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.
Something precipitous does happen. There just happens to be a man among the people of Israel whose name is Sheba. Our author informs us that he is a “worthless fellow” (the text literally reads, “son of belial”). Sheba is a no-good, who would not be taken seriously under normal circumstances. But in the heat of this argument, Sheba loses his temper (or sees the opportunity to assume leadership here), and blurts out, “We have no portion in David, Nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse; Every man to his tents, O Israel!” That is all it takes for his fellow-Israelites to turn on their heels and leave with him. And so this once joyful procession turns sour with a bitter debate and now a major schism. One moment these Israelites claim David as their leader; the next they are following Sheba, a worthless man. David has not even reached Jerusalem, and his kingdom is already a divided one. It looks as though he is starting all over again, as the king of the tribe of Judah.
Back to Business in Jerusalem
(20:3-10a)
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,3 and he died.
The first thing David does after arriving in Jerusalem is deal with the ten wives (or concubines) he left behind to keep the house. Absalom has slept with these women in public; there is no way David can go back to the way things were. He will never sleep with any of these women again. He appoints a place for them to stay and provides generously (I am sure) for them, but he does not sleep with them again. They have been defiled by Absalom.
The next item of business for David is the rebellion that is under way, led by Sheba. David knows speed is of the essence. He does not dare allow Sheba time to gather a following, organize his army, and find fortified cities in which to hide or from which to fight. The sooner David's army can overtake Sheba and deal with him, the better. And so David summons his new commander, Amasa4 and instructs him to go muster the military forces of Judah, and then pursue and subdue Sheba as quickly as possible.
For some unexplained reason Amasa does not assemble the armed forces of Judah in the three-day time frame David sets down. You can imagine how uneasy David must be, knowing that every hour Sheba is free, the threat to his kingdom increases. It must pain David greatly to finally admit Amasa is not coming, at least not for a while, and to call for Abishai, the brother of Joab and long-time pain-in-the-neck for David (see 1 Samuel 26:6-11; 2 Samuel 16:9-12; 19:21-22). David would not ask Joab to do the job, for it would appear to be an admission that he has erred in firing Joab and replacing him with Amasa. But when Abishai goes out from Jerusalem, leading David's select warriors (the Green Berets or Navy Seals of his day) in pursuit of Sheba, he is accompanied by Joab.
Joab and his men go out, along with David's royal guard, the Cherethites and the Pelethites and all the “mighty men of valor.” When they arrive at the large and well-known stone in Gibeon, Amasa comes out to meet them. I would expect Abishai to take the lead here. It is possible that the forces that left Jerusalem in search of Sheba divided into smaller groups, which fanned out to locate this traitor as quickly as possible. From this point on in the chapter, Abishai is only incidentally mentioned, while Joab is prominent. It may just be that Joab went out on his own with his own men, and providentially encountered Amasa. It is also possible that Joab believed he knew where Amasa could be found and decided to deal first with him. Is Amasa a bungler, who just couldn't do the job? Or is he a coward, afraid to try? We are given no clues, but his conduct is certainly an enigma. One way or the other, his actions providentially prepare the way for what is about to take place.
Joab and Amasa are approaching each other. Joab's greeting to Amasa seems warm and friendly (“my brother,” verse 9), so Amasa is hardly on guard. Joab is in military uniform, which includes a belt and a sheath, holding a sword. Somehow (it doesn't appear to be deliberate) as Joab moves forward, his spear falls out of its sheath. Joab bends down and picks up his sword in his left hand. Amasa does not seem to even notice the sword in Joab's hand as they draw near. It would seem at that very moment, Joab sizes up the situation and realizes how easy it would be for him to kill Amasa, and so he does, on what seems to be a spur-of-the-moment impulse. Joab seizes Amasa by the beard, which is apparently the usual way one would hold on to the man being kissed. As he grasps Amasa with his right hand, he runs him through with his left, probably twisting it about in his abdomen, causing his innards to spill out.
Almost immediately, it seems, Joab turns and walks away, along with his brother Abishai, to resume his pursuit of Sheba. From what the text tells us, I am not sure Joab intended anything more than to kill Amasa. We are not told that he sought to take control of the army of David; we are only told that he set out to continue his pursuit of Sheba.
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