Commentary - 2 Samuel 20:14-22

Bird's-eye view

This passage concludes the brief but dangerous rebellion of Sheba the son of Bichri. After the national trauma of Absalom's revolt, this subsequent uprising represents a significant threat to the newly restored kingdom of David. The narrative demonstrates the stark contrast between two methods of problem-solving: the brute force of warfare, represented by Joab's siege, and the shrewd application of covenantal wisdom, embodied by an unnamed woman from the city of Abel. The conflict is resolved not by a bloody assault that would have destroyed an Israelite city, but by a wise negotiation that isolates the single guilty party. The incident serves as a powerful illustration of corporate responsibility, the preciousness of God's covenant people (the inheritance of Yahweh), and the profound truth that godly wisdom can triumph where mere force would bring ruin. Justice is served, the rebellion is quashed, and the city is spared, all through the courageous intervention of one wise woman.

At its heart, this is a story about how to properly handle sin in the camp. A man of Belial threatens the peace of Israel, and the entire nation is thrown into turmoil. The solution required both the unyielding resolve of a general like Joab and the sharp, theological mind of a woman who understood her city's place in the covenant. It is a practical, on-the-ground lesson in applying God's law to preserve the people of God.

Outline

Context In 2 Samuel

This episode occurs in the immediate aftermath of Absalom's rebellion. The kingdom is fragile. Tensions between the northern tribes (Israel) and the southern tribe (Judah) are raw, as seen in the squabble over who would have the honor of bringing King David back to Jerusalem (2 Sam 19:41-43). Sheba, a Benjamite, exploits this tribal friction to launch his own revolt, shouting, "We have no portion in David." This is not just a minor skirmish; it is a direct challenge to the Davidic covenant and the unity of the nation. David tasks Amasa with putting down the rebellion, but when Amasa dallies, the ruthless but effective Joab takes matters into his own hands, murdering Amasa and assuming command of the army. Our passage picks up with Joab, David's enforcer, having cornered the rebel Sheba in the northern city of Abel Beth-maacah. The stage is set for a bloody confrontation that threatens to punish an entire city for the sin of one man.

Key Issues

The Head and the Wall

There are times when the preservation of a nation, a city, or a church requires a bloody bit of business. The modern church is often squeamish about this, preferring a peace that is no peace at all to the kind of sharp, decisive action that actually resolves a conflict. In this story, the problem is a rebel, a son of Belial named Sheba. He is a cancer in the body politic of Israel. Joab, the hard-headed general, comes to cut out the cancer, but his methods are crude. He is ready to perform major surgery with a battle-axe, destroying the entire city to get to the tumor. But then a wise woman intervenes. She doesn't argue for sentimentality. She doesn't say, "Can't we all just get along?" No, she argues for a more precise, more intelligent, more just form of surgery. She understands that the city has a corporate responsibility to deal with the evil in its midst. The result is that the head of the problem is separated from its body and thrown over the wall. The problem is solved, justice is done, and the people of God are preserved. This is a story about how true peace is achieved not by ignoring evil, but by confronting it with wisdom and cutting it off at the neck.

Verse by Verse Commentary

14-15 Now he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, even Beth-maacah, and all the Berites; and they were assembled and also came after him. So they came and besieged him in Abel Beth-maacah, and they cast up a siege ramp against the city, and it stood by the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab were wreaking destruction in order to cause the wall to fall.

Sheba's rebellion is short-lived. He rallies some malcontents but finds no real traction among the tribes. He is a man on the run, and Joab, relentless as ever, pursues him to the northern frontier city of Abel. The scene is one of imminent destruction. A siege ramp is a massive earthen structure built to allow attackers to scale the city walls. It is a sign of total commitment to the city's annihilation. Joab's men are already battering the walls, determined to bring them down. From the perspective of the citizens of Abel, this is a catastrophe. They are about to be destroyed because they gave refuge, perhaps unwillingly, to a traitor. This is what happens when God's established order is threatened; the instruments of that order move to crush the threat, and collateral damage is a real and present danger.

16-17 Then a wise woman called from the city, “Hear, hear! Please tell Joab, ‘Draw near that I may speak with you.’ ” So he drew near to her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” And he answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your maidservant.” And he answered, “I am listening.”

