Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 06 Nov. 2022
Let’s begin by recapping where we are at in the story of 2 Samuel. King David and his loyal followers have reclaimed the throne of Israel after Absalom tried to usurp it, but the unity of the nation is very fragile, and these tensions have resulted in Sheba son of Bikri leading a secession movement away from David in the north, and Joab from the South assassinating General Amasa (who was from the North).
Will the dream of David’s kingdom continue to splinter and shatter, or can anything be done to rebuild unity?
Loyalty alone was apparently not the answer, for Joab was fiercely loyal to David, yet he continued to upset the peace.
The answer lay with the wisdom of a woman at the end of chapt. 20, a woman whose name is never given to us, but who succeeded in avoiding a catastrophe for David’s kingdom.
Read
passage from my translation starting at 20:13
As soon as he had
him [Amasa’s dead body] dragged off the highway, each man
passed on, following Joab, to pursue after Sheba, son of Bikri, who
had passed by all the tribes of Israel in the direction of Abel
(that is, Beth Ma’acah), along with all the Berites, and they
were formed into a company as they came in additionally after him.
Meanwhile, all the people that was with Joab came up and laid siege
upon him in Abel/Beth Ma’acah, and they dumped a siege-mound
against the city, and it was located by the rampart, and they began
destroying the wall to make it fall down. But a wise woman from the
city called out, “Y’all Listen! Listen! Please tell this
to Joab, ‘Come near – up to here, and let me speak with
you.’” So he came near to her, and the woman said, “Are
you Joab?” And he said, “I am.” Then she said to
him, “Listen to the words of your maidservant.” And he
said, “I am listening.” Then she really began speaking,
“At the outset, they would emphatically assert, saying, ‘Let
them diligently inquire in Abel, and thus they shall bring
resolution. I am of the loyal ones of Israel who are at peace. You
are seeking to put to death a city that is a ‘mother’ in
Israel. Why are you swallowing up the inheritance of Yahweh?”
Joab then answered and said, “Disgrace! It is a disgrace to me
if I swallow up or if I destroy! Such is not the case! Rather, a man
from the mountain of Ephraim (Sheba son of Bikri is his name) has
lifted up his hand against David the King. Y’all just give him
over, and I will walk away from your city.” So the woman said
to Joab, “OK, his head is about to be thrown to you over the
wall!” Then the woman went to all her people {and spoke to all
of them} with her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of
Bikri, and they threw it to Joab. Then he blew into his horn, and
they dispersed from the city, each to his tents. Then Joab returned
to the king in Jerusalem. Now Joab was over all the army of Israel,
and Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and over the
Pelethites. Meanwhile, Adoram was over the slave-labor, and
Jehoshaphat son of Akhilud was the historian. And Sheva was
Secretary, and Tsadoq and Abiathar were priests, and also Ira the
Jairite was ministering to David.
Now, David had commanded Abishai to lead the Israelite army and deal with Sheba and put down his revolt, so that’s what the army was supposed to be doing when Joab murdered Amasa. Now that Amasa’s body has been disposed of, the army re-engages on that mission, and Joab, together with Abishai, leads the Israelite army north in pursuit of Sheba.
In the meantime, Sheba has been busy. The wording in v.14 is a little vague, but I take it to mean that Sheba did some recruiting throughout the Northern tribes of Israel, trying to get support to form a split-off country, heading northward all the while, then he settled in the walled city of Abel, also known as “The Press House” (or Beth Ma’acah in Hebrew), at the far northern boundary of Israel (above the Sea of Galilee), next to a little fertile plain where wheat could be grown (K&D) to feed everybody there. Around the plain were more unwalled neighborhoods which were considered daughter-cities of Abel/Beth Ma’acah1.
Sheba was trying to make Abel/Beth Ma’acah his headquarters, and, as new recruits dribbled in to the city, he would add them to his organization2. It appears, however, that his recruitment efforts were not wildly successful.
Some scholars compare the word “Beerites” (in v.24) to the name of Sheba’s father (“Bikri”) – the ESV even inserts a “ch” into the middle of the word to make it look more like Sheba’s father’s name, but whoever these Beerites were, it seems that Sheba wasn’t able to recruit much besides his own relatives3.
And, as we’ll see from the end of the story, he didn’t have enough loyal followers among the residents of the city to keep from getting thrown out.
When Joab finds Sheba holed up in the walled city of Abel, he immediately tells the army to lay siege to the city,
Joab seemed to be in a hurry to get it done, so, instead of digging trenches and preparing for a long siege,
he got his men busy carrying dirt and rocks, piling it up from the earthen wall around the outer perimeter of the city up the stone wall of the outer city itself to make a ramp by which to invade the city.
Meanwhile, others of his men attacked the wall of the city, pulling rocks out of it (and maybe even digging under it) to get it to collapse.
Now, what would you do if soldiers started pouring out of Ft. Riley and surrounding your neighborhood with guns and siege tools? The people inside the town of Abel must have been terrified! What would they do?
Apparently they began by shutting the gate into the city, otherwise Joab’s troops wouldn’t have had to build a siege ramp,
but it appears that the people in the city did nothing else. They just resigned themselves to being destroyed.
“It seems, none of all the men of Abel, none of the elders or magistrates, offered to treat with Joab, no, not when they were reduced to the last extremity. They were stupid and unconcerned for the public safety, or they stood in awe of Sheba, or they despaired of gaining any good terms with Joab, or they had not sense enough to manage the treaty. But this one woman and her wisdom saved the city.” ~M. Henry
God doesn’t always use the person you think is most likely to lead.
The person voted “most likely to succeed” in high school often isn’t the most successful person forty years later.
Amos wasn’t a prophet or the son of a prophet (Amos 7:14), and yet, there he is, one of the 12 prophets in the Bible!
