A REBELLION SUPPRESSED - 2 SAMUEL 20

 

Amasa Fails To Do His Duty

20:4-5

David saw Sheba and his followers as a threat to his reign. He wanted to suppress the rebellion immediately. He may have overestimated the strength of the rebels, be he took it seriously and acted decisively.

He told Amasa, commander of the army, to assemble the men of Judah and bring them to Jerusalem to begin an attack on Sheba. It is a stark contrast to his handling of Absalom. 

So Amasa left to do this, but did get it done on time. 

David Turns To Abishai

20:6-7

When Amasa did not return on time, David recruited Abishai to do the job. He had been David’s commander in exile. David was worried about Sheba getting away and starting another war. So Abishai took off in pursuit of Sheba. David wanted him caught before he could take refuge in a fortified city.

Abishai took David’s “servants” with him. These were the men who stayed around David all of the time. There were the Cherethites and Pelethites, David’s personal body guards. 

There were also the “mighty men”, the 30 great warriors. You can read about them in 1 Chronicles 11. Abishai was the chief (leader) of the mighty men as a great warrior. Finally, there were the men of Joab, those fighters who had stayed with him after Amasa was made the commander of the army. 

The End Of Amasa

20:8-13

Amasa finally appeared, meeting Abishai and David’s servants at Gibeon. He may have brought some men from Judah with him. Amasa met them at the great stone in Gibeon. 

Gibeon was about six miles north of Jerusalem. When the ark of the covenant was captured by the Philistines, the tabernacle was moved from Shiloh to Gibeon. The altar of the tabernacle at Gibeon was used for sacrificial worship (1 Chronicles 16:39; 21:29; 1 Kings 3:2–4), until Solomon brought the tabernacle and its furnishings furnishings to Jerusalem to furnish the Temple (1 Kings 8:4).

The great stone may be the stone Saul set up and made sacrifices on after the people sinned there. (1 Samuel 14:33) It seems to have remained a place of worship. David put Zadok there to offer sacrifices after bringing the ark to Jerusalem. (1 Chronicles 16:39) Solomon offered sacrifices there also. (1 Kings 3:4) 

Joab murdered Amasa after greeting him as a brother. He left his body in the road, lying in his blood. Joab then joined his brother Abishai in the pursuit of Sheba.  

Then one of Joab’s “young men” (part of the group that killed Absalom?) rallied the people to follow Joab, either because they favored Joab as commander or because they were loyal to David. (11) They did, after Amasa’s body was removed from the road. The men of Judah followed Joab to pursue Sheba. 

The End Of Sheba

20:14-22

Sheba headed north. His family joined him (the Bichrites). Evidently, the other Israelites declined to follow him. Having just lost a battle against David’s forces, they did not want another confrontation. Sheba and his family made it to the walled city of Abel of Beth-macaah in the far north of Israel.

Joab and his fighters followed and began a siege of the city. They built mounds, or ramps, of dirt and hauled up battering rams to attack the wall. It would only be a matter of time before they breached the wall and sacked the city.

However, a wise woman intervened on behalf of the city. (16) She asked to address Joab and he listened to her. She claimed that she and the others in the city were loyal to the king. She also claimed the city was known for its wisdom. She asked Joab why he would destroy such a city.

Joab denied his desire to destroy the city. He claimed only to want Sheba for opposing David. He offered to withdraw from the city if they delivered Sheba to him. The woman went beyond that. She convinced her people to kill Sheba, behead him, and throw his head to Joab. It worked. Joab withdrew the army.

David’s Administration

20:23-26

The author closes this chapter with a summary of David’s administration. 

Joab resumed his office of commander of the army. This had to be an uncomfortable situation, as Joab has now killed Abner, Absalom, and Amasa in contravention of David’s desires. 

Benaiah, not Joab, was in command of David’s personal guard, the Cherethites and Pelethites. Benaiah was also one of the 30 mighty men. (23:28) 

Adoram supervised the forced labor. These were likely captives kept as slaves. 

There was a recorder and a secretary. Zadok and Abiathar remained as priests, probably sharing the role of high priest. David also had a personal priest named Ira the Jairite. 

Takeaways

David is back to acting like a king. He suppressed rebellion. He established his administration and attempted to stabilize the country.

