2 Samuel 20

19 1 And it was told Joab, Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom. 2 And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people : for the people heard 3 say that day, The king grieveth for his son. And the people gat them by stealth that day into 4 the city, as people that are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. And the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son ! 5 And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy 6 daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines ; in that thou lovest them that hate thee, and hatest them that love thee. For thou hast declared this day, that princes and servants are nought unto thee : for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all 7 we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably unto thy servants : for I swear by the LORD, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry a man with thee this night : and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that hath 8 befallen thee from thy youth until now. Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate : and all the people came before the king. 9 Now Israel had fled every man to his tent. And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines ; and now he is fled out of the land from Absalom. 10 And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back ? 11 And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house ? seeing the speech of all 12 Israel is come to the king, to bring him to his house. Ye are my brethren, ye are my bone and 13 my flesh : wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king ? And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not my bone and my flesh ? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the 14 host before me continually in the room of Joab. And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man ; so that they sent unto the king, saying, Return thou, and 15 all thy servants. So the king returned, and came to Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over Jordan. 16 And Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, which was of Bahurim, hasted and came down 17 with the men of Judah to meet king David. And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants 18 with him ; and they went through Jordan in the presence of the king. And there went over a ferry boat to bring over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei 19 the son of Gera fell down before the king, when he was come over Jordan. And he said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should 20 take it to his heart. For thy servant doth know that I have sinned ; therefore, behold, I am 21 come this day the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, be- 22 cause he cursed the LORD’s anointed ? And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me ? shall there any man be put to 23 death this day in Israel ? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel ? And the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king swore unto him. 24 And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king ; and he had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until 25 the day he came home in peace. And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore went at not thou with me, Mephibosheth ?

26. And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me : for thy servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go with the king ; because thy servant is lame. 27 And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king ; but my lord the king is as an 28 angel of God : do therefore what is good in thine eyes. For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king : yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more unto the king ? 29 And the king said unto him, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters ? I say, Thou and 30 Ziba divide the land. And Mephibosheth said unto the king, Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come in peace unto his own house. 31 And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim ; and he went over Jordan with the 32 king, to conduct him over Jordan. Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old : and he had provided the king with sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim ; for he was a 33 very great man. And the king said unto Barzillai, Come thou over with me, and I will sustain 34 thee with me in Jerusalem. And Barzillai said unto the king, How many are the days of the 35 years of my life, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem ? I am this day fourscore years old : can I discern between good and bad ? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink ? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women ? wherefore then 36 should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king ? Thy servant would but just go over Jordan with the king : and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward ? 37 Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, by the grave of my father and my mother. But behold, thy servant Chimham ; let him go over with my lord 38 the king ; and do to him what shall seem good unto thee. And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee : and what- 39 soever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for thee. And all the people went over Jordan, and the king went over : and the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him ; and he returned unto his own place. 40 So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went over with him : and all the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel.

1-39. The army, though flushed with victory, stole off like conscious malefactors on hearing of the king’s grief at the death of Absalom. It marks the power of that great moral ascendancy which the king had over their spirits ; yet was he forced to succumb when their rough but resolute commander interposed and compelled the monarch to show himself. One wonders not that he should have meditated to supersede Joab by making Amasa the general in-chief of the forces. The effect of the victory over the tribes of Israel is perfectly in keeping, too, with human nature, and so is the preference of David for being invited first by the men of Judah, as well as the consequent jealousy that broke out in fierce invective between the two great divisions of the nation over which David ruled. We further read of the mighty hold which David had over the hearts of those of his own tribe. This return of the king was followed up by a speedy, but withal most natural reaction on the part of those who had deserted or despitefully treated him in the day of his adversity—among these Shimei makes just the appearance that we should have expected, while the noble reply of David to the suggestion of Abishai carries in it the expression of his antipathy to these coarse and resolute, and withal able and influential men, the sons of Zeruiah. We scarcely know how to account for the king’s award in the case of Mephibosheth, of whom, we might think, he must have entertained some lurking suspicion that he divided his property with the servant who had reported against him. But all is genial and right, and perfectly beautiful in the final settlement which took place between David and Barzillai, wherein the virtues of gratitude and devoted loyalty are so conspicuously blended. T. C.

