Shmuel Bais 20:6

6 And Dovid said to Avishai, Now shall Sheva Ben Bichri do us more harm than did Avshalom; take thou the avadim of adoneicha, pursue after him, lest he get him fortified cities, and escape us.

Shmuel Bais 20:6 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 20:6

And David said to Abishai
For it seems he would have nothing to say to Joab, being displeased with him for slaying Absalom, and having removed him from his posts; and therefore speaks to the next officer in his army, Abishai; though Josephus ^F16 says, he addressed himself to Joab, contrary to the express words of the text:

now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than [did] Absalom;
gain a greater party, and give more trouble to subdue him, unless suppressed in time:

take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him;
without waiting for Amasa, and the troops he was assembling; delays in such a case as an insurrection being dangerous, which ought to be nipped in the bud, and crushed as soon as possible; in order to which, he bids him take his servants that were about him, his bodyguards, and pursue Sheba:

lest he get him fenced cities;
where he may secure himself, and hold out a siege a long time, and give a great deal of trouble:

and escape us;
for the present; or "escape our eyes", as the "Keri", or marginal reading is; we shall lose sight of him, and not know which way he is gone, if he is not pursued quickly.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F16 Antiqu. l. 7. c. 11. sect. 6.

Shmuel Bais 20:6 In-Context

4 Then said HaMelech to Amasa, Assemble the Ish Yehudah within shloshet yamim; be thou here present.

5 So Amasa went to assemble Yehudah; but he tarried longer than the mo’ed which he had appointed him.

6 And Dovid said to Avishai, Now shall Sheva Ben Bichri do us more harm than did Avshalom; take thou the avadim of adoneicha, pursue after him, lest he get him fortified cities, and escape us.

7 And there went out after him anshei Yoav, and the Kereti, and the Peleti, and kol Gibborim; and they went out of Yerushalayim, to pursue after Sheva Ben Bichri.

8 When they were at the Even Hagedolah (Great Stone) which is in Giveon, Amasa went before them. And Yoav’s military garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a khagor with a cherev fastened upon his waist in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out.