II Samuel 20:1-26 - Rebellion
The Living Word With Chuck Davis
II Samuel 20:1-26 - Rebellion
"Welcome to the Living Word with Chuck Davis." 2 Samuel 21 to 26, rebellion. Another happened to be there, a worthless man, whose name was Shiva. The son of Bickory, a Benjamin. And he blew the trumpet and said, "We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the Son of Jesse. Every man to his tents of Israel." So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Shiva the son of Bickory. But the men of Judah followed their king's steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem. David came to his house at Jerusalem and the king took the 10 concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in the house under guard and provided for them, but did not go into them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in Whittlehood. Then the king said to Amasa, "Call the men of Judah together to me within three days and be here yourself." So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed to him. And David said to Abishai, "Now Shabbat the son of Bickory will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your Lord's servants and pursue him lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us." They went out from him, Joab's men and the Chirathites and the Pelothites and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Shiva, the son of Bickory. When they were at the great stone that is the Gibian, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier's garment and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath, fastened on his thigh. And as he went forward it fell out. And Joab said to Amasa, "It is well with you, my brother." Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him, but Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab's hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow and he died. Then Joab and Abishai, his brother, pursued Shiva, the son of Bickory. And one of Joab's young men took his stand by Amasa and said, "Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David let him follow Joab." And a lot of Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway. And anyone who came by seeing him stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him. When he was taken out of the highway all the people went on after Joab to pursue Shiva, the son of Bickory. And Shiva passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Bethmachah and all the Bishrites assembled and followed him in. And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmachah. They cast up a mound against the city and it stood against the rampart and they were battering the wall to throw it down. Then a wise woman called from the city, "Listen, listen, tell Joab, come here and I may speak to you." He came near her and the woman said, "Are you Joab?" He answered, "I am." Then she said to him, "Listen to the words of your servant." And he answered, "I'm listening." Then she said, "They used to say in former times, "Let them but ask counsel at Abel." And so they settled to matter. "I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel." "Why will you swallow up the heritage of the Lord?" Joab answered, "Far be it for me. Far be it that I should swallow up or destroy." That is not true, but a man of the hill country of Ephraim called Shiba, the son of Bickory, has lifted up his hand against the king David. "Give up him alone and I will withdraw from the city." And the woman said to Joab, "Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall." Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the hell of Shiba, the son of Bickory, and they threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet and they dispersed from the city every man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. Now Joab was in command of all the army of Israel. And Ben and I, the son of Jehoida, was in command of the Charathites, and the Pelothites. And Adiram was in charge of the forced labor. And Jehassafat, son of Ahilud, was the recorder. And Shiba was secretary, and Zaidak and Abithar were priests. And Ira, the generalite, was also David's priest. Get a sense here that the political climate has really shifted. There's the northern kingdom, the ten tribes of Israel to the north, and there are the two tribes to the south, known as Judah. David does two things in his kingly role. The first is symbolic. He puts away the concubines. Our best attempt at this is to understand that he's showing protection and care. A speculation might be that he's divesting himself of power and royal privilege. Eugene Peterson writes this, quote, "What does this mean? The concubines are part of the cultural landscape of David's world that we know little about. The three references in the story to the concubines emphasize the cultural chasm between us and David. One thing that we do know is that the concubines were part of the trappings of royalty in the ancient needs. By having them, David was doing what all the other kings did." So maybe in this moment, he's showing that he doesn't want to be like all the other kings. Militarily, he dispatches Amasa to pursue Shiba, the bhikright. Joab's also in the picture. There's a settling of matters that David is now acting or proactively taking action to restore the king. There are four murderers, four acts of treachery that become part of Joab's legacy. But in this story, it's interesting. It's a woman who diverts, where Joab's murders are somewhat ruthless. There's the peaceable wisdom of a woman that ends up saving a city. We hear echoes of Jericho in this space and the one known as Rahab. She negotiates for the releasing of Shiba to maintain the city's peace. Joab brings this news back to Jerusalem. So what of this passage is that there are a lot of human actions that are going on, but we need to remember that it's ultimately God telling the better story. Remember, David was promised this kingship. When David acted on his own, when he used royal privilege and hid in a familial passivity, trouble came. Even so, God's not going to allow the main plot of his story to be sidelined through the consequences and pain of individuals. He's going to guard the messianic line, the city of David in multiple ways. The now what of this passage reminds me that God's always telling the better story. The question is, will I cooperate with his better story and be fully engaged in the way that he designs? So Lord today, help us to read the script of your story a little more clearly so that we stay in step with the plot of what you have for our lives and the collective lives of the faith community around us and those in the community who are not yet part of the faith community. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.