1-7. The grief of David was as immoderate as it was unseasonable, and showed the intemperate, passionate affection he bore to the unnatural and impious youth. It damped the common joy of his friends and soldiers for the glorious victory, to hear the excessive grief he expressed for his son, insomuch that they almost repented of their success, and stole into the city where David was, as if they had been dishonorably defeated. Chandler.—It was a rash and unadvised utterance of affection. But for the rough faithfulness of Joab, the consequences would have been disastrous. “The victory that day was turned into mourning, for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son.” Every one was discouraged. The man for whom they had risked their lives had not a word of thanks to any of them, and could think of no one but that vile son of his, who was now dead. In the evening Joab came to him, and in his blunt way swore to him that if he was not more affable to the people they would not remain a night longer in his service. W. G. B.

The crisis illustrates the good as well as the bad features of Joab’s character—his loyalty to David and his practical sagacity, as well as his hard, unsympathetic nature. Exaggerated and unfeeling as his speech was, it roused David from the extravagance of his grief to a sense of his duty, and saved him from flinging away the fruits of the victory. A. F. K.—Joab magnifies the services of David’s soldiers: “I his day they have saved thy life, and therefore deserve to be taken notice of, and have reason to resent it if they be not.” It is implied that Absalom, whom he honored with his tears, sought his ruin and the ruin of his family; while those whom by his tears he puts a slight upon, were such as preserved from ruin him and all that was dear to him. He aggravates the discouragement David had given them: “Thou hast shamed their faces, for while they have shown such a value for thy life, thou hast shown no value for theirs, but preferrest a false traitor to his king and country before all thy wise counsellors, brave commanders, and loyal subjects.” He advises him to present himself immediately at the head of his troops, to welcome them home, congratulate their successes, and return them thanks for their services. He threatens him with another rebellion if he would not do this, intimating that, rather than serve so ungrateful a prince, he himself would head a revolt from him, and then “There will not tarry with thee one man.” H.

8. David felt the call of duty—“He arose and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate! And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent.” And very touching it must have been to look on the sad, pale, wasted face of the king, and mark his humble, chastened bearing, and yet to receive from him words of winning kindness that showed him still caring for them and loving them, as a shepherd among his sheep; in no wise exasperated by the insurrection, not breathing forth threatenings and slaughter on those who had taken part against him; but concerned as ever for the welfare of the whole kingdom. W. G. B.

9-15. David, now victorious over a rebel army, had it in his power to take ample revenge on all those whose treachery and bad faith well deserved to be chastised; and if he had pospossessed any malicious or sanguinary feelings, he could now want no pretext for indulging them. But he was governed by very different principles: he knew his son’s rebellion to be the effect of his own guilt, and his recent success to be the fruit of his penitence and humiliation before God; he therefore was moved to no other conduct than prayer and repentance, gratitude and thanksgiving, and a patient, humble expectation of God’s disposal of the event. Nor did he fail of his reward: for it seemed good to the great Governor of the world to turn the hearts of David’s subjects in his favor; insomuch that they now returned to their duty with as much zeal as they had but a few days before rushed into rebellion against him. Delaney.

It is strange that David did not immediately, upon the defeat and dispersion of Absalom’s forces, march with all expedition back to Jerusalem to regain the possession of his capital city while the rebels were all in confusion, and before they could rally again. What occasion was there to bring him back? Could not he himself go back with the victorious army he had with him in Gilead? He could, no doubt; but he would come back as a prince, with the consent and unanimous approbation of the people, and not as a conqueror forcing his way. He would come back in peace and safety, and be sure that he should meet with no difficulty or opposition in his return; and therefore would be satisfied that the people were well affected to him before he would stir. He would come back in honor, and like himself; and therefore would come back, not at the head of his forces, but in the arms of his subjects. H.

