Sheba… came to the city of Abel Beth Maacah… Joab’s men …went and besieged the city. …There was a wise woman in the city who shouted from the wall, “…Ours is a great city, one of the most peaceful and loyal in Israel. Why are you trying to destroy it? Do you want to ruin what belongs to the Lord?”
“Never!” Joab answered. “…That is not our plan. A man named Sheba… started a rebellion against King David. Hand over this one man, and I will withdraw from the city.”
“We will throw his head over the wall to you,” she said. Then she went to the people of the city with her plan, and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it over the wall to Joab. He blew the trumpet as a signal for his men to leave the city, and they went back home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.
The wisdom of this unnamed woman saved her city. With all the wars and conflicts that are going on now, how the world is desperately in need of that wisdom.
During David’s reign there was a severe famine which lasted for three full years. So David consulted the Lord about it, and the Lord said, “Saul and his family are guilty of murder; he put the people of Gibeon to death.”
The bad consequences of Saul’s life continued to be felt long after his death. May the consequences of my life be entirely different, Lord (Hebrews 11:4)! In the past, famines were viewed simply as facts as opposed to consequences (Genesis 12:10; 26:1; 41:53-57) then back to facts (Acts 11:28). The Old Covenant was the difference (Deuteronomy 28:15-17).
(The people of Gibeon were not Israelites; they were a small group of Amorites whom the Israelites had promised to protect, but Saul had tried to destroy them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)
Zeal without knowledge (Romans 10:1-2; Nehemiah 13:1-3). Keeping one’s word is absolutely sacred (Jeremiah 34:18-19).
“What… do you think I should do for you?” David asked.
They answered, “Saul wanted to destroy us and leave none of us alive anywhere in Israel. So hand over seven of his male descendants, and we will hang them before the Lord at Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, the Lord’s chosen king.”
I sense a dig at God here: “before the Lord”, “the Lord’s chosen king”… The Lord chose this person who brought about all this death.