20140509 Friday, May 9 2014
2 Samuel 20: Sheba, A Man Of Belial

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"There happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba"

Belial, a compound Hebrew word that was formed from two other Hebrew words, pronounced bel-ee, meaning failure, and yaw-al, meaning to be valuable, was a term of scorn meaning to waste one's worth. The word is used in the Hebrew Scriptures to describe people who were rebellious and lawless. In the New Testament, it's used only once - for Satan's influence (see also 2 Samuel 17: The Spirit Of Traitors).

Some examples of "sons of Belial" and "daughters of Belial."

"13:13 Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known" (Deuteronomy 13:13 KJV; see also Deuteronomy: The Law and History Lessons By Moses)

"19:22 Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him." (Judges 19:22 KJV; see also Leviticus 18: Sexual Abominations)

"2:12 Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD." (1 Samuel 2:12 KJV; see also 1 Samuel 2: The Prophecy Of The House Of Eli)

"21:9 And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: 21:10 And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die. 21:11 And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them." (1 Kings 21:9-11 KJV; see also The Fall Of Ahab and Jezebel)

"6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 6:15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" (2 Corinthians 6:14-15 KJV; see also Jude: Ungodly Men Who Turn Grace Into Lawlessness)

Absalom's rebellion against his father King David was decisively over (see 2 Samuel 18: The Fall Of The Rebel Prince and 2 Samuel 19: King David's Return To Jerusalem), however the political situation was still tenuous. Another vain "son of Belial," Sheba, seized that opportunity to trigger another revolt, with the same egotistical purpose. This time, the other tribes of Israel against the king of Israel who happened to be of the tribe of Judah: "We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel." (see the Fact Finder question below)

"20:1 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 KJV)

Unlike Absalom, who was of the tribe of Judah like his father, Sheba was of the tribe of Benjamin - the tribe of Saul, the first king of Israel that David had replaced because Saul proved himself to be foolish and unstable (see 1 Samuel 15: Saul's Impeachment and 1 Samuel 16: The Anointing Of David). Sheba of Benjamin was making an argument against Judah that others could have made against Benjamin if Saul had remained king i.e. it was a hypocritical argument that was based on nothing more than a struggle for control.

"20:2 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 KJV)

Upon seeing ten of the tribes of Israel forsake their loyalty to him (a situation that repeated, again, in the time of King Solomon), David took ten of his concubines (see The Wives Of King David) that he thereafter left as "widows." Was it merely a spiteful act against ten innocent women? Or were the ten concubines from the tribes that had forsaken him? Did he lose his love for them? Or did he lose his trust of them?

"20:3 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 KJV)

David then turned his attention to defeating Sheba's revolt. David appointed his nephew Amasa, a son of David's sister Abigail, as a field commander of the battle to come.

"20:4 Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present. 20:5 So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him." (2 Samuel 20:4-5 KJV)

When Amasa delayed, David appointed another nephew, Abishai, a son of David's sister Zeruiah - a fierce, and fiercely-loyal warrior of the king, to begin the pursuit of Sheba by David's "mighty men." So too the forces under Joab, another nephew of David, the brother of Abishai. The hunt was on for Sheba.

"20:6 And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou thy LORD servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and escape us. 20:7 And there went out after him Joab's men, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri." (2 Samuel 20:6-7 KJV)

David's nephews were also ambitious to a lethal extreme, but at least their deadliness was against each other, in their competition to be the most loyal to David. While in pursuit of Sheba, Joab killed his cousin Amasa, "So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri."

"20:8 When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out.

20:9 And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. 20:10 But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri." (2 Samuel 20:8-10 KJV)

20:11 And one of Joab's men stood by him, and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab. 20:12 And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still. 20:13 When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri." (2 Samuel 20:8-13 KJV)

Sheba, like the other rebel-liberal Absalom before him (conservatives, by definition, don't start revolutions; liberals do), quickly found himself on the run from David's royal army. When he took refuge in Abel-beth-maachah, Joab laid siege to the city, with the intention of destroying it and everyone in it because of their giving asylum to Sheba. The inhabitants saved themselves and their city by delivering Sheba to Joab, or at least "his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall."

"20:14 And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Bethmaachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him. 20:15 And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench: and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. 20:16 Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. 20:17 And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab?

And he answered, I am he.

Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid.

And he answered, I do hear.

20:18 Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter. 20:19 I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?

20:20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. 20:21 The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city.

And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall." (2 Samuel 20:14-21 KJV)

So ended the revolt by Sheba. Once again, David became stronger from the war that he was forced to fight.

"20:22 Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.

20:23 Now Joab was over all the host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites: 20:24 And Adoram was over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder: 20:25 And Sheva was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests: 20:26 And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David." (2 Samuel 20:22-26 KJV)

Fact Finder: Why did Israel's civil wars tend to happen between Judah and the rest of the tribes of Israel?
See The Crease Of Israel