The facility with which Absalom had been hailed as king at Hebron, and been joined by such numbers as enabled him to move at once upon Jerusalem, might well justify David in suspecting that the procrastination of the Judahites arose from some disinclination to receive him. The step he did take is, however, of questionable discretion. There was great danger in adopting a course which might indicate to the other tribes that he took a separate interest in Judah; as it was too well remembered that he belonged to it, and that it had for some years been his separate kingdom. He, however, recognized their tribal interest in him by treating with them separately. He sent the two high-priests to incite them to hasten to escort him home, and not to be the last in the general movement. They did so. Though the last to call him, they were the first to escort him; and when they sent to conduct him home, he at once moved forward, without waiting till the other and more distant tribes arrived to take part in this great public act. The dangerous impolicy of this is apparent. The least he could have done was to have waited until the other tribes arrived to concur in this procedure. Kit.

13. Amasa was David’s nephew, the son of his sister or stepsister Abigail. Of course the message was to be privately conveyed to Amasa through the priests. It was a bold stroke of policy to promise the post of commander-in-chief to the general of the rebel army. By so doing, David designed at once to secure the allegiance of that army, and to punish Joab for killing Absalom in defiance of his command. But it was hardly prudent. Joab was certain not to submit to it tamely; Amasa’s military skill was probably inferior, and his loyalty remained to be proved. A. F. K.—Much better would it have been for him to have undertaken the chief duties of Joab’s office himself. But the appointment of Amasa was unwise. A beaten rebel was not a leader whom the troops of David would follow. In eagerness to degrade Joab, the king was degrading himself and his soldiers. Sime.

14. “He bowed the heart of the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man, so that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou, and all thy servants.” From the extreme of backwardness they started to the extreme of forwardness; the last to speak for David, they were the first to act for him; and such was their vehemence in his cause that the evil of national disunion which David dreaded from their indifference actually sprang from their over-impetuous zeal.

15. Thus at length David bade farewell to Mahanaim, and began his journey to Jerusalem. His route in returning was the reverse of that followed in his flight. First he descends the eastern bank of the Jordan as far as opposite Gilgal; then he strikes up through the wilderness the steep ascent to Jerusalem. At Gilgal several events of interest took place. W. G. B.

16-23. A great surprise met David as soon as he had crossed the Jordan on his return. The first to meet him, to proffer his allegiance and devotion, was that very Shimei who had so bitterly insulted him on his mournful retreat from Jerusalem! He fell at the king’s feet, confessed his error, and pleaded for pardon on the ground of his contrition, and of his being the first of the tribe of Benjamin to come forward on this happy occasion. This was important; for he came at the head of a thousand men of the same tribe, all probably, like himself, warm partisans of the house of Saul, and whom he seems to have induced to take part with him in this dedecided act of adhesion. An appeal thus made could not be resisted; and, besides, David was, both from policy and inclination, in a forgiving temper, and felt that it would all become him at such a time to avenge or remember former wrongs. Kit.—His experience of God’s mercy in restoring him to his kingdom, his exclusion from which he attributed to his sin, inclined him to show mercy to Shimei. They that are forgiven, must forgive. David had severely revenged the abuses done to his ambassadors by the Ammonites, but easily passes by the abuse done to himself by an Israelite. That was an affront to Israel and touched the honor of his crown and kingdom; this was purely personal, and, therefore (according to the usual disposition of good men), he could the more easily forgive it. If he should put Shimei to death, who cursed him, they would expect the same fate who had taken up arms and actually levied war against him, which would drive them from him while he was endeavoring to draw them to him. Acts of severity are seldom acts of policy: The throne is established by mercy. Shimei hereupon has his pardon signed and sealed with an oath; yet bound to his good behavior and liable to be prosecuted if he afterward misbehaved; and thus he was reserved to be, in due time, as much a monument of the justice of the government, as he was now of its clemency, and in both of its prudence. H.

