Year 1, Day 337: 2 Samuel 20

Okay, we have two strong topics to discover in this chapter.  The first is the revolt of Sheba. The second is the act of murder committed by Joab.  Let’s start with the revolt of Sheba.

Sheba’s Revolt

Here we see the first fruit of David’s choice to ask the Judahites to escort him back to Jerusalem.  He has gained the loyalty of the people of Judah, but at the expense of alienating some of the folks in the rest of Israel.  Sheba raises a call saying that all of Israel has no heritage in David. 

First, we should acknowledge that being kind and forgiving to our enemies in victory does work.  When we defeat our enemies and show them mercy, we do gain respect in their eyes.  The Judahites were quite loyal to David after having just prior fought against him in favor of Absalom.  Mercy is a reasonable tactic to employ at all times – and it is an especially effective tactic used by someone in power.

However, we should also acknowledge that because David lifted the Judahites above the remainder of the nation he allows a rivalry to grow.  Sometimes this is natural.  Even when we achieve a perfect balance of energy and time spread among those under us there will still be a perceived difference and rivalries will occur.  Rivalries are human nature.  But in this case David brought about this rivalry by asserting his former ally turned enemy into a great position above the rest of the Hebrew people.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I actually think with respect to Christianity that we should be “playing favorites.”  Look at the model of Christ.  Jesus came and spent three years, but while He was on the earth He certainly “played favorites.”

• He spent the vast amount of His time with a small group of people (12 disciples). 
• In addition to the disciples, Jesus likely had another layer of followers (the famous women of Mary Magdalene, the sisters of Mary and Martha, their brother Lazarus, Nicodemus, and likely a few others). 

Jesus didn’t spend a great amount of time with anyone else.  In fact, we can clearly say that He played big-time favorites because when He was on the earth He spent all of His time in the area of a few square miles and spend absolutely no time anywhere else on earth.  Jesus played favorites; but He played favorites so that He could make a deep relationship with a few and these few could make deep relationships with a few more.  Eventually, Lord willing, the whole world would hear.  But they would hear because disciple followers would themselves “play favorites” and disciple the world in small groups – maybe even 12 at a time!

So I really have no issue with the concept of David playing favorites. We have to follow the example of our Lord.  David makes two mistakes, however.  The most grievous mistake is that he plays favorites with an enemy so quickly after defeating them.  The second error is in alienating the others around him.  Jesus may have played favorites, but the only people He alienated were those who were already opposed to Him.  Jesus was open to all – although certainly playing favorites with the people around Him who were clearly the most open to Him.

So Sheba revolts against David because of David’s favoritism to Judah.  Apparently he doesn’t receive much support because David is able to chase him to a pretty small city and the people of that city turn on him.  But even in this we can learn another lesson.  Revolts take time.  David may have defeated Sheba and earned peace for his lifetime.  Solomon may have been able to fend off the rising storm of trouble.  But after Solomon the kingdom would split.  Revolts take time; even when they are seemingly defeated quickly.

Again, we turn to the example of Jesus.  I am willing to bet that the people of Jerusalem thought Jesus was easily defeated when He was crucified.  Yet, look at the number of people who have claimed Him as Lord throughout history!  Easy victories at the beginning of a revolt do not imply that the revolt is over and properly squashed.

Joab

Finally, let’s talk a little about Joab.  Joab does murder Amasa in cold blood – and Joab will receive his judgment in due time.  However, let’s put this act in a proper historical context before being completely judgmental on Joab.

At that time, the nations had very small standing armies who were paid to be soldiers.  Most nations called for able bodied men when there was a war, which is when the small standing army would swell in size to include any man who could fight and who met the age requirements.  Typically this was done during the summer when the people weren’t needed to plant (in the spring) or harvest (in the fall).

This is why Amasa goes off when David decides to pursue Sheba.  David tells Amasa to gather the able bodied men, but Amasa delays in returning.  Many scholars interpret this as the fact that Amasa was having great trouble gathering the people of Judah.  This would show poor leadership and poor charisma within Amasa.  No king would want a general who couldn’t raise up an army!  No professional soldier would want to serve under a general who couldn’t raise an army to support the trained soldiers.

Now, I’m not letting Joab off of the hook.  Joab should have let David deal with Amasa’s apparent shortcomings.  Instead Joab takes matters into his own hands and re-assumes control over David’s army.  Joab is a proven leader and we see here that he does get the job done.  But as we have seen much lately, the ends do not justify the means.  Just because Joab is successful doesn’t mean that his decisions were right.  Although Amasa has proven himself a poor choice as a general, Joab had no right to murder Amasa in cold blood. 

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