How many angels do you supposed raised their hands when God said He needed to deliver a message to Baalam, and yet God decided unexpectedly to deliver the message through Baalam’s donkey!
How many fishermen were there among the thousands by the sea of Galilee who, geiven enough time, could have catered a meal, and yet Jesus chose to feed the multitude from the lunch of a little boy there!
God knows you might be the most strategic person to call someone who does not know Jesus to faith in Him. Are you available enough to the LORD that you will open your mouth when He leads you to? Or will you wait around assuming that surely someone more gifted than you will speak up instead?
In this case, a woman who was wise – and we know that wisdom comes from God, so we assume she was also godly, took action to save her town. The points of her speech to Joab are lessons we can all learn from in resolving conflict, so I’d like to examine each point and see how we can apply them.
Talking instead of Attacking
How often do we see people arguing or fighting simply because somebody else hit them or said something mean to them?
Too often, when someone cuts me off in traffic, I just want to cut in front of them and show them what it feels like. But this is foolish!
When we are attacked, we need to find wise words and talk with our adversary rather than blindly fighting back.
Instead of merely thinking, “That hurt me!” we need to train our hearts to also think, “What problems is my adversary experiencing, and is there anything I can do to show God’s kindness to them?”
This wise woman was not resigned to throwing rocks and boiling water over the wall at Joab’s army; she asked to talk to Joab in hopes that she could stop the war!
The three emphatic Hebrew verb infinitives in v.18 give me the impression that once this woman started talking, she was so wound up, there was no stopping her.
Talking should be a give-and-take process, though.
It should not be just us trying to get our point across, we also need to ask questions that help us understand what the other party is thinking.
Often issues can be resolved easily once you simply understand what the other person was thinking. “Oh, you didn’t see me because you were head-down text-messaging, and you didn’t mean to bump into me? O.K. I can forgive you for that, and we can both forget about it. Here I was, thinking that you hated me because I’m wearing a MAGA hat and that you purposefully shoved me when you walked by.”
In her wisdom, this woman asked some questions to...
Establish Identities
First she made sure who she was speaking to: “Are you Joab?” If it’s Joab, she knows a little about his famous personality, and she also knows how much authority he probably has, both of which would influence what she subsequently says.
She also introduced her identity: “I am your maidservant.” This gave Joab the information that she was not wanting to enter into any kind of power struggle with him; she merely wanted to serve his interests.
Earlier this year, in response to a social media post promoting abortion-infanticide, my mother-in-law, whose name is Pat, wrote a rebuttal. Well the original poster assumed that “Pat” stood for “Patrick,” so he called my mother-in-law out for being a hypocritical man who uses male privilege to squelch women’s rights. Well, when she responded that she was a woman, it totally deflated the argument. We need to do our homework and make sure we know who we are talking to and that they are not confused about who we are.
This wise woman also lets Joab know enough of her reputation that he can know what to expect from her.
She tells him that Abel Beth Ma’acah has a reputation for being a place where people could ask for advice and get disputes settled,
and furthermore she represents the people of that town as peaceable and faithful/trustworthy/loyal.
“We are loyal to our King, and we are not interested in a fight. We really think we can talk this through and resolve this conflict. It’s the kind of thing we’re good at!”
It’s also interesting how this wise woman makes sure that Joab is listening before she starts talking. That’s the sort of thing you learn from experience!
Notice also how she persuades by...
Appealing to Common Values
One common value for believers is obedience to God’s word. The ancient Aramaic translation of the Bible says that she made reference to “the book of the law.”
Now, in Deuteronomy 20:10 the law says, “When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it.” (NKJV) God commanded that before attacking a city, you give the residents of the city the chance to make peace with you.
Joab had not obeyed that command in God’s word. He had just started attacking Abel Beth Ma’acah without any parley first.
There is a tradition of interpreting v.18 as the wise woman relating a conversation among the city leaders when Joab first arrived, based on this law from Deuteronomy 20, where they expected that Joab would inquire with them and that they would be able to conclude the matter, so they had been disappointed that Joab had not tried to talk with them first4.
If this woman was indeed appealing to the Bible5, that would be a great thing to do. If another Bible-believer is up-in-arms against you, you can appeal to what you have in common in loyalty to God’s word.
I can’t tell you how many times I have quoted Ephesians 4:32 to my children when they were fighting: “...be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” (KJV)
If they are responsive to God’s word, they may apologize for disobeying God and stop the conflict.
The wise woman also mentions the values of Faithfulness (also known as Loyalty) and Peacefulness.
Surely Joab would find common ground on the value of loyalty. He was so loyal to David that he went into exile with him and risked his life to defend him. If the people of this city can convince him that they they also want to be faithful to their king, Joab’s suspicions that the city of Abel was the headquarters of a secession movement would evaporate.
Maybe peacefulness was not a value of Joab’s, but in letting Joab know that it was a value of this city, and reminding Joab that this city had a long tradition of being the place where folks could go to resolve disputes, it would give Joab the right expectation that dialogue could solve the dispute and that a siege might not be necessary.
What kind of values can you think of that an opponent might have in common with you? Often when we are in an argument, stepping back to big-picture values that we agree upon can open up discussion so that it doesn’t shut down.
Perhaps it’s just the value of truth. “Hey, I know we’re on opposite sides of this gender identity issue, but what I really want is to understand what is true and to live with integrity according to what is true. Is that something you can respect? Could you show me the scientific evidence behind your claims, and would you be willing to consider some evidence I have to offer and could we see if we can distinguish some things that we can agree on that are true?”
This wise woman also appeals to the value of “a city and a mother in Israel” – which most Bible scholars consider to be a hendiadys6, that is, both the city and the mother are the same thing, even though there is an “and” between them in Hebrew. We might call it a “mother city.”
