1-2 Samuel Week Forty-Nine: 2 Samuel 20:1-26

¹ Now a worthless fellow happened to be there whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite; and he blew the trumpet and said,

“We have no portion in David,
Nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse;
Every man to his tents, O Israel!”

² So all the men of Israel withdrew from following David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah remained steadfast to their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.

³ Then David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, the concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and placed them under guard and provided them with sustenance, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as widows.

⁴ Then the king said to Amasa, “Call out the men of Judah for me within three days, and be present here yourself.” ⁵ So Amasa went to call out the men of Judah, but he delayed longer than the set time which he had appointed him. ⁶ And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom; take your lord’s servants and pursue him, so that he does not find for himself fortified cities and escape from our sight.” ⁷ So Joab’s men went out after him, along with the Cherethites and the Pelethites and all the mighty men; and they went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. ⁸ When they were at the large stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was dressed in his military attire, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened at his waist; and as he went forward, it fell out. ⁹ Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

¹⁰ But Amasa was not on guard against the sword which was in Joab’s hand so he struck him in the belly with it and poured out his inward parts on the ground, and did not strike him again, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. ¹¹ Now there stood by him one of Joab’s young men, and said, “Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.” ¹² But Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa from the highway into the field and threw a garment over him when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still.

¹³ As soon as he was removed from the highway, all the men passed on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹⁴ Now he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, even Beth-maacah, and all the Berites; and they were gathered together and also went after him. ¹⁵ They came and besieged him in Abel Beth-maacah, and they cast up a siege ramp against the city, and it stood by the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab were wreaking destruction in order to topple the wall. ¹⁶ Then a wise woman called from the city, “Hear, hear! Please tell Joab, ‘Come here that I may speak with you.’” ¹⁷ So he approached her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” And he answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your maidservant.” And he answered, “I am listening.” ¹⁸ Then she spoke, saying, “Formerly they used to say, ‘They will surely ask advice at Abel,’ and thus they ended the dispute. ¹⁹ I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You are seeking to destroy a city, even a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?” ²⁰ Joab replied, “Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy! ²¹ Such is not the case. But a man from the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against King David. Only hand him over, and I will depart from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” ²² Then the woman wisely came to all the people. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, each to his tent. Joab also returned to the king at Jerusalem.

²³ Now Joab was over the whole army of Israel, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; ²⁴ and Adoram was over the forced labor, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; ²⁵ and Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; ²⁶ and Ira the Jairite was also a priest to David.

—2 Samuel 20:1-26

Sermon Outline

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References

Weekly Study Guide

The Bible has a lot to say about the Kingdom that Messiah will bring with Him when He returns. Some Christians mistakenly think that all we know about this Kingdom is found in Revelation chapter 20. But the most significant new information we see in this chapter about the Kingdom is its length. In this one chapter, we are told no less than six times that this Millennial Kingdom will be 1,000 years long. This repetition is extremely significant. Why? It’s because when someone in scripture, and more precisely, in the Jewish culture, wanted to emphasize a point—to really call attention to something—they had a peculiar way of doing it.

In our culture, we simply underline, italicize, embolden, or highlight text if we want to emphasize that something is important. Whereas, the technique they used to emphasize something was repetition. And we’ve all seen this in scripture. When Jesus wanted to get the attention of the disciples, He would say, “Verily, I say unto you.” He was saying, take note of what I am about to say. But what did Jesus say if He really wanted to emphasize something? He would say, “Verily, verily I say unto you.” It was “emphasis through repetition.” Paul demonstrated this same strategy in Philippians 4 where he said, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.” We also see this truth demonstrated in how the Bible speaks about God. There is one attribute of God that is not only repeated, but taken to an extreme level of repetition. It is elevated to the superlative status of being repeated three times. Scripture does not tell us that God is love, love, love. Nor does it say that God is mercy, mercy, mercy. What does it say? The Bible says that God is Holy, Holy, Holy (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8). That is the only attribute of God in scripture that is brought to that level of significance. Again, this emphasis is made through repetition.