Out of the chaos and noise of the siege, a single voice emerges. Not a captain or a mayor, but a "wise woman." She is not named, because her identity is not the point; her wisdom is. She demonstrates immediate courage and authority. She shouts for the attention of the commanding general, and she gets it. Her approach is a model of respectful but firm engagement. She confirms his identity and then requests a hearing, identifying herself humbly as his "maidservant." Joab, for all his ferocity, is not a fool. He recognizes that this is an unusual development and agrees to listen. This is the pivot point of the entire story. The battering rams are silenced for a moment, and a conversation begins.

18-19 Then she spoke, saying, “Formerly they used to speak in this way, saying, ‘They will surely ask advice at Abel,’ and thus they ended the dispute. I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You are seeking to put to death a city, even a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the inheritance of Yahweh?”

This is a masterclass in covenantal rhetoric. The woman makes three powerful points. First, she appeals to her city's historic reputation for wisdom. Abel was apparently a place known for settling disputes. She is saying, "We are people who solve problems with words, not swords. Let's do that now." Second, she identifies herself and her people with the faithful remnant of the covenant: "I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel." She is not siding with the rebel. She is establishing her credentials as a loyal citizen of God's kingdom. She calls her city a "mother in Israel," a source of life and stability for the nation. Third, and most devastatingly, she reframes the entire conflict in theological terms. Joab is not just attacking a city; he is seeking to "swallow up the inheritance of Yahweh." This land, this city, these people, they do not belong to David or to Joab. They belong to God. To destroy them would be an act of sacrilege, an attack on God's own possession. She puts Joab's actions on trial before the bar of God's covenant.

20-21 And Joab answered and said, “Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy! Such is not the case. But a man from the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give him over alone, and I will go from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.”

Joab's response is immediate and emphatic. "Far be it, far be it from me!" He is shocked at the charge of destroying God's inheritance. His intentions, he insists, are not destructive but judicial. He is not making war on Abel; he is enforcing the king's justice against a single traitor. He names the man: "Sheba the son of Bichri." The problem is specific, and therefore the solution can be specific. He lays out the simple terms: surrender the guilty man, and the city will be spared. The woman does not hesitate. She understands the principle of substitutionary justice. One man must die for the people. She accepts the terms immediately and promises a graphic confirmation of compliance: "Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall." This is not a time for half-measures.

22 Then the woman came to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they were scattered from the city, each to his tent. Joab also returned to the king at Jerusalem.

The woman now turns from the general outside the wall to the people within. The text emphasizes that she approached them "in her wisdom." She must have persuaded them that harboring a rebel was corporate suicide and that justice demanded his execution. The people of the city agree. They act decisively, executing the traitor, cutting off his head, and tossing it over the wall to Joab. This is the grisly proof that the rebellion is over. Joab, true to his word, immediately sounds the trumpet to end the siege. His army dissolves, with every man returning home. The crisis is averted. Joab returns to Jerusalem, his mission accomplished not through slaughter, but through the surgical removal of the source of the infection. Order is restored to the kingdom.

Application

This story is a permanent lesson for the church on how to handle rebellion, heresy, and divisive sin in our midst. We live in a sentimental age that often confuses mercy with tolerance of evil. But the Bible teaches that the preservation of the whole often requires the decisive judgment of the part that threatens to corrupt it.

First, we see the necessity of confronting evil. Joab was right to pursue Sheba. The church must not allow men of Belial to sow discord and rebellion without consequence. Church discipline is not an optional extra; it is the immune system of the body of Christ. Second, we learn that wisdom is superior to brute force. The wise woman did not have an army, but she had a theological argument that stopped an army in its tracks. The church's greatest weapons are not worldly power, but the wisdom of God's Word, rightly applied. We need men and women who can, like her, appeal to our covenant identity and call us back to our senses.

Finally, we learn about corporate responsibility. The city of Abel was innocent of starting the rebellion, but they became guilty when they harbored the rebel. They saved themselves by taking responsibility and purging the evil from their midst. A church that tolerates heresy or unrepentant sin in a member, particularly a leader, becomes a participant in that sin. The loving thing to do, for the sake of the whole body, is to cut off the offending member. The goal is always restorative, but it requires a willingness to perform the painful surgery. Like the people of Abel, we must be willing to throw the head of our rebellion over the wall, so that the "inheritance of Yahweh" might be preserved in peace and faithfulness.