24-30. If the reading is right, the meeting between David and Mephibosheth must have taken place in Jerusalem, and is introduced here out of the strictly chronological order, because of the mention of Ziba in verse 17. “Came down” in verse 24 must then be explained “came down from his house in the highlands of Benjamin near Gibeah to Jerusalem,” not “came down from Jerusalem to the Jordan.” The conclusion of verse 30 agrees with the supposition that Mephibosheth met David in Jerusalem. A. F. K.

When the king asked him, why he, being one of his family, had stayed behind, and not accompanied him in his exile, he opened his case fully to the king. He complains of Ziba, his servant, who had hindered him from going along with the king, by taking the ass himself, which he was ordered to make ready for his master (verse 26), basely taking advantage of his lameness, and his inability to help himself; and had accused him to David of a design to usurp the government (verse 27). He gratefully acknowledges the king’s great kindness to himself, when he and all his father’s house lay at the king’s mercy (verse 28). When he might justly have been dealt with as a rebel, he was treated as a friend, as a child: Thou didst set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. This shows that Ziba’s suggestion was improbable; for could Mephibosheth be so disingenuous as to design any harm to David, of whose great kindness to him he was thus sensible? He refers himself to the king’s pleasure, Do what is good in thine eyes with me and my estate; depending on the king’s wisdom, and his ability to discern between truth and falsehood; My lord the king is as an angel of God; and disclaiming all pretensions of his own merit, “So much kindness I have received above what I deserved, and what right have I to cry any more unto the king? Why should I trouble the king with my complaints, who have already been so troublesome to him?”

David hereupon recalls the sequestration of Mephibosheth’s estate; being deceived in his grant, he revokes it, and confirms his former settlement of it; I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land (verse 20); that is, “Let it be as I first ordered it (ch. 9:10); the property shall still be vested in thee, but Ziba shall have the occupancy, he shall till the land, paying thee a rent.”

Thus Mephibosheth is where he was, no harm is done, only Ziba goes away unpunished for his false and malicious information against his master. H.—That David did not disbelieve his story is shown by his revoking the judgment he had previously given. That he did not entirely reverse his decision, but allowed Ziba to retain possession of half the lands of Mephibosheth, is probably due partly to weariness at the whole transaction, but mainly to the conciliatory frame of mind in which he was at that moment. “Shall there any man be put to death this day?” is the key-note of the whole proceeding. Dic. B.

The only writer who attempts the justification of David’s apparent neglect and injustice toward Mephibosheth is Blunt (“Undesigned Coincidences,” pp. 167-171). His statement will, however, be scarcely deemed adequate for the king’s defence, as it turns upon the supposed independence of Jonathan’s son in his personal character and conduct. This seems to be controverted by the whole story of the man and of his relations with Ziba. B.

30. The tone of the afflicted man’s reply gives us reason to fear that the worst interpretation of David’s decision may be the right one—“Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house.” Oh, noble heart! Let us fain hope that David was touched by this loyally devoted reply. Kit.

31-39. David had already graced the triumphs umphs of his restoration with the generous remission of the injuries that had been done him; we have him heregracing them with the no less generous reward of the kindnesses that had been shown him. Barzillai, the Gileadite, who had a noble seat at Rogelim, not far from Mahanaim, was the man who, of all the nobility of that country, had been most kind to David in his distress. H.—The good old blind chief Barzillai went to the Jordan with the king, and took leave of him when he was about to cross the river. David pressed him to proceed with him to Jerusalem, and remain there with him, that he might have the opportunity of manifesting his gratitude for the great and costly services he had rendered. But the prospect of a life at court had no charms for this great pastoral chief. There is something very touching in his words, “I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore, then, should thy servant be yet a burden to my lord the king?” He would, he said, go a little way beyond the Jordan with the king; but he added, “Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my father and my mother.” This touch is affecting, and true to universal nature—but particularly to Oriental nature. The tendency of our civilization is to put us above—or perhaps below—these things. Kit.—Contenting himself with escorting David a little beyond the Jordan, he left his son Chimham to receive the favors which he himself was too old to enjoy; and one of David’s last acts was to commend the family to the generosity of Solomon. P. S.

