2 Samuel 20:14-26 - Wisdom From A Woman Under Siege

¹⁴ Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah. All the Berites came together and followed him. ¹⁵ Joab’s troops came and besieged Sheba in Abel of Beth-maacah. They built an assault ramp against the outer wall of the city. While all the troops with Joab were battering the wall to make it collapse, ¹⁶ a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen! Listen! Please tell Joab to come here and let me speak with him.”

¹⁷ When he had come near her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?”

“I am,” he replied.

“Listen to the words of your servant,” she said to him.

He answered, “I’m listening.”

¹⁸ She said, “In the past they used to say, ‘Seek counsel in Abel,’ and that’s how they settled disputes. ¹⁹ I am a peaceful person, one of the faithful in Israel, but you’re trying to destroy a city that is like a mother in Israel. Why would you devour the Lord’s inheritance?”

²⁰ Joab protested: “Never! I do not want to destroy! ²¹ That is not my intention. There is a man named Sheba son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim, who has rebelled against King David. Deliver this one man, and I will withdraw from the city.”

The woman replied to Joab, “All right. His head will be thrown over the wall to you.” ²² The woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn, and they dispersed from the city, each to his own tent. Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

²³ Joab commanded the whole army of Israel; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; ²⁴ Adoram was in charge of forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was court historian; ²⁵ Sheva was court secretary; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; ²⁶ and in addition, Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.