2 Samuel 20:4

4 Then the king said to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah for the third day, and be thou here present.

2 Samuel 20:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 20:4

Then said the king to Amasa
Whom he had promised to make general of his army, ( 2 Samuel 19:13 ) ; and by the following order declared him such:

assemble me the men of Judah within three days;
which was done by the sound of the trumpet, or by the proclamation of a herald; it seems that the men of Judah, who attended David to Jerusalem, were gone to their respective cities and places of abode, or there would have been no occasion for such a summons; though it is strange they should, when the men of Israel appeared so inclinable to a new rebellion:

and be thou here present;
to take the command of them.

2 Samuel 20:4 In-Context

2 So all the men of Israel went up from after David and followed Sheba, the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah cleaved unto their king from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.

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

4 Then the king said to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah for the third day, and be thou here present.

5 So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah, but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him.

6 And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba, the son of Bichri, shall do us more harm than Absalom; take thou thy lord’s slaves and pursue after him lest he find fenced cities and escape us.