Thus begins, and thus ends the history of Chimham; he passes away from the scene, and what David did for him, beyond providing him a place at his table, and recommending him, in common with many others, to Solomon before he died, does not appear. Singular, however, it is, and if ever there was a coincidence which carried with it the stamp of truth, it is this, that in the forty-first chapter of Jeremiah, we read that the Jews, apprehending the vengeance of the Chaldeans, prepared for a flight into Egypt, so “they departed,” the narrative continues, “and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt” (verse 17). It is impossible to imagine anything more incidental than the mention of this estate near Bethlehem, which was the habitation of Chimham—yet how well does it tally with the spirit of David’s speech to Barzillai, some four hundred years before! for what can be more probable than that David, whose birthplace was this very Bethlehem, and whose patrimony in consequence lay there, having undertaken to provide for Chimham, should have bestowed it as the most flattering reward he could confer, a personal as well as a royal mark of favor, on the son of the man who had saved his life and the lives of his followers in the hour of their distress; and that to that very day when Jeremiah wrote, it should have remained in the possession of the family of Chimham, and have been a land called after his own name? Blunt.

Barzillai never dreamed of being paid for what he did to David, “The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty in the wilderness,” was the only consideration which prompted the deed. True sympathy needs only the sight of misery and distress, activity instantaneously will follow. Thank Heaven, there is a large and noble army of self-sacrificing men and women battling bravely every day with the enemy in the courts and alleys of our cities and large towns, who have not the remotest idea of having their names trumpeted before men; neither have they ever dreamed of being invited to a king’s table. They do it from love to the great King. An.

We have, in Barzillai, a man who knows that he is old, but who is not distressed by the thought of it. There are old men who do not know that they are old, or who seek to suppress their knowledge of it. Few things in the world are so pleasant as the sight of such a conscious, cheerful, hopeful old age as that of Barzillai, certain that it has not long to stay, but interested to the last in the best things of life, in the cause of God and man and country and Church. We must prepare for such an old age as this: by taking God with us early in the journey of life; by providing beforehand the compensations which God is willing to give for everything that may be taken away by the changes of life. In Barzillai, we have, further, a man of long experience, who has kept up his love of simple pleasures. We can infer this from the tone in which he speaks. He had reached an age when the love of sensational things fails in all but the most frivolous, yet the way in which he speaks of them puts them quietly aside, as not to his taste and never likely to have been so. It is not a dream that man can keep the love of natural things in his heart and can call them up in fancy as he reads. If a man will but read his Bible with a fresh heart, he may walk with patriarchs in the world when it was young and green, may rest with Abraham under the shade of the oak of Mamre, and see the upspringing of the well to which the princes of Israel sang. He may sit on the mountain-top with Christ, among the lilies and the birds, to understand what they say and sing, and he may listen till he hears far off the final hymn which shall be a concert of nature round regenerated man. And, in Barzillai, we have a man who is attached to the past, but who does not distrust the future. For himself he has grown up in the old way, and cannot change, but he thinks, “The new has its rights, and the world will be on. My son is here; the future is beaming in his face and beating in his heart: I give him into hands I can trust for leading him in the way of truth, of righteousness.” If the old can thus pass over into the new, there is security in all changes. Ker.

Barzillai’s question, “How many are the days of the years of my life,” presents to all, at every period of being, a seasonable inquiry, the earnest consideration of which might, perhaps, prevent much evil and promote much good. There is no more costly treasure than the season of life, which by so many is dreamed away and sported away; the larger the portion of this treasure that has escaped us, the higher rises the value of the relatively small amount of it remaining. It is related of the ancient Sibylline books, that the prince to whom they were offered for sale thought the price asked too high; some of them were then burned, but the same price was demanded; yet again the same act was repeated, with the same result; finally, the volumes still remaining were purchased for the price demanded for the whole at first. So is it with our days; the article rises in value as it becomes more scarce. What high significance then attaches to the question of Barzillai in the ceaseless flight of years, and how much reason have the old, especially, to think and choose like him! He who expects nothing for himself in eternity, closes his ear to the ceaseless rustle of the wings of time; and he who in old age desires his heaven on earth, dream not, like Barzillai, of the still grave, his mother. But to the believing Christian, the older he is the nearer is he to blessed rest, and to the glorious contemplation of “the King in His beauty” in the New Jerusalem, where they reckon not by years. Van Q.