Civilization itself – having well-developed cities is valuable. Joab is challenged to think hard about this: “Do you really want to destroy your own fortified city that defines and defends your border? Do you really want to depopulate this area and leave it open for foreigners to move in and take control of?” Surely Joab would see reason for caution against destroying a major town that was making a significant contribution to the nation’s economy.
Likewise, when you are dealing with conflict, can you appeal to the other party in terms of preserving what is physically and socially and economically valuable?
For instance, when a couple is considering divorce, part of persuading them against it will probably be helping them see that it would make their finances tighter and that it would mean a lifetime of strained relationships with their children. This sort of argumentation doesn’t always work, but it is part of wisdom to appeal to whatever values you can find in common.
Finally, in v.19, the wise woman appeals to the status of the city with the LORD: “Why swallow up the inheritance of Yahweh?”
She reminds Joab that there are other relationships that he should consider besides his personal relationship to the people in this town. This town has a covenant relationship with God, as part of the “inheritance” of the land of Israel, and if Joab destroys it, he could be punished by God for infringing on God’s will for that city.
Appealing to God’s interests can help when parties are stuck on their own agendas. When the TentMaker Project was just getting started, it was discovered that when the African deacons gave loan-money to a church member for the purpose of helping them grow their business and provide for themselves, sometimes a distant relative who was wanting to put on an expensive wedding would catch wind of it and immediately demand that the church member instead spend the money to help pay for his wedding. The ties to extended family were so strong that the loan recipient would feel that they had no choice but to pay for their relative’s wedding, even though the church deacons had told them that the money was intended to build their business. So a higher authority had to be brought to bear. The leadership began teaching that since these loans came from the church’s money, this is the Lord’s money, it’s not their money to do whatever their family wants with it; it has to be spent the way the Lord authorized it.
However, all the good communication skills in the world aren’t going to help you if you don’t have a:
Wise Evaluation of the Problem and its Solution
In v.21 Joab briefly outlines the problem as he sees it: the city is harboring a traitor to King David. And then he lays down his terms for peace: “Y’all just give Sheba up, and I will walk away...”7
It took some real wisdom for that woman to evaluate whether or not to accede to those terms, but in a flash she had an answer ready, “OK, his head is about to be thrown to you over the wall!”
Sounds to me like Joab’s explanation lit a fire in her against Sheba, and she was now on the warpath against him. One man’s life to save the entire city. One execution and the siege would be lifted. And since that one man had started a political movement against King David, she had no qualms with executing the rascal because she was a faithful Israelite.
Now, most of us don’t have to make life-and-death decisions like that very often, but we will have to make difficult decisions:
“Do I let my child get away with eating the chocolate I told her not to get into, or do I stop what I’m doing right now to go discipline her, and risk not finishing my project today?”
Or, “Do I punch the snooze button on the alarm clock and roll over for 5 more minutes of sleep or do I get up now, even though I don’t feel like it?”
Where do we get the wisdom to make good decisions? We need to pray and ask God to give us His wisdom! James 1:5 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (NASB)
But once the wise woman had evaluated the problem and the solution, she wasn’t done yet. She still had to meet with the rest of the folks in the city and do some...
Consensus-building
v.22 “Then the woman went to all her people with her wisdom...”
The oldest manuscripts of this verse explicitly add the obvious fact that she “talked with them” to win them over to this solution.
We don’t know what she said, except that it was wise, and it was effective. The people quickly got behind the plan to execute Sheba for treason against the Lord’s anointed.
Note, though, that it was not the woman who executed capitol punishment; it was “all the people” who cut off Sheba’s head. This was done properly under the civil laws of the city; it wasn’t any one person’s vigilante activism.
When God calls you to take the lead in resolving an issue, you will probably see the problem and the solution clearly before most everybody else does. It is going to take hard work to communicate persuasively and it’s going to take patience to wait until the proper authorities are convinced.
For instance, we may see clearly that abortion is a form of murder, but it is going to take time and effort before the consensus can be built among the people of our nation to develop a legal system and a justice system which prosecutes abortion as murder.
Will you follow the example of the wise woman and spend the time and energy necessary to build the consensus necessary to support what is right?
Another aspect of this woman’s wisdom was the timeliness of her action.
What if she had waited a year before speaking up? Or what if she had taken a year to convince the city authorities to put Sheba to death? Do you think Joab would have been very patient and understanding?
But the wise woman acted decisively in a timely way. She spoke up; she established identities well; she appealed to common values, appealed to the authority of God and the Bible, and she took the effort to build consensus, so God rewarded her wisdom with peace.
James 3:17-18 “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (NASB)
The chapter closes with the peace of the city of Abel, as Joab calls off the siege and all the soldiers go home,
But is also closes with the larger peace of the whole kingdom, with a list of David’s officials.
Significantly, Joab is back in charge of the Army.
Peace is demonstrated by the fact that Beniah, Adoram (a.k.a. Adoniram8), and Jehoshaphat maintained their court positions that they had during David’s reign, on into Solomon’s reign (1 Ki. 4:3, 12:18) after David died.
The name of Adoram’s position has a wide range of meaning, from the KJV “tribute,” to the NKJV “revenue,” to the NASB/NIV “forced labor,” to the NLT “labor force.”
It is believed that this position became a necessity after the number of military victories David had won, resulting in more and more conquered foreigners under obligation to do public work for Israel and to pay tribute to King David. (Later on, Solomon expanded that corvée system made mandatory labor in public works a duty of every Israelite citizen as well.)
1 Kings 5:14 seems to make it clear that it was conscripted service9, that is, required time doing manual labor for the government: “And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram [which is the long form of the name Adoram] was in charge of the labor force.”
