1 Now a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bikri, a Benjamite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and shouted, “We have no share in David, no part in Jesse’s son! Every man to his tent, Israel!” 2 So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bikri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
3 When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them but had no sexual relations with them. They were kept in confinement till the day of their death, living as widows.
4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Summon the men of Judah to come to me within three days, and be here yourself.” 5 But when Amasa went to summon Judah, he took longer than the time the king had set for him.
6 David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bikri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your master’s men and pursue him, or he will find fortified cities and escape from us.” 7 So Joab’s men and the Kerethites and Pelethites and all the mighty warriors went out under the command of Abishai. They marched out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.
8 While they were at the great rock in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was wearing his military tunic, and strapped over it at his waist was a belt with a dagger in its sheath. As he stepped forward, it dropped out of its sheath.
9 Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” Then Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 Amasa was not on his guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab plunged it into his belly, and his intestines spilled out on the ground. Without being stabbed again, Amasa died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bikri.
11 One of Joab’s men stood beside Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab!” 12 Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the road, and the man saw that all the troops came to a halt there. When he realized that everyone who came up to Amasa stopped, he dragged him from the road into a field and threw a garment over him. 13 After Amasa had been removed from the road, everyone went on with Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.
14 Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth Maakah and through the entire region of the Bikrites, who gathered together and followed him. 15 All the troops with Joab came and besieged Sheba in Abel Beth Maakah. They built a siege ramp up to the city, and it stood against the outer fortifications. While they were battering the wall to bring it down, 16 a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come here so I can speak to him.” 17 He went toward her, and she asked, “Are you Joab?”
“I am,” he answered.
She said, “Listen to what your servant has to say.”
“I’m listening,” he said.
18 She continued, “Long ago they used to say, ‘Get your answer at Abel,’ and that settled it. 19 We are the peaceful and faithful in Israel. You are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why do you want to swallow up the Lord’s inheritance?”
20 “Far be it from me!” Joab replied, “Far be it from me to swallow up or destroy! 21 That is not the case. A man named Sheba son of Bikri, from the hill country of Ephraim, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Hand over this one man, and I’ll withdraw from the city.”
The woman said to Joab, “His head will be thrown to you from the wall.”
22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bikri and threw it to Joab. So he sounded the trumpet, and his men dispersed from the city, each returning to his home. And Joab went back to the king in Jerusalem.
David’s Officials 23 Joab was over Israel’s entire army; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; 24 Adoniram was in charge of forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 25 Sheva was secretary; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 26 and Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.
Sheba rebels against David. He rises up and gains power and seduces all of Israel away from David. David returns to Jerusalem and takes care of the ten concubines whom he left behind. He keeps them in a house, under guard and does not have sexual relations with them. The king then dispatches his new commander, Amasa, to summon the men of Judah to him, but Amasa takes too much time getting there. David enlists Abashai to pursue Sheba. In the meantime Joab meets up with Amasa in a secluded spot and kills him, thus rallying the troops to himself. He chases Sheba to a town called Abel Beth Maakah and begins to set up siege warfare when a wise woman calls out to Joab and tells him this is a city of peace and Joab should not destroy. But Joab only wants Sheba, and the citizens of Abel Beth Maakah behead him and throw his head over the wall, thus ending the battle and having Joab leave the city.
Sheba rallies all of Israel to his cause. Notice he rallies the fickle 10 tribes and not the tribe of Judah. Judah (an most likely Benjamin) are the only Israelites standing with David. Sheba has seduced Israel away by attacking David on a few fronts. 1. He attacks his right to rule. 2. He attacks his lineage. He has a low opinion of David and we can draw the conclusion that this opinion is shared by the fickle Israelites. David, once back in Jerusalem, takes care of the concubines that he left behind the during Absalom’s conspiracy. The cultural milieu is this: These women are used and tainted now and David really can’t do anything with them. He can’t marry them to other men (the virginic rule of the time) and he can’t divorce them ( they are legal prostitutes for the king). Amnon defiled them (treason and not pristine for the king) and David could not punish them (they were essentially raped). So his solution is to take care of them until their deaths, under confinement. We have to remember that culturally a tainted woman has no value. To throw them out of the palace meant their death, or at the very least a life of slavery or prostitution. Now we will remember that as a conciliatory move from David to the Israelites, he said Amasa would become his commander (2Sam 19:13). But Amasa isn’t a very good leader. We see this in two places. The first, of course, is that Amasa was the commander over Absalom’s army, and the army was routed. Secondly, we see in 2 Sam 4-5), that Amasa is given a task and he can’t complete it. Joab knows he is weak, so he lures Amasa out to the great rock of Gibeon. There we see the cunningness of Joab again. When he goes to meet Amasa, he drops a knife from his belt, giving the illusion that he is unarmed. But he has another knife and kills him. Joab again is killing to retain his title as commander of the army. He quickly rallies the men to him, and goes to chasing Sheba. He tracks Sheba to Abel Beth Maakah, which is fortified. They build a siege ramp to the city and are ready to overtake it, but a wise woman calls Joab to her. Here we see that Joab is not just a bloodthirsty lunatic but a tactician. He is willing to leave the city unharmed if Sheba is handed over. And when Sheba’s head is thrown over the wall, he keeps his promise and leaves. We can call Joab a monster, but he is clever and right for the job. And David is afraid of him.