God has continued to keep his covenant with David, restoring him to the throne. Notice also the grace of God. He protected Israel from other countries while Israel was in turmoil internally. It would have been the perfect time for an enemy to attack Israel, but none did. 

DAVID'S JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM - 2 SAMUEL 19:16-20:3

David Spares Shimei

19:16-23

As David began the journey from Gilgal to Jerusalem, he had several personal encounters. The first is with the Benjamite man, Shimei. You might remember that Shimei confronted David as he ascended the Mount of Olives. He threw rocks and dirt and cursed David.

Now Shimei realizes that David, restored as king, might retaliate. So, he made a show of appearing with 1,000 men from Benjamin to help David and his entourage cross the Jordan. Shimei was from the tribe of Joseph. He made sure to tell David he was the first of the people from the northern kingdom to welcome him. He acknowledged that he acted wrongfully and begged David’s forgiveness.

Predictably, Abishai thought Shimei should be executed for cursing the LORD’s anointed. But, David spared his life, evidently because he did not want the day of his restoration to be one of bloodshed. 

But David did not actually forgive Shimei. He later instructed Solomon to “bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol”. (1 Kings 2:8-9)

David And Ziba

19:17-18

Ziba, who had provided for David as he left Jerusalem, also appeared with his sons and servants. The writer says they “rushed” to meet David. They sought to help David and his family cross the river and come back home. 

David And Mephibosheth

19:24-30

The next person to shown to appear was Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, for whom David had provided. He actually met David in Jerusalem. (25) This means this encounter happened later. He was unkempt, not having groomed himself since David left Jerusalem, presumably as a form of grieving. 

David asked Mephibosheth why he had not gone with David out of Jerusalem. Mephibosheth blamed it on Ziba, saying he did not help the crippled man onto a donkey and then slandered him to David. 

Mephibosheth further said David was like an angel of God for taking care of him, so he could do whatever seemed right to him. David did not declare for one man over the other, but divided their land between them. 

This seems to be a matter of pragmatism rather than justice. 

If David believed Mephibosheth, he should have restored all of his property. But, Ziba was a man of wealth and helpful to David, so David only restored half.

Mephibosheth even said Ziba could have it all, that he was just glad David was home.

David and Barzillai

19:31—40

Barzillai is the man who provided a great deal of food to sustain David and his people in exile. (17:27) He returned to escort David over the river. David invited him to come with him to Jerusalem so that David could provide for him there in gratitude for all he had done.

But Barzillai declined, citing his old age. He just wanted to go home and die there. As an alternative, Barzillai offered a man named Chimham who was also loyal to David. David agreed.

Then the whole group crossed the Jordan: David, his household, at least some of the army, Shimei and a thousand Benjamites, and the people of Judah.

David And The Men of Israel

19:41-43

All of Israel apparently wanted David to return to Jerusalem as king. However, David only invited Judah. Notice that the northern tribes are referred to collectively as Israel in contrast to the one tribe of Judah. This mirrors the future division of the kingdom under Rehoboam (son of Solomon). 

When men of Israel arrived, they complained to the tribe of Judah about being left out. A heated argument ensued. Judah said they did it because David was a close relative, but they did not receive anything from David. That did not pacify Israel. They felt that as a greater number of tribes, they had more claim to David. Plus, they were the first to speak of bringing David back. Nonetheless, Judah prevailed and the resentment remained in Israel.

Notice that David did not intervene. Either he was being passive, or he wanted the solid support of Judah and was willing to take his chances with the rest of Israel.

Israel Rebels

20:1-2

The resentment of Israel turned into a rebellion. Sheba, from the tribe of Benjamin, called for them to withdraw from the procession of David’s supporters to Jerusalem. So, Israel did so, following Sheba. 

Judah remained loyal to David and accompanied him to Jerusalem.

David And The Concubines

20:3

Finally, David made it back to his house. He had left 10 concubines there to take care of the house in his absence. Absalom then made a show of having sex with all of them. (16:22)

David gave them their own house. He provided for them. He posted a guard to protect them.  But, he did not resume sexual relations with them. 

It seems that David acted compassionately toward the concubines. But, the language saying they were “shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood” makes it sound like they were prisoners. They were reminders of Nathan’s words to David, that his wives would be given to another. Likely, he did not want that reminder every day. 

Takeaways

The Lord restored David to the throne, continuing to work with and through David to accomplish his purposes.