Anyway, this list of David’s officials at the end of chapter 20 is almost exactly the same as the one from early in David’s reign written up in 2 Samuel 8:15-1810 (and copied in 1 Chronicles 18:15ff) except for three major differences:
1) it appears that in chapter
8, at the outset of his reign, David didn’t need a labor
department yet,
2) The priesthood of Ahimelek was passed down
to his son Abiathar (Abiathar was also his father’s name),
and 3) instead of “David’s sons” being “chief ministers,” here, Ira the Jairite alone seems to occupy that position.
Concerning Ira the Jairite:
The word Jairite doesn’t occur anywhere else in the Bible, but Jair was a son of Manassah who settled the area of Gilead11, so perhaps he was from the Trans-Jordan area where David had just been living in exile during Absalom’s revolt.
Also, his position is spelled
the same in Hebrew as the position that Zadok and Abiathar held.
Bible scholars seem to be divided pretty evenly over whether this
means that Ira was a personal “chaplain”12,
providing religious services for David, or whether Ira was a
“minister” in the sense of “prime minister”
or “minister of the state13.”
I am inclined toward the latter for two reasons:
1) the
parallel in the list in chapter 8 is “David’s sons,”
who were not Levites and therefore couldn’t be “priests,”
yet they are given the same title, and
2) because, in the
parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 18, a synonym is used instead of
“priest,” and it is the word “head/chief,”
so I think that the context indicates that Ira was a sort of
“prime minister” instead of David’s sons, and
that seems to be consistent with the fact that David didn’t
seem ready to move any of his sons into power anytime soon, after
all their squabbling over the last few years14.
Let us learn wisdom from this nameless woman:
To talk instead of reactionary fighting back,
To establish identities so that communication is clear,
To appeal to common values that your opponent also holds,
To ask for God’s wisdom when evaluating problems and solutions,
To take the time and effort to build consensus and win over the authorities,
And to take timely action without undue delay,
Knowing that this wisdom comes from God and is personified in Jesus Christ who:
Talked to us instead of fighting us: He didn’t consign us to hell when we rebelled against Him, but still gave us His word and offered salvation,
Jesus also made His identity known to his followers, that He is the Son of God who became man to seek and save the lost,
and Jesus reasons with us according to values we can appreciate:
He offers “eternal pleasures” (Psalm 16:11) and eternal life (Jude 1:21)
and pleads: “Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why should you die…?” (Ezek. 18:31)
Jesus Himself is the wisdom of God15 who, together with God the Father, in His infinite wisdom, laid the plans for our salvation before the dawn of time (Eph. 1:4),
And Jesus is taking the time and effort to build consensus in His kingdom, for He promised to go with His disciples as they spread the good news of His salvation to win over some from every group of people on earth (Matt. 28:18ff)
And Jesus is the one who was born just at the right time, “when the appointed time had come” (Gal. 4:4) and who will return at just the right time (Rev. 22:20).
POSITION |
David’s Early
Officials |
David’s Later
Officials |
General |
Joab |
Joab |
מזכיר |
J[eh]osaphat |
Jehosaphat |
כהנים |
Zadok & |
Zadok & |
סופר |
Seriah2SaHebrew,1ChSyriac |
SeriahSyriac a.k.a.
SousaGreek, Latin |
Captain over the |
Benaiah |
Benaiah |
רשניםChron/כהנSam |
David’s sons |
Ira the Jairite |
מס |
n/a |
Adoram2Sam20,1Ki.12:18 |
LXX |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
MT |
13 ἡνίκα δὲ ἔφθασεν ἐκ τῆς τρίβου, παρῆλθεν πᾶς ἀνὴρ [Ισραηλ] ὀπίσω Ιωαβ τοῦ διῶξαι ὀπίσω Σαβεε υἱοῦ Βοχορι. -- |
13 And when he was quickly removed from the road, every man [of IsraelB] passed after Joab to pursue after Sabee the son of Bochori. |
13
And when he was
removed
out of the way, all the |
13
When he was
removed
out of the highway, all the |
13 As soon as he had him dragged off the highway, each man passed on, following Joab, to pursue after Sheba, son of Bikri, |
(יג) כַּאֲשֶׁר הֹגָהD מִן הַמְסִלָּה עָבַר כָּל Eאִישׁ אַחֲרֵי יוֹאָב לִרְדֹּף אַחֲרֵי שֶׁבַע בֶּן בִּכְרִי. |
14
καὶ διῆλθεν
ἐν πάσαις φυλαῖς
Ισραηλ εἰς
Αβελ καὶ
[εἰς]
Βαιθμαχα καὶ
πάντες |
14
And he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and
[to]
Bethmacha; and all |
14
Now he had passed through all the tribes of Israel unto Abela and
Bethmaacha: and all the |
14 And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and [to] Bethmaachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him. |
14 who had passed by all the tribes of Israel in the direction of Abel (that is, Beth Ma’acah), along with all the Berites, and they were formed into a company as they came in additionally after him. |
(יד) וַיַּעֲבֹרG בְּכָל שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָבֵלָה וּבֵית מַעֲכָה וְכָל Hהַבֵּרִים וַיִּקָּהֲלוּI וַיָּבֹאוּ Jאַף אַחֲרָיו. |
