2 Samuel 20:18-26

18 Then she spoke, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask [counsel] at Hevel: and so they ended [the matter].

19 I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Yisra'el: you seek to destroy a city and a mother in Yisra'el: why will you swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?

20 Yo'av answered, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.

21 The matter is not so: but a man of the hill-country of Efrayim, Sheva the son of Bikhri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David; deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. The woman said to Yo'av, Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.

22 Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheva the son of Bikhri, and threw it out to Yo'av. He blew the shofar, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Yo'av returned to Yerushalayim to the king.

23 Now Yo'av was over all the host of Yisra'el; and Benayah the son of Yehoiada was over the Kereti and over the Peleti;

24 and Adoram was over the men subject to forced labor; and Yehoshafat the son of Achilud was the recorder;

25 and Sheva was Sofer; and Tzadok and Avyatar were Kohanim;

26 and also `Ira the Ya'irite was chief minister to David.

2 Samuel 20:18-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 20

This chapter gives an account of a new rebellion raised by Sheba, 2Sa 20:1,2; of David's shutting up his concubines unto the day of their death, whom Absalom had lain with, 2Sa 20:3; of Amasa being ordered to assemble the men of Judah to crush the rebellion, but being dilatory, Abishai is sent out with David's servants, and was followed by Joab with the men under him, 2Sa 20:4-7; and of the murder of Amasa by Joab, 2Sa 20:8-13; and of Sheba being shut up in the city Abel, 2Sa 20:14,15; whose head, by the means of a wise woman, was delivered to Joab, and so an end was put to the rebellion, 2Sa 20:16-22; and, lastly, of the chief officers in David's camp and court, 2Sa 20:23-26.