JUDAH REPROACHED BY THE TEN TRIBES. REBELLION OF THE LATTER UNDER SHEBA. AMASA MURDERED BY JOAB. SHEBA’S FORCE DISPERSED BY JOAB. SHEBA SLAIN IN ABEL.

A Three Years’ Famine for Saul’s Massacre of the Gibeonites. The Execution of Saul’s Sons. Rizpah’s Months of Watching Beside the Dead. 2 Sam. 21:1-14.

Sinful Numbering of Israel. Its Punishment by Pestilence Stayed at David’s Repentance. Moriah, the Place of his Accepted Sacrifice, Appointed as the Site of the Future Temple. 2 Sam. 24:1-25. 1 Chron. 21:1-30; 22:1.

19 41 AND, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said unto the king, Why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee away, and brought the king, and his household, over Jordan, and all David’s men with him? And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, because the king is near of kin to us : wherefore then be ye angry for this matter? have we eaten at all of the king’s cost? or hath he given us any gift? And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye : why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

20 1 And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite : and he blew the trumpet, and said, We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse : every man to his tents, O Israel. So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri : but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem.

3. And David came to his house at Jerusalem ; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and provided them with sustenance, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood.

4. Then said the king to Amasa, Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be thou here present. So Amasa went to call the men of Judah together : but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him. And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom : take thou thy lord’s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and escape out of our sight. And there went out after him Joab’s men, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men : and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. And Joab was girded with his apparel of war that he had put on, and thereon was a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof ; and as he went forth it fell out. And Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with thee, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand : so he smote him therewith in the belly, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again ; and he died. And Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri. And there stood by him one of Joab’s young men, and said, He that favoreth Joab, and he that is for David, let him follow Joab. And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the high way. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the high way into the field, and cast a garment over him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still. When he was removed out of the high way, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-maacah, and all the Berites : and they were gathered together, and went also after him. And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast up a mount against the city, and it stood against the rampart : and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear ; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. And he came near unto her ; and the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel : and so they ended the matter. I am of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel : thou seekest to destroy a city

20 and a mother in Israel : why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD? And Joab

21 answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. The matter is not so : but a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David ; deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to

22 thee over the wall. Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. And he blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.

23. Now Joab was over all the host of Israel : and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the

24. Cherethites and over the Pelethites ; and Adoram was over the tribute : and Jehoshaphat the

25 son of Ahilud was the recorder : and Sheva was scribe : and Zadok and Abiathar were priests :

26 and Ira also the Jairite was priest unto David.

19 : 41-43. The northern tribes had been foremost in proposing the restoration (verses 9, 10), but owing no doubt to tribal jealousies, they had not been invited by the men of Judah to the gathering at Gilgal to welcome the king. Consequently, only a fraction of them, probably those from the immediate neighborhood and the trans-Jordanic country, were there. But while the king was still at Gilgal, the rest of the Israelite representatives arrived, and complained to David that they had been unwarrantably forestalled by Judah, and cheated of the honor and privilege of escorting him back. A. F. K.—When the other tribes came to conduct the king home, they were affronted to find that they had been anticipated, and that Judah alone had assumed the right and honor of bringing the king back. There then arose a hot contention between Israel and Judah. The former contended, with reason, that as they “had ten parts in the king,” and Judah but one, the latter had taken too much upon it in bringing the king back upon its own authority ; in reply to which the Judahites used the argument, dangerous for David’s house, but which his own part in the matter had distinctly sanctioned, that they had a right to act as they had done, because the king was peculiarly their own—“was near of kin to them.” The argument of the Judahites was not calculated to conciliate the ten tribes ; and there can be no doubt that the king himself incurred a share in their displeasure for the part he had taken in this matter, for it was certainly on his invitation that the men of Judah had acted. Here, as Chalmers aptly describes it, “was a festerment that broke out at a future day.” Even now this feeling on the part of Israel “came to a formidable eruption.”