15
καὶ παρεγενήθησαν
καὶ ἐπολιόρκουν
ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν τὴν
Αβελ [καὶ]
τὴν Βαιθμαχα
καὶ ἐξέχεαν
πρόσχωμα πρὸς
τὴν πόλιν, καὶ
ἔστη ἐν τῷ προτειχίσματι,
καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς
ὁ μετὰ Ιωαβ
|
15
And they came and besieged X him
in Abel [and]
K |
15
And they came, and besieged X him
in Abela, [and]
in Bethmaacha, and they cast up works round the city, and the
|
15 And they came and besieged X him in Abel of Bethmaachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench: and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. |
15 Meanwhile, all the people that was with Joab came up and laid siege upon him in Abel/Beth Ma’acah, and they dumped a siege-mound against the city, and it was located by the rampart, and they began destroying the wall to make it fall down. |
(טו) וַיָּבֹאוּ וַיָּצֻרוּ עָלָיו בְּאָבֵלָה Lבֵּית הַמַּעֲכָה וַיִּשְׁפְּכוּ סֹלְלָהM אֶל הָעִיר וַתַּעֲמֹדN בַּחֵל וְכָל הָעָם אֲשֶׁר אֶת יוֹאָב מַשְׁחִיתִםO לְהַפִּיל הַחוֹמָה. |
16
καὶ ἐβόησεν
γυνὴ σοφὴ ἐκ
τοῦ |
16
And a wise woman cried from the |
16
And a wise woman cried out from the city: Hear, hear, |
16 Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. |
16 But a wise woman from the city called out, “Y’all Listen! Listen! Please tell this to Joab, ‘Come near – up to here, and let me speak with you.’” |
(טז) וַתִּקְרָא אִשָּׁה חֲכָמָה מִן הָעִירP שִׁמְעוּ שִׁמְעוּ אִמְרוּ נָא אֶל יוֹאָב קְרַב עַד הֵנָּה וַאֲדַבְּרָה אֵלֶיךָ. |
17 καὶ προσήγγισεν πρὸς αὐτήν, καὶ εἶπεν ἡ γυνή Εἰ σὺ εἶ Ιωαβ; ὁ δὲ εἶπεν Ἐγώ. εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ Ἄκουσον τοὺς λόγους τῆς δούλης σου. καὶ εἶπεν [Ιωαβ] Ἀκούω ἐγώ εἰμι. |
17 And he drew nigh to her, and the woman said [to himQ], Art thou Joab? and he said, I am. And she said to him, Hear the words of thy handmaid; and [Joab] said, I do hear. |
17
And when he was come near to her, |
17 And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. |
17 So he came near to her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” And he said, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your maidservant.” And he said, “I am listening.” |
(יז) וַיִּקְרַב אֵלֶיהָ וַתֹּאמֶר הָאִשָּׁה הַאַתָּה יוֹאָב וַיֹּאמֶר אָנִי וַתֹּאמֶר לוֹ שְׁמַע דִּבְרֵי אֲמָתֶךָ וַיֹּאמֶר שֹׁמֵעַ אָנֹכִי. |
18 καὶ εἶπεν λέγουσα ΛόγονS ἐλάλησαν ἐν πρώτοις λέγοντες [Ἠρωτημένος ἠρωτήθη ἐν τῇ Αβελ καὶ ἐν Δαν εἰ ἐξέλιπον ἃ ἔθεντο οἱ πιστοὶ τοῦ Ισραηλ,] ἐρωτῶντες ἐπερωτήσουσιν ἐν Αβελ καὶ οὕτως [εἰ] ἐξέλιπον. |
18
And she spoke, saying,
Of old time
they X said
thus,
[Surely
one |
18
And she again
said: A saying
|
18 Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter. |
18 Then she really began speaking, “At the outset, they would emphatically assert, saying, ‘Let them diligently inquire in Abel, and thus they shall bring resolution. |
(יח) וַתֹּאמֶר לֵאמֹר דַּבֵּר יְדַבְּרוּ בָרִאשֹׁנָה לֵאמֹרT שָׁאֹל יְשָׁאֲלוּ בְּאָבֵל וְכֵן הֵתַמּוּ. |
19
ἐγώ εἰμι εἰρηνικὰ
τῶν |
19
I am a peaceable
oneX of the
|
19
Am [not]
I |
19 I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD? |
19 I am of the loyal ones of Israel who are at peace. You are seeking to put to death a city that is a ‘mother’ in Israel. Why are you swallowing up the inheritance of Yahweh?” |
(יט) אָנֹכִי שְׁלֻמֵי Uאֱמוּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אַתָּה מְבַקֵּשׁ לְהָמִית עִיר וְאֵם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל לָמָּה תְבַלַּע נַחֲלַת יְהוָהV. |
20 καὶ ἀπεκρίθη Ιωαβ καὶ εἶπεν Ἵλεώς [μοι] ἵλεώς μοι, εἰ καταποντιῶ καὶ εἰ διαφθερῶ· |
20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it [X XW], far be it from me, that I should ruin or X destroy. |
20
And Joab answering said: God forbid, God forbid that I should, I |
20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or X destroy. |
20 Joab then answered and said, “Disgrace! It is a disgrace to me if I swallow up or if I destroy! |
(כ) וַיַּעַן יוֹאָב וַיֹּאמַר חָלִילָה חָלִילָהX לִי אִםY אֲבַלַּע וְאִם אַשְׁחִית. |
21 οὐχ οὗτος ὁ λόγος, ὅτι ἀνὴρ ἐξ ὄρους Εφραιμ, Σαβεε υἱὸς Βοχορι ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπῆρεν τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλέα X Δαυιδ· δότε αὐτόν [μοι] μόνον, καὶ ἀπελεύσομαι ἀπάνωθεν τῆς πόλεως. καὶ εἶπεν ἡ γυνὴ πρὸς Ιωαβ Ἰδοὺ ἡ κεφαλὴ αὐτοῦ ῥιφήσεται πρὸς σὲ διὰ τοῦ τείχους. |
21
Is not the case thus, that a man of mount Ephraim, Sabee, son of
Bochori |
21
The matter is not so, but a man of mount Ephraim, Seba the son of
Bochri |
21
The matter is
not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri
|
21 Such is not the case! Rather, a man from the mountain of Ephraim (Sheba son of Bikri is his name) has lifted up his hand against David the King. Y’all just give him up, and I will walk away from your city.” So the woman said to Joab, “OK, his head is about to be thrown to you over the wall!” |
(כא) לֹא כֵן הַדָּבָר כִּי אִישׁ מֵהַר אֶפְרַיִם שֶׁבַע בֶּן בִּכְרִי שְׁמוֹ נָשָׂא יָדוֹ בַּמֶּלֶךְ Zבְּדָוִד תְּנוּ אֹתוֹ לְבַדּוֹ וְאֵלְכָה מֵעַל הָעִיר וַתֹּאמֶר הָאִשָּׁה אֶל יוֹאָב הִנֵּה רֹאשׁוֹ מֻשְׁלָךְ אֵלֶיךָ בְּעַד הַחוֹמָה. |
