2 Samuel 20: Sheba’s Revolt and the Wise Woman of Abel

2 Samuel 20 is the closing chapter of the Succession Narrative, one of the oldest and most sophisticated examples of historical prose narrative in the ancient world. It follows immediately on the resolution of Absalom’s revolt - and immediately demonstrates that the crisis was never fully resolved. Sheba the Benjamite’s opportunistic rebellion draws nearly all Israel away from David with a single trumpet call. Joab murders his own replacement commander in cold blood at Gibeon. An unnamed woman in a northern city brokers the peace that Joab’s army was about to destroy. The chapter ends with a court roster, the machinery of David’s kingdom clicking back into place after yet another upheaval.

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Quick Answer

2 Samuel 20 records Sheba’s post-Absalom revolt against David, Joab’s murder of commander Amasa at Gibeon, and the siege of Abel Beth Maacah, where a wise woman negotiates Sheba’s execution and ends the rebellion.

About 2 Samuel 20

2 Samuel 20 is the final chapter of the Succession Narrative (2 Samuel 9-20), a text scholars date to 950-900 BC and widely regard as among the finest historical prose of the ancient world. Written from Jerusalem court sources, likely by someone with direct access to the inner workings of David’s administration, the narrative has traced David’s reign from its moral high point in the opening chapters of 2 Samuel through the Bathsheba affair, Absalom’s revolt, and now this final internal crisis. The chapter closes the book before the succession question of 1 Kings takes over.

Sheba the Benjamite’s revolt is opportunistic but rooted in something real. His battle cry - “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse” - uses the same language the ten northern tribes employ in 1 Kings 12:16 when they permanently split from Judah under Rehoboam. The Succession Narrative’s author writes it here deliberately: the great division was always latent. Benjamite resentment of David’s Judahite kingship had run through the entire narrative (see Shimei’s curse in 2 Samuel 16:5-8), and Sheba’s trumpet made it visible. That a single rabble-rouser could draw all Israel away at this late hour is the chapter’s most sobering political observation.

Joab’s murder of Amasa (vv.8-10) is his third recorded killing in 2 Samuel, following the same pattern as the first two: a feigned approach, a right hand extended in greeting, the weapon already in the other hand. He killed Abner the same way (2 Samuel 3:27), then Absalom in the forest (2 Samuel 18:14), and now Amasa at the great stone of Gibeon. David had appointed Amasa specifically to replace Joab (2 Samuel 19:13), and Joab eliminated the threat the same way he always did. David never punished him for any of these murders - a persistent paralysis at the heart of the Succession Narrative. On his deathbed, David finally tasked Solomon with the job (1 Kings 2:5-6).

The unnamed wise woman of Abel Beth Maacah (vv.16-22) is one of the Old Testament’s great unnamed figures. She does not appeal to personal authority; she appeals to institutional memory, invoking Abel’s ancient reputation as a place of counsel in Israel. She negotiates directly with Joab, identifies the actual problem (one man, not the whole city), and arranges a solution that saves every life except Sheba’s. The parallel with the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Samuel 14) is deliberate - both use speech rather than force, and both accomplish what the official machinery of power could not. The chapter’s closing administrative roster (vv.23-26), similar to the roster in 2 Samuel 8:15-18, signals a reorganized court in the aftermath: the kingdom persisting through each new fracture, barely.

Full Chapter Text

2 Samuel 20 (World English Bible)

There 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!”
So 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.
David 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.
Then the king said to Amasa, “Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be here present.”
So Amasa went to call the men of Judah together, but he stayed longer than the set time which had been appointed to him.
David 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.”
Joab’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.
When 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.
Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.
But 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.
One of Joab’s young men stood by him, and said, “He who favours Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab!”
Amasa 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.
When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.
He 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.
They 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.
Then a wise woman cried out of the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come near here, that I may speak with you.’”
He came near to her; and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your servant.” He answered, “I’m listening.”
Then she spoke, saying, “They used to say in old times, ‘They shall surely ask counsel at Abel,’ and so they settled a matter.
I am amongst 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?”
Joab answered, “Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.
The 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.”
Then 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.
Now Joab was over all the army of Israel, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites,
Adoram was over the men subject to forced labour, Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder,
Sheva was scribe, Zadok and Abiathar were priests,
and Ira the Jairite was chief minister to David.

World English Bible. Public domain.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main message of 2 Samuel 20?

2 Samuel 20 shows that military power cannot produce the unity David’s kingdom needed. A single rebel’s trumpet draws all Israel away in the immediate aftermath of Absalom’s defeat. The chapter’s resolution belongs not to a general but to an unnamed woman whose negotiation saves a city - wisdom accomplishing what Joab’s army, which was actively demolishing the city walls, could not. The chapter also demonstrates the persistent cost of David’s failure to discipline Joab: three murders, no accountability, and the kingdom still dependent on a general the king could not control.

Who was Sheba the son of Bichri?

Sheba was a Benjamite - from the tribe of Israel’s first king Saul. His revolt was opportunistic, seizing on the unresolved tribal tensions still raw from Absalom’s rebellion. The northern tribes’ resentment of David’s Judahite kingship had run throughout 2 Samuel (see Shimei’s curse in chapter 16) and found its public voice in Sheba’s trumpet. His battle cry - “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse” - uses the same language the ten northern tribes employ in 1 Kings 12:16, three generations later, when they make the split permanent.

Why did Joab kill Amasa in 2 Samuel 20?