Sin can have painful consequences. 

Consequences often are God’s way of working for our sanctification.

THE AFTERMATH: 2 SAMUEL 18:19-19:15

 

David Gets The News

18:19-32

Since the army of Abaslom had been defeated by the army of David, Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok the priest, wanted to run to Jerusalem and inform David. Zadok and his sons remained loyal to David after Absalom assumed the throne. They carried messages to David to warn him of the plan to attack. Now he wants to bring good news of victory. 

Ahimaaz assumed the hand of the Lord in this victory, saying: “the LORD has delivered him from the hand of his enemies”. 

Joab did not let Ahimaaz do this. He understood what the death of Absalom would do to David and did not want to expose Ahimaaz to harm for the being the messenger of bad news. (20) Joab was ruthless toward enemies, but protective of friends. 

Instead, Joab ordered a Cushite man to do it. Cush was an area roughly corresponding to Ethiopia. It was named after a grandson of Noah, the son of Ham. The Cushite took off running.

Ahimaaz persisted in asking to run, regardless of the consequences. He seemed to feel a duty to David. Joab relented and let him run. He took a different route than the Cushite and got to Jerusalem first.(23)

David was waiting for news, sitting between the inner and outer gates to the city. He saw a man running toward the city. He knew a lone runner must be the bearer of news. The watchman recognized him as Ahimaaz. David assumed he came with good news because he was a good man. The watchman then saw the Cushite running behind Ahimaaz. 

Ahimaaz told David the news of victory. David immediately asked about the welfare of Absalom. Amazingly, he seemed more interested in the status of his rebel son than the victory of his army and the restoration of his kingship.

Ahimaaz avoided answering David’s question, stating that there was a commotion, but he did not know what it was about. The Cushite, however, relayed the full story, saying that Absalom had been slain.

David Mourns

18:33-19:4

David immediately began intense mourning for Absalom, going up into the chamber above the gate and repeatedly crying out and wishing he had died rather than Absalom. 

The New Jerusalem Bible is more graphic. It says David shuddered and burst into tears. 

David’s grief may have been so intense because he felt guilty. Nathan the prophet told him a consequence of his sins would be that the sword would not depart from his house. (12:10)

David did not greet the returning troups and did not address them. He was consumed by his grief. The troops basically entered the city quietly and went to their homes as if they were ashamed.

Joab Rebukes David

19:5-8a

Joab is ever the clear minded, decisive leader. He confronted David for wallowing in his misplaced grief. He accused David of shaming all those who loved and supported him and loving those who hate him (referring to Absalom).

Joab also told David that, if he did not act immediately, all of his troops and supporters would leave him, exposing him to great harm. The seemed to get through to David. He got up and took his seat in the gate, allowing the people to come to him. 

Notice also that David did not give God thanks for the victory as he had previously done. He did not give God credit for the victory either. 

David Restored To The Throne

19:8b-15

After losing the battle to David’s forces, the Israelites who had fought for Absalom went to their homes. The lack of a king to lead the country was troublesome to them. They recognized what David had done for them in the past. Since Absalom was dead, they began to say that someone needed to bring David back.

On his part, David began to engage in diplomacy. He sent messages to the elders of his tribe, Judah, encouraging them to bring him back since they were his relatives. He even agreed to make Amasa the commander of the army in place of Joab even though Amasa had been Absalom’s commander. 

David needed the support of his own tribe as a starting place to retake the throne and unify Israel under his leadership. They had turned against him, but he offered reconciliation. The appointment of Amasa was a sign of his good will. 

Since Joab had been David’s supporter and advisor, appointing Amasa as commander was a big deal. It might also have been a way for David to retaliate against Joab’s killing of Absalom. (Spoiler alert: Joab is not done yet.)

David’s diplomacy was successful. The tribe of Judah asked him to return to Jerusalem. They also came out to meet him and accompany him over the Jordan River as he headed toward Jerusalem. 

Notice, though, that Judah did not invite the other tribes of Israel to join them despite the fact that people from all over Israel were agreeable to David’s return. It seems that the division between Judah and the other tribes is never fully obliterated.  

Takeaways

David’s emotions hindered his ability to perform as king.

God used a flawed man (Joab) to get David back on track. 

It is wise to listen to counsel - “in an abundance of counselors there is safety” - Proverbs 27:9

God continues to work even when his people stumble.