22
καὶ εἰσῆλθεν
ἡ γυνὴ πρὸς πάντα
τὸν λαὸν [καὶ
ἐλάλησεν πρὸς
πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν]
ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ
αὐτῆς· καὶ
|
22
And the woman
went in to all the people[,
and she spoke to all the city]
in her wisdom;
and they |
22
So |
22
Then the woman
went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head
of Sheba the son of Bichri,
and cast it
out to Joab. And he blew X a
|
22 Then the woman went to all her people {and spoke to all of them} with her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bikri, and they threw it to Joab. Then he blew into his horn, and they dispersed from the city, each to his tents. Then Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem. |
(כב) וַתָּבוֹא הָאִשָּׁה אֶל כָּל הָעָם בְּחָכְמָתָהּAD וַיִּכְרְתוּ אֶת רֹאשׁ שֶׁבַע בֶּן בִּכְרִי וַיַּשְׁלִכוּ אֶל יוֹאָב וַיִּתְקַע בַּשּׁוֹפָר וַיָּפֻצוּ מֵעַל הָעִיר אִישׁ לְאֹהָלָיו וְיוֹאָב שָׁב יְרוּשָׁלִַם אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ. |
23 Καὶ Ιωαβ πρὸς πάσῃ τῇ δυνάμει Ισραηλ, καὶ Βαναιας υἱὸς Ιωδαε ἐπὶ τοῦ χερεθθι καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ φελεθθι, |
23 And Joab was over all the force[s] of Israel: and Banaias the son of Jodae was over the Cherethites and over the Phelethites. |
23 So Joab was over all the army of Israel: and Banaias the son of Joiada was over the Cerethites and X X Phelethites, |
23 Now Joab was over all the host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites: |
23 Now Joab was over all of the army of Israel, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kere{th}ites and over the Pelethites. |
(כג) וְיוֹאָב אֶלAE כָּל הַצָּבָא יִשְׂרָאֵל וּבְנָיָה בֶּן יְהוֹיָדָע עַל הַכְּרִיAF וְעַל הַפְּלֵתִי. |
24 καὶ Αδωνιραμ ἐπὶ τοῦ φόρου, καὶ Ιωσαφατ υἱὸς Αχιλουθ ἀναμιμνῄσκων, |
24 And Adoniram was over the tribute: and Josaphath the son of Achiluth was recorder. |
24 But Aduram over the tributes: and Josaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder. |
24 And Adoram was over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder: |
24 Meanwhile, Adoram was over the slave-labor, and Jehoshaphat son of Akhilud was the historian, |
(כד) וַאֲדֹרָםAG עַל הַמַּס וִיהוֹשָׁפָט בֶּן אֲחִילוּד הַמַּזְכִּיר. |
25 καὶ Σουσα γραμματεύς, καὶ Σαδωκ καὶ Αβιαθαρ ἱερεῖς, |
25 And Susa was scribe: and Sadoc and Abiathar were priests. |
25 And Siva was scribe: and Sadoc and Abiathar, priests. |
25 And Sheva was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests: |
25 and Sheva was Secretary, and Tsadoq and Abiathar were priests, |
|
26 καί γε Ιρας ὁ Ιαριν ἦν ἱερεὺς τοῦ Δαυιδ. |
26 Moreover Iras the son of Iarin was priest to David. |
26 And Ira the Jairite was the priest of David. |
26 And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David. |
26 and also Ira the Jairite was ministering to David. |
1Although Keil & Delitzsch saw them as the names of two separate places, Josephus, Willett, and Tsumura considered it to be one and the same place.
2K&D interpreted this as the army of Israel being mobilized rather than Sheba’s ranks being mobilized.
3This was Goldman’s interpretation, and he said that it was also what most modern Jewish scholars propose, although he noted that Kimchi and Ralbag related them instead to the Beerothites of Benjamin in 4:3, with which M. Henry and J. Gill concurred. Willett related them to both. Tsumura related them to neither, but instead to names in northern Israel.
4Willet (citing Junius in support) wrote, “the Citizens of Abel... communed and consulted among themselues, that Ioab would first offer vnto the citie peace, to see if it would be accepted.” Henry and Jamieson agreed, but I would point out that the verb “ask” is not perfect tense, but rather imperfect tense, describing a customary, ongoing action, not a past event. R. Isaiah interpreted it like I did, that people came to Abel to settle disputes. Gill and K&D accepted both of the above positions as though they did not contradict. Lightfoot, on the other hand, came up with yet another interpretation that it was Sheba who was doing the asking, “Sheba and his rebels... had deceived them by fawning and false words, pretending only to inquire about the peace and welfare of their city,” but I would point out that the subject of the verb is plural (“they asked”), not singular, and the rest with Sheba don’t seem to be the problem; Sheba’s head alone was called for.
5Willett, Henry, and Jamieson thought so, but Goldman, Driver, and Gill did not. I am skeptical.
6Rachi and Kimchi alone to the contrary that I could find.
7“The single condition of peace is the surrender of the traitor. It is so in God's dealing with the soul, when it is besieged by conviction and distress: sin is the traitor; the beloved lust is the rebel; part with that, cast away the transgression, and all shall be well. No peace on any other terms.” ~M. Henry
8also short for Hadoram, as he is called in 2 Chronicles 10:18 (cf. 1 Ki. 12:18), when he attempted to continue serving in that capacity under King Rehoboam.
