Bible Commentaries
2 Samuel 20

Verses 1-26

Chapter 20

But in chapter twenty, this division is manifested by this particular fellow by the name of Sheba, who is of the tribe of Benjamin. And he blew a trumpet in Israel, which was always a signal gathering people to his cause.

He said, We have no part with David, nor of the son of Jesse: every man to your tent, O Israel. [In other words he was calling for a rebellion against David.] And so every man of Israel left David, and went up to follow Sheba: but the men of Judah stuck with their king. And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and he took the ten women who he had left in charge who were his concubines, [who were humiliated by Absalom there on the roof,] and David put them in a ward, and he fed them, but he would not have relations with them after that. So they were as though living in widowhood from that time on ( 2 Samuel 20:1-3 ).

Now David had asked Amasa to be one of his generals over his army. Amasa was the one who was the general under Absalom. But when Absalom was killed, David asked him to be one of his generals, but Joab really wanted nothing to do with that.

And so David said to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and present them here. So Amasa went out to assemble the men of Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which had been appointed. And David said to Abishai, Now will Sheba do us more harm than Absalom did: take thou the lord's servants, pursue thou after them, lest he gets into fenced cities and escapes us. So there went out after him Joab's men, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all were mighty men: and they all went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. And when they were at a great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab's garment that he had put on was girded to him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins and a sheath thereof; and he went forth and it fell out. And Joab said to Amasa, Are you in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa did not take heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, [or in the heart] and he killed Amasa. So Joab and his brother Abishai pursued after Sheba. And one of Joab's men stood by him, and he said, He that favors Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab. And Amasa wallowed in his own blood there in the midst of the highway. And each man that came up sort of stopped, so they finally threw his body over in the bushes and covered it. And Joab went ahead, pursuing after Sheba who got into a city. And Joab set up to besiege the city. Then a wise woman within the city said, Listen to me; why should you destroy a whole city in Israel, and all of us mothers of Israel. Joab said, [Hey, I don't want to destroy you. I only want that guy that rebelled against David. And she said, "Well, just wait, and we'll give him to you." So she talked to the men of the town. She said, "Look, why should we get wiped out? You know these guys are tough, they'll wipe out our city. Why should we shelter this guy Sheba, just because he wants to do his own thing against David?] And so they cut off Sheba's head, and tossed it over the wall to Joab, and Joab returned then unto David without attacking the city ( 2 Samuel 20:4-22 ). "