Wisdom in Adversity

I. The Conflict

The tension between the northern and southern tribes was at a fever pitch. When Judah was first to welcome the King over the Jordan, she claimed that it was because David was their close relative and that they actually didn’t get anything extra. Israel claimed that because there were 10 of them, they had more “shares” than Judah, as if David was a company on the stock market. In this environment it didn’t take much to get some to secede in the North.

Sheba was that push. The fact that he is from Benjamin shows why David was so desperate to get that tribe on his side. This is why he had to give Ziba part of Mephibosheth’s land, and why he didn’t kill Shimei. Sheba gave the call to part from David, and therefore from Judah, and the whole northern kingdom agreed. But he didn’t set himself up as king. However, he did raise an army, but it seems that while the northern kingdom wanted to leave, they had just tried that and lost. So the men in the north were for the most part not willing to fight again, since they would only lose again. So not many people joined him. For the moment.

When David returned to Jerusalem, he put the ten concubines that Absalom had violated in seclusion and supported them, but they lived as widows for the rest of their lives. Oof.

II. The Adversary

The Story -

Amasa’s first assigned role is to quash the rebellion of Sheba. He is given a time limit, and doesn’t show. Why? probably because the men of Judah do not trust him, so he doesn’t get many people to follow him. So he chooses to spend extra time trying to muster the army. It is what Absalom had wanted, but David knows how important timeliness is here. David is back because Absalom delayed. The point is, in any case, that Amasa was too late and was endangering David by his lateness, however excusable it might have been.

David, therefore, concludes that it is so urgent he must have someone to lead an army, now. Regardless of whatever else might happen, he cannot wait. Joab isn’t named, because David doesn’t want him. But he must ask someone. I’m not sure where Ittai the Gittite went. He must have not been available. So David has no choice but to appoint Abishai as commander. He likely knows that Joab could use his connection with his brother to get back into power, but David is strong enough of a leader to work with reality, not with what he would like it to be.

Yet, in the next verse (7) we are told that they are “Joab’s men.” so that now Joab is in charge against David’s wishes.

Amasa joins the battle, perhaps with the few men he could get to come with him. He is trying to do his job, as David wanted him present. But Joab deceitfully kills him, purely to get his job back. Joab’s sword “accidentally” slips out of his holster, but he uses his left hand. This would have thrown Amasa off, as left-handed people were odd enough to be noticed. Joab’s use of his right hand in a greeting leads Amasa to believe that there’s nothing wrong. Then Joab brutally stabs him to death. Joab would be covered in blood.

Incidentally, Gibeon where this took place, and is also where Abner killed Joab’s brother Azahel.

Why does the author go into this detail? surely because we are supposed to dislike Joab, to be repulsed by his limitless selfish ambition. There is nothing that Joab won’t do to retain his position, no one he won’t kill. He killed Abner, and forced David to keep him in power. Now he kills again for exactly the same reason.

The killing endangers the entire mission, as everyone who sees it is properly horrified. Even the battle hardened mighty men of David stop and won’t move. Only when a supporter of Joab moves the body and puts a coat over does the mission continue.

The reason for the story

Now 1 Kings 2 does tell us that Joab eventually gets his comuppance. But if that were the point of this story, the author would have told us this. We have to turn to a different book of the Bible to learn that Joab’s sins didn’t go unpunished. So that’s not the reason the author of Samuel tells us this story.

Maybe some of it is that the blood and gore does make for an exciting story. But that can’t be the only reason. Hebrew narratives were very sparse, they didn’t includes lots of colorful descriptions the way modern journalists do. So what is this story here to teach us?