20 : 1, 2. Among the watchers of events was one Sheba, the son of Bichri, who, perceiving the disgust of the ten tribes at the arrogance of the men of Judah, thought that the contention of the other tribes for ten parts in David, might easily be turned into a disavowal of any part in him. He therefore raised the seditious cry, “We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse : every man to his tents, O Israel.” This cry, in the present state of feeling, acted like magic. Nearly all the men of Israel left the king to the Judahites, and he was by them escorted from the Jordan to Jerusalem. Kit.—The ringleader of this rebellion was Sheba, a Benjamite by birth (verse 1), who had his habitation in Mount Ephraim (verse 21). Shimei and he were both of Saul’s tribe, and both retained the ancient grudge of that house.

4-6. Amasa is sent to assemble the men of Judah within three days ; but he cannot do it within the time appointed. Upon Amasa’s delay, Abishai, the brother of Joab, is ordered to take the guards and standing forces, and with them to pursue Sheba without delay. Joab, without orders, goes along with his brother. H.

7. Abishai took “Joab’s men, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men.” With these he went out from Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba. How Joab conducted himself on this occasion is a strange but characteristic chapter of his history. It does not appear that he had any dealings with David, or that David had any dealings with him. He simply went out with his brother, and, being a man of the strongest will and greatest daring, he seems to have resolved on some fit occasion to resume his command in spite of all the king’s arrangements. W. G. B.

8-11. This description of Joab’s dress (verse 8) is intended to explain how he contrived to stab Amasa without his design being suspected. In the girdle which he wore over his military dress was stuck a dagger. As he met Amasa he contrived to let this fall out of its sheath on the ground. He picked it up in his left hand, and the movement being apparently purely accidental, excited no alarm in Amasa’s mind. A. F. K.—Joab so contrived that his sword should fall out of its sheath to the ground, as he drew near to him. Snatching it hastily up, without pausing to sheath it, in the polite zeal of his attention to Amasa, he took hold of his beard, to impress upon it the kiss of affectionate respect, saying, “Art thou in health, my brother?” and as the words passed his lips, and the beard was in his hand, he buried the naked sword in the body of Amasa, under the fifth rib. This was almost exactly as he had before dealt with Abner, and from almost the same motives. This, however, is by much the more villainous act of the two, seeing that it stood more entirely on the ground of personal objects. In Abner’s case he had the excuse, at least, of vengeance for a brother’s blood, as well as of a real or pretended belief that Abner designed to betray David. But here there was nakedly nothing but the desire to fling a formidable rival from his path. One knows not whether most to be astonished at the atrocity or the hardihood of the deed. It was no less than the murder of a general at the head of his troops. But Joab knew his own influence. One near him cried, “He that favoreth Joab, and he that is for David, let him follow Joab.” And such was the power of that name, and the wonderful ascendancy the owner of it had acquired over the troops, that the men of Amasa forthwith joined the others in following Joab in pursuit of Sheba. Kit.

Joab did it in contempt and defiance of David, and the commission he had given to Amasa; for that commission was the only ground of his quarrel with him, so that David was struck at through Amasa. He did it very unseasonably, when they were going against a common enemy and were concerned to be unanimous. This ill-timed quarrel might have scattered their forces or engaged them one against another. Joab immediately resumes his general’s place, and takes care to lead the army on in pursuit of Sheba, that he might prevent any prejudice to the common cause by what he had done. He leaves one of his men to make proclamation to the forces that were coming up, that they were still engaged in David’s cause, but under Joab’s command. He knew what an interest he had in the soldiery, and how many favored him, rather than Amasa, that had been a traitor, was now a turncoat, and had never been successful; on this he boldly relied, and called them all to follow him. H.