When we see in Revelation chapter 20 that the Millennial Kingdom is described as being 1,000 years long we should pay attention. This is the only place in scripture where the length of the Kingdom is enumerated. But when this one single chapter repeats this information literally six times, we must absolutely take note—and ask ourselves why. The Holy Spirit does not want us to miss out on this important truth, nor try to allegorize it away. The Millennium will be 1,000 years long—literally and precisely. But as mentioned earlier, nearly all of what we know about this Kingdom, we learn in the Old Testament—which makes sense, since the Kingdom is a promise that was made to Israel.

What does the Kingdom look like according to scripture? It will be a time when Satan is bound. In the Kingdom, sin and death will be reduced. It will be a time of universal prosperity and peace between man and man, between animal and animal, and between man and animal.

And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. (Isa 11:6-8)

Also, the curse from the Garden of Eden will be largely reversed. According to Arnold Fruchtenbaum, “It will be a time characterized by truth, holiness, and righteousness, with justice continually being dispersed from Jerusalem. It will be a time of labor in building and planting, with guaranteed results and the promised enjoyment of these labors.” He goes on to say that the Messianic Kingdom will be administered through an absolute monarch who will rule with a rod of iron. Justice will be dispensed immediately. We will no longer have to wait for that justice to happen.

If you look around the world today, can any of this be said to be even remotely true? Not a chance! The Millennial Kingdom is a renovation of creation where, to a large extent, we will see a restoration back to Edenic conditions. Those who try to argue that we are currently in the Millennium simply have no leg to stand on. Scripture is very clear what the Kingdom will look like—and it looks nothing like today!

So where do we start when exploring what the Bible says about the Kingdom? We must start at the very beginning, where God created mankind and began His program of implementing His plans for a Kingdom—the mechanism through which He would relate with His creation.

When we go back to Genesis chapter 1 and see God’s original design, we see that God says in vv. 26-28:

“’Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’ … God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth”’ (emphasis added).

God’s design was to have Adam and Eve rule over His creation. God would rule over them, and they would rule over creation. The role God had given Adam and Eve was the role of “theocratic administrator.” As we have said many times, God chooses to work through mediators. Here, mankind was charged with being the mediators through whom God would govern all of creation.

Both Adam and Eve were charged with this task. He said, “Let them…”, not “Let him…” The man and woman together, as a team, would rule in God’s stead. Notice the language God uses here. It is not figurative or symbolic. God spells out that they are supposed to rule over very specific tangible things: the fish, the birds of the sky, the cattle, and over every creeping thing. In verse 28, we see that they were to “subdue creation”. The language God keeps using is “rule over”. What they were given was authority. This was their original purpose. They were to be governed by God, and they, as a team, were to govern creation on God’s behalf. This is where the Kingdom began.

As we begin to dive deeper into this idea of Kingdom, we need to make a distinction. When we are discussing God ruling and reigning in scripture, there are two different ways this appears. The first is called the “Universal Kingdom”. This is where God is reigning over all—where He is always in control. Psalm 93:1-2 tells us: “The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The LORD has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.” This describes how God, as the creator and sustainer of all that is, governs over all of history. This is a kingdom that is eternal and always in existence.

But when we read Daniel 2:44, we see a different kind of Kingdom described. This is the second way the term kingdom is used in scripture. Here God tells us: “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.” This is a Kingdom that begins at a point in time. It is not eternal. It has not always existed like the Universal Kingdom. This Kingdom will not be established until Israel repents, Jesus returns, and He overthrows the kingdom of the anti-Christ. This Kingdom is what we have been discussing throughout these study guides. It is called the “Theocratic Kingdom.”

There are many different ways that these two aspects of “kingdom” are differentiated in scripture. We see that the Universal Kingdom is ruled directly by God Himself, while the Theocratic Kingdom is ruled indirectly through a man, Messiah Jesus. In the Theocratic Kingdom, we see that the throne of God is established in the Heavens and He rules over everything (Ps 103:19). Whereas, the Theocratic Kingdom is something that takes place on the earth with Messiah ruling from David’s throne.

We also see that the Universal Kingdom is always in existence and is not contingent upon any human response. God rules regardless of what people do. Conversely, as we have clearly seen, the Theocratic Kingdom is absolutely contingent upon the response of Israel. In Exodus 19:5-6, as the nation of Israel begins, we see this Kingdom offered when God says, “…if you will indeed obey my voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (emphasis added). Notice the word kingdom, and how it is contingent upon the obedience of the nation of Israel. God is telling them very clearly that IF they obey His voice, THEN they will be His possession, and the Kingdom will come. We’ve already discussed many times that the Kingdom that Jesus ultimately offered was postponed because of Israel’s rejection of Him. As a result, He said that Israel will not see His face UNTIL they repent and say ‘blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’ The Theocratic Kingdom is absolutely contingent upon a response.

