The Sin of Rebellion

The dispute between Judah and Israel’s northern tribes is a powder keg, needing only a spark to make it explode. A northern man named Sheba, a “rebel” (“a son of Belial” or “a worthless man”) provides the spark. He makes an astounding claim—”We have no share in David”—and calls the northern tribes to give up their support for the king. But the basis of his argument, as Matthew Henry points out, is patently silly. The Judahites said David was a “close relative” of theirs, but that in no way implied that the northern tribes had “no share” in the king. However, Sheba is not just being silly, he is falling into great evil, for he is calling the northern tribes to violate the covenant they made with David when they anointed him as king (2 Sam. 5:3). Sadly, the northerners listen to Sheba and leave Gilgal. Only Judah (and presumably Simeon, located in Judah’s south) remains loyal to David. Here, then, is the beginning of that split that will culminate in the division of the kingdom after Solomon’s reign.

It is in this situation, with national reconciliation dissolving, that David comes home. His first act there is a sad one: He sends the 10 concubines whom he left behind when he fled—and whom Absalom publicly violated, leaving them unclean—into seclusion. He supports them but has no relations with them. Thus, they live out their lives like widows—all because of David’s sin with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam. 12:11–12).

David then commands Amasa to muster the soldiers of Judah to deal with Sheba’s rebellion. But Amasa cannot get the job done soon enough to suit David, so he sends his personal forces to pursue Sheba lest the rebels establish themselves in a fortified place. Abishai is given this task, for David is fed up with the headstrong Joab after his killing of Absalom. Still, Joab goes with the troops, so he is present when Amasa meets them near Gibeon. Treacherously greeting Amasa as a kinsman, Joab stabs him with his non-sword hand, then assumes command. The sight of Amasa’s bloody body causes the marching troops to hesitate, but a simple “coverup” solves that problem. Once again Joab has struck down a man in cold blood, but this time, as Henry writes, “David was struck at through the side of Amasa, and was, in effect, told … that Joab would be general, in spite of him.”