Day 159 – 2 Samuel 20:1-3

Scripture Review

2 Samuel 20:1-3

The Rebellion of Sheba

"And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel."

(2 Samuel 20:1)

The Bible calls Sheba "a man of Belial." That means a worthless, wicked, ungodly, or lawless man. He is not presented as a faithful reformer. He is a troublemaker who knows when to stir people up. Sheba is also a Benjamite, from the tribe of Benjamin. That matters because Saul had come from Benjamin, and the old tension between Saul's house and David's house had not completely disappeared. Shimei was also a Benjamite, and he had cursed David while he was leaving. Now another Benjamite rises to turn Israel away from David. Sheba blows a trumpet which was used to call people to attention, assembly, or battle. He is publicly rallying people.

"So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem."

(2 Samuel 20:2)

The sad result of Sheba's trumpet blowing are reveal. The men of Israel turn away from David's leadership and attach themselves to Sheba. The same people who had just argued that they had "ten parts in the king." They had claimed David strongly when they felt excluded. But now, at the sound of Sheba's trumpet, they leave him. Human loyalty can be very unstable when it is built on pride instead of conviction. One moment people say, But the men of Judah "clave" meaning they clung, held fast, or stayed joined, to their king. Judah had spoken fiercely in the last passage, but here they remain faithful from Jordan to Jerusalem.

"And 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 ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood."

(2 Samuel 20:3)

The verse speaks of the ten women, David's concubines, whom he had left to keep the house when he fled. These women had been publicly violated by Absalom when he tried to show all Israel that he had completely broken with his father. David now puts them "in ward." That means he placed them under guarded care or confinement. He provided for their needs, but he "went not in unto them," meaning he no longer lived with them as being pure to have. The Bible says they were shut up until the day of their death, "living in widowhood." They were not technically widows, because David was alive, but they lived as though the marriage relationship was over.

These women suffer because of the sins and failures of powerful men around them. David's earlier choices, Absalom's wickedness, and the shame of public rebellion all leave them living in sorrow. David provides for them, but their lives are never the same. This shows me that sin does not only harm the person who commits it. Sin spreads sorrow into households, families, and innocent lives. Absalom is dead, but the consequences of his rebellion still sit inside David's house.