”Then they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maachah; and they cast up a siege mound against the city, and it stood by the rampart. And all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. Then a wise woman cried out from the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come nearby, that I may speak with you.’ ” When he had come near to her, the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your maidservant.” And he answered, “I am listening.” So she spoke, saying, “They used to talk in former times, saying, ‘They shall surely seek guidance at Abel,’ and so they would end disputes. I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?” And Joab answered and said, “Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy! That is not so. But a man from the mountains of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has raised his hand against the king, against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city.” So the woman said to Joab, “Watch, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” Then the woman in her wisdom went to all the people. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. Then he blew a trumpet, and they withdrew from the city, every man to his tent. So Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem.“
II Samuel 20:15-22 NKJV
a. A wise woman cried out from the city: When Sheba took refuge in the city of Abel, Joab set a siege against the city. Siege warfare was a terrible ordeal for the citizens of the besieged city, and this wise woman was smart enough to seek a speedy end to the struggle.
b. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city: Joab was a practical man. He had nothing against the city of Abel, only against Sheba. If the people of Abel helped him get Sheba it was all the better.
c. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab: Sheba probably thought he was safe within the walls of that city, but no one is safe when they run against God’s will. There isn’t a wall high enough or strong enough to protect against God and His will.
i. We can make a spiritual analogy out of Sheba, his rebellion, and his refuge in the city of Abel. “Every man’s breast is a city enclosed. Every sin is a traitor that lurketh within those walls. God calleth for Sheba’s head, neither hath he any quarrel to us for our person, but for our sin. If we love the head of our traitor above the life of our soul, we shall justly perish in the vengeance.” (Trapp)
ii. “It were happy if all such traitors might hop headless.” (Trapp)
iii. So ended the rebellion of Sheba. Yet the division between Judah and the other eleven tribes of Israel remained. After the death of Solomon, there was a civil war that permanently divided the twelve tribes into two nations: the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. (Guzik)
Traitor!
Trapp’s analogy is spot on! “Every sin is a traitor…. If we love the head of our traitor above the life of our soul, we shall justly perish in the vengeance.”
Hopefully we love the life of our soul more than the head of our traitor!
Have you considered what happens to of your soul after your physical death?
”Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.“
Revelation 20:14-15 NKJV
Blessings
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