9Targums, KJV, and Gill asserted, to the contrary, that it was merely the collection of tribute money from vassals.
10So David reigned over all Israel, and it happened that David executed justice and righteousness for all his people, 16 and Joab son of Tseruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was librarian, 17 and Zadok son of Achitub and Achimelek son of Abiathar were priests, and Seraiah was secretary, 18 and Benaiah son of Jehoiada {was over} both the Cerethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David were {chieftains}. (NAW)
11Num. 32:41; Deut. 3:14; Jos. 13:30; Jdg. 10:3, 5; 1 Ki. 4:13; 1 Chr. 2:22-23
12This was the position taken by the NASB, NIV, NLT, and Tsumura (NICOT).
13This was the position taken by the KJV, NKJV, French NEG, Gill, K&D, and Goldman (Soncino).
14cf. Goldman (Soncino): “Absalom’s rebellion may have been the reason for the change.”
151 Cor. 1:23-24 “but, as for us, we are preaching… Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God...”
16Ahimelek’s father was also called Abiathar.
AMy
original chart includes the NASB, NIV, and ESV, but their copyright
restrictions have forced me to remove them from the
publicly-available edition of this chart. (NAW is my translation.)
When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not
indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text),
I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses
a wording which is different from all the other translations, I
underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in
my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the
Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original
text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a
word which is in the original text, I insert an X. (I also place an
X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the
English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help
the reader see correlations between the various editions and
versions when there are more than two different translations of a
given word. The only known Dead Sea Scrolls containing 2 Samuel 20
are 4Q51 Samuela containing parts of verses 1-2, 4, 9-14,
19, & 21-25, dated between 50-25 B.C. Where the DSS is legible
and in agreement with the MT, the MT is colored purple.
Where the DSS supports the LXX (or Vulgate) with omissions or text
not in the MT, I have highlighted
with yellow the LXX
and its translation into English, and where I have accepted that
into my NAW translation, I have marked it with {pointed brackets}.
BAlthough the DSS is obliterated at this point, it is curious that the DSS has enough extra space in the previous line to insert this extra word found in the LXX, howevere, it wouldn’t fit in Hebrew grammar to put the word that early in the sentence, and there is a shorter line in this section of the DSS, so there is no certainty that there was an extra word here in the DSS.
CI don’t know where Douay got “people,” since the Vulgate reads vir = “men.” The DSS reads עמ = “people,” but it wasn’t discovered until hundreds of years after Douay.
DThis word only occurs elsewhere in the Bible in 2 Sam. 20:13; Job 19:2; Isa. 51:23; Lam. 1:4-5, 12; 3:32-33; Zeph. 3:18 – all lament literature. This is the only place that it is translated “remove;” everywhere else it is translated “sorrow, grieve, torment, torture, afflict, suffer, mourn, pain, or vex.” I would also note that it is spelled in the Hiphil-causative stem here, which is not a passive stem, but all the versions seem to give it a passive interpretation.
EThe DSS reads עמ = “people,” but the MT, LXX, Vulgate, Targums, and Aramaic are all agreed on “man.”
FThe Hebrew root here is בור = “well,” but the Vulgate translates it as though it were from the similar root בחר = “chosen.” The fact that the LXX reads as though the chet letter in the Vulgate translation were present (חרימ instead of the MT ברימ) is a coincidence which warrants consideration of the original being different from the MT, but doesn’t make a determination conclusive.
GNIV & ESV insert a repetition of the nearest previous noun (Sheba). This is an inference, but a warranted one. A minority of scholars have interpreted the subject as Joab instead of Sheba: Josephus, Syriac and Arabic versions, R. Isaiah, and, surprisingly, Keil & Delitzsch.
HIt
is normal for proper names to experience spelling variation across
languages, but the variants are curious here:
ברין
=
Targums & Syriac
(the final ן
means
the same in their language as the ם
in
Hebrew)
הברים
=
Masoretic Hebrew
בחרים
=
Vulgate
בחרים
=
LXX
הבכרים
=
ESV (similar to the name
of Sheba’s father, but no manuscript actually spells the word
this way).
Additionally,
the Masoretic punctuation indicates that the major break should be
after this word (see
https://hb.openscriptures.org/structure/OshbVerse/index.html?b=2Sam&c=20&v=14),
contradicting the reading of the Greek (reflected in English by
Brenton) and Latin (reflected in English by Douay).
IThe LXX, Vulgate, Targums, and Syriac all confirm the reading of the Qere “were assembled” over the reading of the original MT Kethib (“were burned/dishonored”). Likely the lamed and he letters were switched for euphonic purposes, and a contemporary who understood the language would know that and translate it as it was intended all along as “assembled.”
JThis word is omitted in the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac, but I wonder if the reason has to do more with the difficulty of translating the nuance of meaning of the word (“adding more” – the idea that more and more supporters trickled in and were incorporated into the company) rather than the word not being in the original text.
KVaticanus, the oldest-known Septuagint manuscript, has a strange variant spelling for “Beth” which is not found in the majority of Septuagint manuscripts.
LLXX, Vulgate, Syriac, Targums, and even some Hebrew manuscripts insert a vav conjunction here, matching the spelling of the previous verse.
MThe remaining 7 instances of this verb all describe the Chaldean siege of Jerusalem (2 Ki. 19:32; Isa. 37:33; Jer. 6:6; Ezek. 4:2; 17:17; 21:27; 26:8)
NSeveral ancient versions read differently: Vulgate: obsessa est urbs (See Douay for English translation), Targums = “surrounded the camp,” Syriac = “established באולצנא." The feminine singular refers, not to the army (Osiander, Gill), not to the woman (Vatabulus), not to the city (Willett), but to the feminine singular “siege-mound.”
