Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo

2 Samuel 20

David’s kingdom survives another revolt through bloodshed and a wise woman’s intervention, while Joab emerges in command despite murdering Amasa.

Sheba, a Benjamite, sounds a trumpet and draws Israel away from David, while Judah stays with the king. Back in Jerusalem, David confines his ten concubines for the rest of their lives. He orders a pursuit of Sheba, but Amasa’s delay is followed by his murder at Joab’s hands. The pursuit reaches Abel of Beth Maacah, where an unnamed wise woman negotiates with Joab to spare the city. Sheba is killed, the army disperses, and a list of David’s officials closes the account.

leadership weightinjustice and angersermon or Bible study notes
Read
1There happened to be there a wicked fellow, whose name was Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjamite; and he blew the trumpet, and said, “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, Israel!”
2So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah joined with their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.
3David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody and provided them with sustenance, but didn’t go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.
4Then the king said to Amasa, “Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be here present.”
5So Amasa went to call the men of Judah together, but he stayed longer than the set time which had been appointed to him.
6David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your lord’s servants and pursue after him, lest he get himself fortified cities, and escape out of our sight.”
7Joab’s men went out after him with the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the mighty men; and they went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.
8When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was clothed in his apparel of war that he had put on, and on it was a sash with a sword fastened on his waist in its sheath; and as he went along it fell out.
9Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.
10But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand. So he struck him with it in the body and shed out his bowels to the ground, and didn’t strike him again; and he died. Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri.
11One of Joab’s young men stood by him, and said, “He who favors Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab!”
12Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. When the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still.
13When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.
14He went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, to Beth Maacah, and all the Berites. They were gathered together, and went also after him.
15They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down.
16Then a wise woman cried out of the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come near here, that I may speak with you.’”
19I am among those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the LORD’s inheritance?”
20Joab answered, “Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.
21The matter is not so. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David. Just deliver him, and I will depart from the city.” The woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.”
22Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.
23Now Joab was over all the army of Israel, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites,
24Adoram was over the men subject to forced labor, Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder,
25Sheva was scribe, Zadok and Abiathar were priests,
26and Ira the Jairite was chief minister to David.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
2 Samuel 20:1Sheba’s trumpet and rejection of David turn Israel’s divided loyalties into open revolt against the king.
2 Samuel 20:9Joab’s greeting and gesture of affection conceal the lethal attack that follows, exposing treachery within David’s own forces.
2 Samuel 20:25The naming of the scribe and priests places the kingdom’s continuing administration beside the violence that has preserved it.
Where this chapter reaches

1 Kings repeats Sheba’s rejection of a share in David during a later rupture of the kingdom, and names Amasa’s murder among Joab’s crimes. 1 Chronicles shares several officials named here, including Zadok and Abiathar, linking these accounts through the people who served under David.

2 Samuel 20's chapter linksAll strongest linksHover or tap a book
Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What does the wise woman’s appeal to YHWH’s inheritance add to her argument for sparing Abel?

Write on this

How does Joab’s place in the closing list affect your reading of the kingdom’s restored order?

Write on this

Questions people ask about 2 Samuel 20

Why did Joab kill Amasa in 2 Samuel 20?

The chapter describes Joab’s deception and killing without stating his motive. David had assigned Amasa to gather Judah’s men, but Amasa missed the deadline. Joab then killed him during what appeared to be a friendly greeting. By the closing list, Joab is over the whole army.

Who was the wise woman of Abel?

Her name and position are not given. She speaks from the besieged city, recalls Abel’s reputation for settling disputes, and identifies herself with those faithful to Israel. After securing Joab’s terms, she persuades the people to surrender Sheba’s head, ending the siege and sparing the city.

What happened to David’s concubines in 2 Samuel 20?

David placed the ten women he had left to keep his house in custody and supplied their food. He had no further sexual relations with them. They remained confined until death, described as living in widowhood. This chapter records their treatment without explaining David’s reasoning or reporting their words.

Read it. Now write it.

Start an entry on 2 Samuel 20. Your words go beside the text, and you get one next step for the week.

2 Samuel · 24 chapters
123456789101112131415161718192021222324
What the Bible says about anger →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).