14. Joab was of great practical service, and prosecuted with great energy this new war, till he at length put an end to it. Such was his influence or the terror of his name, that though it was said of Sheba that every man of Israel went up and followed him, it is now said of Joab that all the tribes of Israel went also after him. It would appear from his speech before Abel (verse 20) that at this time the pacific, which was certainly the wise policy, was uppermost with Joab—the desirable thing being to consolidate and harmonize Israel. Altogether, he appears to have been able in conduct and counsel as well as in war. T. C.

15. Abel.** On the right or western bank of the Hasbany, near the foot of the hills, there is a curious isolated hill on which stands the modern village of Abil; traces of old foundations and buildings can still be seen on the mound, the remains of Abel of Beth-Maachah, where Sheba, the son of Bichri, was besieged by Joab. A mound had been cast up against the city, and “it stood in the trench,” when the remarkable scene occurred which is here described, ending in the killing of Sheba, whose head was cast out of the city to Joab. Wilson.

16-19. This wise woman with no less prudence than courage challengeth Joab for the violence of his assault; and lays to him that law which he could not be an Israelite and disavow; the law of the God of peace, whose charge it was that when they should come near to a city to fight against it they should offer it peace; and if this tender must be made to foreigners, how much more to brethren! Bp. H.—The inhabitants were generally peaceable and faithful in Israel. She could speak for all that they were of known fidelity to their prince and peaceableness with their fellow-subjects; neither seditious, nor litigious. It was a part of the inheritance of the Lord, a city of Israelites not of heathen; and the destruction of it would lessen and weaken that nation which God had chosen for his heritage. H.

20. Joab was a man of blood; yet when the wise woman of Abel charged him with going about to destroy a mother in Israel, and swallowing up the inheritance of the Lord, with what vehemency doth he deprecate that challenge; “God forbid, God forbid it me, that I should devour or destroy it!” Although that city, with the rest, had engaged itself in Sheba’s sedition, yet how zealously doth Joab remove from himself the suspicion of an intended vastation! How fearful shall their answer be, who, upon the quarrel of their own ambition, have not spared to waste whole tribes of the Israel of God! Bp. H.

Like Deborah, this wise woman has bequeathed a fine proverbial expression, now habitually applied to those of her sex who are signalized by their piety and Christian influence—“a mother in Israel,” than which we know not a more venerable designation or more expressive one, when great worth and great wisdom are combined. T. C.

21,22. Joab requires no other satisfaction than the head of Sheba. This matron had not deserved the name of wise and faithful in Israel if she had not both apprehended the justice of the condition and commended it to her citizens; whom she easily persuaded to spare their own heads, in not sparing a traitor’s. Bp. H.—The single condition of peace, is the surrender of the traitor; it is so in God’s dealing with the soul, when it is besieged by conviction and distress; sin is the traitor; the beloved lust is the rebel; part with that, cast away the transgressions, and all shall be well. No peace on any other terms. H.

The royal forces at once returned to the south, and the rebels dispersed to their own homes. A second time, mainly by Joab’s skill and rapidity of action, had the storm of civil war been turned aside from the throne of David. There was at last peace in all Israel. Sime.—Thus ended this dangerous commotion, and although the result was the establishment of David’s power over all Israel, some damage had been sustained by all the parties concerned. Since David became king over all Israel we have had only one instance of his asking counsel of the Lord, and that was at the beginning of his reign. We shall not be far wrong in ascribing to this neglect the serious mistakes into which he seems to have fallen. Kit.

The Officers of David’s Court.

Verses 23-26.

A similar list has already been given in ch. 8 : 16-18. There the account of the general administration of the kingdom appropriately follows the summary record of the wars by which that kingdom was established; and the repetition of it here, after David’s restoration to the throne, is equally appropriate. A. F. K.—In the formation of a new cabinet, David, like other limited monarchs after him, was constrained to acquiesce in appointments not altogether to his mind—and more especially in that of Joab, who, as master over all the host, would in those days have all the power of the prime minister. T. C.

A THREE YEARS’ FAMINE FOR SAUL’S MASSACRE OF THE GIBEONITES. THE EXECUTION OF SAUL’S SONS. RIZPAH’S MONTHS OF WATCHING BESIDE THE DEAD.