OTargums (מִתעַשְׁתִין) and Septuagint read “considering” (perhaps seeing the root as חשב, with a euphonically-transposed sibilant and guttural letter spelling, rather than שחת) but Syriac (מגרגין) and Vulgate (moliebatur) support the MT Hebrew (“laying waste”).
PGreek and Syriac read “wall” instead of “city,” but that doesn’t change anything about the story.
QThis seems to be a gloss by Brenton; it is not in the Vaticanus or in Rohlfs’ edition of the Septuagint.
RThis seems to be a gloss by Douay. I don’t see it in the Vulgate. I do see it in the Syriac, however, but not in the MT.
SMT pointed dibber as a verb, and it seems to be a verb in Targums & Syriac, but LXX & Vulgate understood it as a noun.
TAt this point, the LXX inserts a long phrase about it being asked in Abel and Dan whether the faithful in Israel ever failed to resolve an issue. The Old Latin inserts the first part of what is added in the LXX “and in Dan they say.” The Targums instead inserts a phrase about remembering what was written in the book of the law. The piling up of three emphatic verb infinitives gives me the impression that this woman was wound up and talking a mile a minute, so maybe the MT is an abbreviated version of what she said. It’s not a problem if she said more, as long as we’ve got the gist. And the gist is that Abel has had a long tradition of being the place where folks would go to resolve disputes.
UVulgate & LXX insert “and,” but no conjunction is here in the Targums or Syriac. This portion of the DSS is obliterated.
VThe last letter of this verse is all that has survived of this verse in the DSS, and, curiously, it is the letter ם, which is not found in any of the last few words of the MT of this verse (nor is it the last letter of the verse in the Targums or Syriac). Perhaps it could be the last letter of the Hebrew word for “God” (elohim), which would easily stand as a synonym for YHWH, not changing the meaning.
WThe extra “to me” in Rahlfs’ edition of the LXX is also in the Vaticanus, but was left out in Brenton’s English translation.
XThe repeat of this exclamation is omitted in some Hebrew manuscripts, some Greek manuscripts, in the Old Latin, and in the Syriac. The entire verse is obliterated in the DSS, but there is not enough space for all the text in the MT, so the DSS seems to support the manuscripts which omit the repeated word.
YVulgate & Syriac read these as אל (“not”) instead of as אם (“if”). I suspect they must have been looking at a manuscript which had a negative, since this is not a word that is prone to get mis-read or misunderstood.
ZThe LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac all read as though they were looking at a Hebrew manuscript which omitted the beth before “David.” Indeed there are a few such Hebrew manuscripts, and, although the Targums preserve the beth, most rabbinical citations also omit it. The DSS is too obliterated for comparison. It makes no difference in meaning, however.
AAThis redundancy is in the Vaticanus, but not the standard Septuagint.
AB“people” is not in the LXX or Vaticanus. This is an insertion from Brenton in English.
ACThis insertion is in the Vaticanus, but not the standard Septuagint.
ADAlthough the Syriac and Targums support the MT here, the LXX and Vulgate agree on additional text surrounding the additional verb “she spoke.” The DSS, although too obliterated to read, nevertheless has way too much space for the text of the MT, so it supports the additional text of the LXX and Vulgate. What is added, however, does not change the story, for it is normally assumed that in “going to her people” she was talking to them.
AELXX supports the MT. Vulgate, Syriac, and Targums, and some Greek manuscripts instead read with the approximately-synonymous preposition על (which has a stronger connotation of “over” than אל). The Targums add a verb “appointed,” but this appears to be an explanatory insert for a terse original text.
AFSyriac supports the original spelling of the MT, but the LXX and Latin and Targums, as well as multiple Hebrew manuscripts, support the Qere which adds a tav as the penultimate letter to bring it into conformance with previous spellings. A couple of Greek editions, namely the Lucian Rescription and Theodotion’s omit “Kerethites” altogether, but paired with “the Pelethites,” no matter what the spelling, it is obviously speaking of that particular group of soldiers.
AGAlso known as Adoniram (which is how the LXX and Syriac spelled it). The only other mention of Adoram is his death under King Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12:18, which happened while he working in his position of conscripting labor. But Adoniram is also mentioned in 1Ki 4:6 “...Adoniram the son of Abda, over the labor force” and 1Kings 5:14 “And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the labor force.”
AHSheia
= traditional MT spelling
Sheva = Vulgate, a Targums tradition,
Multiple Hebrew manuscripts, & Qere (MT correction: וּשְׁוָא),
Sousa
= Old
Latin, LXX, a Targums tradition, 1
Chron 18 spelling in
LXX and Vulgate
Seriah
= Syriac, 2 Sam 8 spelling in all manuscripts except LXX (which
renders "[S]asa")
Shavsha = 1 Chron 18 spelling in MT
and Targums.
Note that the Hebrew letters for "v" and
"i" can be interchangeable or can disappear for phonetic
reasons, and also,
before the vowel pointing was added, the
same letter
ש
stood
for both "S"
and
"Sh."
So
it is understandable that this guy’s name was spelled in a
variety of ways. This
would be even more likely if he was a foreigner with letters in his
name that didn’t exactly correspond to Hebrew letters. It is
also a characteristic of real life that famous people have a variety
of names attached to them.
AIJairite doesn’t occur anywhere else in the Bible. Jair was a son of Manasseh who settled the area of Gilead (Num. 32:41; Deut. 3:14; Jos. 13:30; Jdg. 10:3, 5; 1 Ki. 4:13; 1 Chr. 2:22-23), so perhaps he was from the TransJordan. The Syriac and a couple of Greek versions (Lucian Rescription, Symmachus) replaced “א/a” with “th” to make Jetherite.
AJ“הַמַּס does not mean vectigal, i.e., tribute or tributary service, but tributary labourers. “ ~Keil & Delitzsch