David had appointed Amasa as his new commander specifically to replace Joab after Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 19:13). Joab used the same method he had employed twice before: a staged greeting, the right hand extended, the left hand holding a concealed sword. Amasa took no heed of the sword and was killed at the great stone of Gibeon. David never punished Joab for this murder or for the previous killings of Abner (2 Samuel 3:27) and Absalom (2 Samuel 18:14). On his deathbed, David asked Solomon to settle the debt (1 Kings 2:5-6).

How does 2 Samuel 20 connect to the later division of Israel?

Sheba’s battle cry uses the exact language the northern tribes employ in 1 Kings 12:16 when they permanently split from Judah under Rehoboam: “We have no portion in David.” The Succession Narrative’s author places this language in Sheba’s mouth deliberately. The great schism was not a surprise eruption; it was a fracture that had been building through the entire narrative of 2 Samuel. Sheba’s revolt made it momentarily visible; Rehoboam’s folly three generations later made it permanent.

Who was the wise woman of Abel Beth Maacah?

She is unnamed in the text. She was evidently a recognized civic authority in Abel Beth Maacah - someone with sufficient standing to request a personal parley with Joab and to speak for the city’s decision. She invokes Abel’s ancient reputation as a place of counsel in Israel (v.18), frames the conflict as a legal matter (one man versus the whole city), and delivers on her promise: Sheba’s head is thrown over the wall and the siege is lifted. She is one of two “wise women” in the David narrative (compare the woman of Tekoa in 2 Samuel 14), and both use skilled speech to avert what force was about to make worse.

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

David had left ten concubines to keep the palace when he fled Jerusalem during Absalom’s revolt. Absalom publicly slept with them on the palace roof to signal his claim to the throne (2 Samuel 16:21-22), fulfilling Nathan’s prophecy in 2 Samuel 12:11-12. When David returned, he placed the ten women in permanent custody - provided for materially but isolated from him for the rest of their lives, “living in widowhood.” Their fate is one of the Succession Narrative’s most sobering details: they suffered as instruments in a power struggle not of their making, and the text records their end with quiet finality.

What is the Succession Narrative?

The Succession Narrative (also called the Court History of David) is a document embedded in 2 Samuel 9-20 and 1 Kings 1-2, widely regarded as among the earliest and most accomplished examples of historical prose narrative in the ancient world. It depicts David with unusual psychological realism - capable of great devotion and great sin, often paralyzed as a judge in his own household. The narrative’s central question - who will succeed David on the throne? - drives the whole arc from Mephibosheth through Bathsheba, Amnon, Tamar, Absalom, Sheba, and finally Adonijah and Solomon. The author had access to court sources and wrote with an insider’s knowledge of palace politics.

How does Psalm Selah set 2 Samuel 20?

Psalm Selah’s setting is a propulsive, gale-force indie-folk arrangement built on fingerpicked acoustic guitar and brushed drums, with mandolin entering in the early verses and cello and full ensemble surging through the chase narrative. The build choreography - Psalm Selah’s signature move of locking instrumentation events to song-structure transitions - drives the listener from Sheba’s opening trumpet call through the murder at Gibeon, the body on the highway, and the siege. The lyrics are drawn near-verbatim from the World English Bible, preserving the chapter’s stark, unheroic prose register.

2 Samuel 19 - 50days.io/bible/2-samuel/19 - David returns to Jerusalem after Absalom; Amasa appointed commander, planting the seed of Joab’s next murder
2 Samuel 15 - 50days.io/bible/2-samuel/15 - Absalom’s revolt begins; the tribal fractures Sheba later exploits are already visible
2 Samuel 14 - 50days.io/bible/2-samuel/14 - The wise woman of Tekoa; the Succession Narrative’s first portrait of feminine wisdom averting catastrophe
1 Kings 2 - 50days.io/bible/1-kings/2 - David’s deathbed; Solomon executes Joab for his murders, completing what David never resolved
1 Kings 12 - 50days.io/bible/1-kings/12 - The permanent division of Israel; Sheba’s words in 2 Samuel 20:1 echoed verbatim

Reading Plans Featuring This Chapter

50 Days Through the Historical Books - David’s story in canonical order
50 Days Through David’s Story - From shepherd to king to the edge of the succession

Sources and Further Reading

The Bible Project - 1-2 Samuel Overview: bibleproject.com/explore/video/samuel-1-2/
Wikipedia - Succession Narrative: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_Narrative
Ronald F. Youngblood, 1 & 2 Samuel (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary) - standard evangelical reference

About Psalm Selah

Psalm Selah is the cinematic indie-folk project of Psalmody Press, a male and female duo bringing Scripture into the sonic world of contemporary indie - fingerpicked acoustic guitar, cello-led strings, brushed drums, mandolin shimmer, and two voices used as a per-song lever (a raw male lead, an ethereal female lead, harmony, duo, or solo). The duo works in the tradition of Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire,” Hozier, Bon Iver, Sleeping at Last, Sandra McCracken, and Andrew Peterson, with Hans Zimmer’s intimate-to-cinematic dynamic range. Their signature compositional move is build choreography - every song-structure transition is locked 1:1 to an instrumentation event, so the song’s shape is its instrumentation order. Their signature lyric move is the structural Selah - a held silence inside the song, sonic and lyrical, where the listener is asked to pause and consider what was just said. They are setting every chapter of the Bible to song, with particular attention to the wisdom literature, the parables of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, the apocalyptic books, and the chapters of Scripture where careful, lyrical attention rewards close listening.

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Published 2026-06-04 · Last updated 2026-06-04
Written by Reid Wender, Editorial Director at Psalmody Press