, he took longer than the time the king had set for him.
6 David said to Abishai, ‘Now Sheba son of Bikri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your master’s men and pursue him, or he will find fortified cities and escape from us.’ 7 So Joab’s men and the Kerethites and Pelethites and all the mighty warriors went out under the command of Abishai. They marched out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.
8 While they were at the great rock in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was wearing his military tunic, and strapped over it at his waist was a belt with a dagger in its sheath. As he stepped forward, it dropped out of its sheath.
9 Joab said to Amasa, ‘How are you, my brother?’ Then Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 Amasa was not on his guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab plunged it into his belly, and his intestines spilled out on the ground. Without being stabbed again, Amasa died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bikri.
11 One of Joab’s men stood beside Amasa and said, ‘Whoever favours Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab!’ 12 Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the road, and the man saw that all the troops came to a halt there. When he realised that everyone who came up to Amasa stopped, he dragged him from the road into a field and threw a garment over him. 13 After Amasa had been removed from the road, everyone went on with Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.
14 Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth Maakah and through the entire region of the Bikrites, who gathered together and followed him. 15 All the troops with Joab came and besieged Sheba in Abel Beth Maakah. They built a siege ramp up to the city, and it stood against the outer fortifications. While they were battering the wall to bring it down, 16 a wise woman called from the city, ‘Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come here so that I can speak to him.’ 17 He went towards her, and she asked, ‘Are you Joab?’
‘I am,’ he answered.
She said, ‘Listen to what your servant has to say.’
‘I’m listening,’ he said.
18 She continued, ‘Long ago they used to say, “Get your answer at Abel,” and that settled it. 19 We are the peaceful and faithful in Israel. You are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why do you want to swallow up the Lord’s inheritance?’
20 ‘Far be it from me!’ Joab replied, ‘Far be it from me to swallow up or destroy! 21 That is not the case. A man named Sheba son of Bikri, from the hill country of Ephraim, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Hand over this one man, and I’ll withdraw from the city.’
The woman said to Joab, ‘His head will be thrown to you from the wall.’
22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bikri and threw it to Joab. So he sounded the trumpet, and his men dispersed from the city, each was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; 24 Adoniram was in charge of forced labour; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 25 Sheva was secretary; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 26 and Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.returning to his home. And Joab went back to the king in Jerusalem.
23 Joab was over Israel’s entire army; Benaiah son of Jehoiada
A. Find Out:
- What happened next in Israel? v.1,2
- Who did David send to deal with it, but what happened? v.4,5
- So who did he next send, and what happened? v.6-10
- Where did Sheba flee to and what did Joab do? v.14,15
- How was Sheba eventually taken? v.16-22
B. Think:
- How does chapter 20 flow on naturally from chapter 19?
- How was it even having an effect in David’s own men?
- Why do you think it was necessary to pursue Sheba?
C. Comment:
We read yesterday how Absalom’s revolt had caused general upset in Israel with people taking sides. However, some people were not content to merely talk about it, Sheba actually causes further rebellion. David knows that if this is not dealt with it will cause a total fragmentation of the kingdom.
He therefore sends Amasa to call his men together to get ready to go to sort the trouble out. However, it would appear that the same casual approach to David has also infected Amasa for he fails to do what he is told by his king with the result that David has to send others out to do the job.
When Abishai and Joab go they encounter Amasa on the way and Joab, in his somewhat usual manner, takes matters into his own hands and exercises summary judgement and kills Amasa and leaves him in the road for all to see. It is left to some of the other soldiers to carry him to the side and cover him. Joab continues in pursuit and the end result is the death of the rebel. What do we observe here?
First we see the unsettling of the kingdom under David as a result of his earlier sin. Second we see Joab acting in a way that we know, from what we have seen of David so far, is very far from what David would have wanted. There is an air of confusion and lawlessness here, which are the fruits of sin.
D. Application:
- Sin destabilizes society.
- Lawlessness follows that.