All of these contrasts reveal that there are two different ways that the idea of “Kingdom” is presented in scripture. And as we move further into Adam and Eve’s participation in the Kingdom plan, we need to have that distinction in mind. Scripture doesn’t spend a lot of time trying to prove that God reigns in a universal sense. That is obvious. No one challenges this. But Satan’s strategies center on disrupting the Kingdom plans of God as seen in the Theocratic Kingdom. This is what he challenges and actually upends, initially, right there in Eden. This is what was lost in the Fall and is why the Kingdom is in abeyance. The whole point of the Bible is describing how that Theocratic Kingdom will be restored to the planet Earth.

And the exciting part is that you and I are a part of that plan. How, you might ask? That is what we will explore next time. Again, we are answering that third and final question and ramification of what the Davidic Covenant represented: what is the Kingdom all about? When we have clarity on this question, then we will better understand Israel. We will better understand God’s overarching plan of salvation. And we will better understand our role as the church.

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Discussion Questions

1. Describe a time when you were passed over for a promotion you thought you deserved. How did that make you feel, and what did you learn through that circumstance? (MULTILINE)
2. What do you make of the men of Israel (the northern ten tribes) so easily deserting their king whenever anyone suggests rebellion? Why do you think these people are so willing to follow what their leaders tell them? How does the end of chapter 19 inform the events of chapter 20? Why did David treat the concubines the way he did? Who is more responsible for their unfortunate fate, David or Absalom? Why? What does the treatment of the concubines reveal about the state of David’s heart and character in this season of his life? (MULTILINE)
3. What can we learn about David’s inability to prevent rebellions during his reign? How would you evaluate how David handled dissent within his kingdom? How would you characterize Joab as a leader and as a man? What were some positive things Joab did? What were some negative things he did? How did David slight Joab in verses 4-5? What does Joab do in response? What do we learn in this chapter about jealousy, rivalry, selfishness, and jockeying for position? How do you see God working behind the scenes in this chapter? (MULTILINE)
4. All throughout scripture, the people of Israel follow what their leaders tell them to do. They follow good leaders and bad leaders alike. In the New Testament, even though the people had just rejoiced at the coming of Jesus at the Triumphal Entry, they very quickly turned on Jesus at the prompting of their leaders. Where do you see this “sheep mentality” present in culture today? What does it say about us that we are so easily swayed by persuasive leaders? (MULTILINE)
5. There seems to be a constant refrain in these books highlighting the selfish ambition of Joab, followed by the failed attempts of David to put him in his place. How do you think that growing resentment in Joab played a role in him consistently defying David’s commands? Where might resentment be playing a role in your life today? What would God have us do with that resentment? How can we also apply the lessons of David’s leadership failings to our own lives? (MULTILINE)

Going Deeper

1. Why is it significant that Sheba was a Benjamite? What had initiated the conflict between the northern and southern tribes? How did this conflict continue to grow? What does Sheba claim that lights the fires of discontentment? What would Sheba stand to gain from this rebellion? Why was this the perfect time to foment discontent? How does this sow the seeds that would later grow into a full-scale civil war? (MULTILINE)
2. What do you make of the wise woman from the city of Abel? How did she deftly handle the situation facing her city? What other wise women do you recall from our time in 1^st & 2^nd Samuel (1 Sam 25:14-23; 2 Sam 14:2-20)? Why do you think so many women in these books play a significant role in shaping events and guiding the story through wise counsel? (MULTILINE)

Transformational Activity

Bible Study

This chapter is bookended by the subject of wisdom (and the lack thereof) and the impact it had on Israel. A foolish man and his rebellion begins the chapter and a wise woman saving her city ends the chapter. Wisdom is a rich topic that underlies the message and theme of many passages in scripture. Take some time this week to do a word study on the topic of wisdom and see what God might reveal to you. Perhaps begin by doing a simple search for “wisdom psalms” and then broaden your search to include Proverbs. Come back next time to share what you discovered.