A hint is found earlier where David accuses Abishai 2 Samuel 19:22. He doesn’t say “Abishai” is an adversary, but “the sons of Zeruiah” are adversaries. The plural is important. Joab is also an adversary of David. But how? they are both loyal to him, for now. They are adversaries because they won’t do as they are told, and introduce violence where it isn’t needed. If David is the quintessential gentle warrior, then these are the brutal loose cannons. David will use force where needed, as he does by sending the sons of Zeruiah out to fight Sheba, but he knows that violence should be a last resort, even when, as king, he has the right to use it. His generals, however, make that very difficult, as David never knows when they will think that someone needs to die and destabilize the situation. They are adversaries because they don’t listen and aren’t gentle.

2 Samuel 19:22 NKJV

And David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be adversaries to me today? Shall any man be put to death today in Israel? For do I not know that today I am king over Israel?”

It also predisposes us to assume that Joab will use unnecessary force to solve problems. Joab is now at the head of the army contrary to David’s wishes, so we should expect that he will put down the rebellion with brutal, ruthless efficiency. Which is indeed what happens

Philippians 2:3 NKJV

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

III. The Wise Woman

the Story

Sheba went along trying to raise an army, and eventually ended up way in the north at Abel-Beth-maacah. Abel and Beth-maacah were twin towns, with Abel being a fortified city, and Beth-maacah being the unwalled village that surrounded it. So when Sheba fled to the city, and Joab approached, all the people from Beth-maacah would flee to Abel for protection. It’s crowded in there now.

What David had feared had happened. Sheba had made it to a fortified city, so Joab set to work besieging the city. However, I gather from the conversation that Joab didn’t even attempt to negotiate with the city. He just assumed they were all on Sheba’s side and started to attack it. That’s not the way of the gentle warrior. The Gentle Warrior would only besiege the city if it was clear that negotiations were useless. A weak man would be too afraid to be there at all.

So how is God going to deliver this city from the foolish brutality of Joab? by one person, and a woman at that. She obviously can’t fight, in an age when fighting took strength, a woman would lose to a man almost every time. And she’s only one person, and Joab has a small army.

She challenges him by saying that

Abel has been a city known for its wise judgment, and that

she is peaceful and faithful, as is the city.

That Joab is trying to destroy the inheritance that God gave to the people of this city, something he has no right to do. The land was God’s and he had given it to specific families in Israel. Joab has no right to annul what God has declared.

Joab recoils at the suggestion. He explains that he only wants Sheba, using language that suggests he doesn’t actually know if she even knows who he is. So why didn’t he try to negotiate first? Even the Jebusites managed to taunt David when David took Jerusalem. It wouldn’t have been that hard to at least ask the city what they meant to do.

The women then uses her persuasive language to convince the people to execute Sheba and throw his head over the wall. Sheba perhaps wanted to be the head of an army. Instead his head was thrown to an army.

So by a combination of the woman’s wisdom and David’s gentleness and God’s grace, victory is achieved in spite of Joab. God is with David, which is why Joab’s careless actions still had the desired effect. I wonder if God has ever blessed you, not because of what you did, but because he wanted to bless someone else? The point of the list (23-26) is that David is in charge again and on his throne. Joab, yes, is still commander. But the government positions are filled and stability is here again.

The application of the story

Solomon provides us with the application of the story. Eccl 9:13-18

Solomon generalizes this story (13-15)

It’s better to be wise and be content to be forgotten than to be mighty and powerful yet consumed by selfish ambition (16). the wise woman was victorious, not the least of which was because she didn’t care about who got the credit.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war. The woman was victorious by stopping the war altogether, which is clearly a greater victory than winning through brute force. It’s better to be wise than to have all the right gear.

The words of the wise are better when spoken to wise people. The ruler who shouts among fools isn’t necessarily foolish himself. He just can’t get people to listen, so no matter how wise or foolish he may be, it doesn’t matter because he can’t get much done. That’s David’s predicament. He tried to get Amasa as commander, but failed; He had to fight to stop the sons of Zeruiah from using too much force, and even then, he didn’t stop all of their unnecessary roughness. In other words, wise people don’t just make ideal rulers - they make ideal followers, too.