Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 179
2S
| 20:2-17
S am u el – K I N G S
167
Come on, you men of Israel,
back to your homes!”
So all the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba son of Bicri.
But the men of Judah stayed with their king and escorted him from the
Jordan River to Jerusalem.
When David came to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to look after the palace and placed them in seclusion.
Their needs were provided for, but he no longer slept with them. So each
of them lived like a widow until she died.
Then the king told Amasa, “Mobilize the army of Judah within three
days, and report back at that time.” So Amasa went out to notify Judah,
but it took him longer than the time he had been given.
Then David said to Abishai, “Sheba son of Bicri is going to hurt us more
than Absalom did. Quick, take my troops and chase after him before he
gets into a fortified town where we can’t reach him.”
So Abishai and Joab, together with the king’s bodyguard and all the
mighty warriors, set out from Jerusalem to go after Sheba. As they arrived
at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa met them. Joab was wearing his military tunic with a dagger strapped to his belt. As he stepped forward to greet
Amasa, he slipped the dagger from its sheath.
“How are you, my cousin?” Joab said and took him by the beard with
his right hand as though to kiss him. Amasa didn’t notice the dagger in his
left hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach with it so that his insides
gushed out onto the ground. Joab did not need to strike again, and Amas a
soon died. Joab and his brother Abishai left him lying there and continued
after Sheba.
One of Joab’s young men shouted to Amasa’s troops, “If you are for
Joab and David, come and follow Joab.” But Amasa lay in his blood in the
middle of the road, and Joab’s man saw that everyone was stopping to stare
at him. So he pulled him off the road into a field and threw a cloak over
him. With Amasa’s body out of the way, everyone went on with Joab to
capture Sheba son of Bicri.
Meanwhile, Sheba traveled through all the tribes of Israel and eventually came to the town of Abel-beth-maacah. All the members of his own
clan, the Bicrites, assembled for battle and followed him into the town.
When Joab’s forces arrived, they attacked Abel-beth-maacah. They built
a siege ramp against the town’s fortifications and began battering down
the wall. But a wise woman in the town called out to Joab, “Listen to me,
Joab. Come over here so I can talk to you.” As he approached, the woman
asked, “Are you Joab?”
“I am,” he replied.