Through the Bible – Day 114

₁A troublemaker from the tribe of Benjamin was there. His name was Sheba the son of Bichri, and he blew a trumpet to get everyone's attention. Then he said, “People of Israel, David the son of Jesse doesn't belong to us! Let's go home.”

₂So they stopped following David and went off with Sheba. But the people of Judah stayed close to David all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

₃David had left ten of his wives in Jerusalem to take care of his palace. But when he came back, he had them taken to another house, and he placed soldiers there to guard them. He gave them whatever they needed, but he never slept with any of them again. They had to live there for the rest of their lives as if they were widows.

₄David said to Amasa, “Three days from now I want you and all of Judah's army to be here!”

₅Amasa started bringing the army together, but it was taking him more than three days. ₆So David said to Abishai, “Sheba will hurt us more than Absalom ever did. Take my best soldiers and go after him. We don't want him to take over any walled cities and get away from us.”

₇Abishai left Jerusalem to try and capture Sheba. He took along Joab and his soldiers, as well as David's bodyguard and best troops. ₈They had gone as far as the big rock at Gibeon when Amasa caught up with them. Joab had a dagger strapped around his waist over his military uniform, but it fell out as he started towards Amasa.

₉Joab said, “Amasa, my cousin, how are you?” Then Joab took hold of Amasa's beard with his right hand, so that he could greet him with a kiss. ₁₀Amasa did not see the dagger in Joab's other hand. Joab stuck it in Amasa's stomach, and his insides spilt out on the ground. Joab only struck him once, but Amasa was dying.

Joab and his brother Abishai went off to chase Sheba. ₁₁One of Joab's soldiers stood by Amasa and shouted, “If any of you like Joab, and if you are for David, then follow Joab!”

₁₂Amasa was still rolling in his own blood in the middle of the road. The soldier who had shouted noticed that everyone who passed by would stop, so he dragged Amasa off the road and covered him with a blanket. ₁₃After this, no one else stopped. They all walked straight past him on their way to help Joab capture Sheba.

₁₄Sheba had gone through all the tribes of Israel when he came to the town of Abel Beth-Maacah. All his best soldiers met him there and followed him into the town.

₁₅Joab and his troops came and surrounded Abel, so that no one could go in or come out. They made an earth ramp up to the town wall and then started to use a battering ram to knock the wall down.

₁₆A wise woman shouted from the top of the wall, “Listen to me! Listen to me! I have to talk to Joab! Tell him to come here!” ₁₇When he came, the woman said, “Are you Joab?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

She said, “Please, listen to what I have to say.”

“All right,” he said. “I'll listen.”

₁₈She said, “Long ago people used to say, ‘If you want good advice, go to the town of Abel to get it.’ The answers they got here were all that was needed to settle any problem. ₁₉We are Israelites, and we want peace! You can trust us. Why are you trying to destroy a town that's like a mother in Israel? Why do you want to wipe out the LORD's people?”

₂₀Joab answered, “No, no! I'm not trying to wipe you out or destroy your town! ₂₁That's not it at all. There's a man in your town from the hill country of Ephraim. His name is Sheba, and he is the leader of a rebellion against King David. Turn him over to me, and we will leave your town alone.”

The woman told Joab, “We will throw his head over the wall.”

₂₂She went to the people of the town and talked them into doing it. They cut off Sheba's head and threw it to Joab.

Joab blew a signal on his trumpet, and the soldiers returned to their homes. Joab went back to David in Jerusalem.

₂₃Joab was the commander of Israel's entire army.

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of David's bodyguard.

₂₄Adoram was in charge of the slave labour force.

Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud kept government records.

₂₅Sheva was the secretary.

Zadok and Abiathar were the priests.

₂₆Ira from Jair was David's priest.

₁While David was king, there were three years in a row when the nation of Israel could not grow enough food. So David asked the LORD for help, and the LORD answered, “Saul and his family are guilty of murder, because he had the Gibeonites killed.”

₂The Gibeonites were not Israelites; they were descendants of the Amorites. The people of Israel had promised not to kill them, but Saul had tried to kill them because he wanted Israel and Judah to control all the land.

David called the Gibeonites to him, and he talked with them. ₃He said, “What can I do to make up for what Saul did, so that you'll ask the LORD to be kind to his people again?”

₄The Gibeonites answered, “Silver and gold from Saul and his family are not enough. On the other hand, we don't have the right to put any Israelite to death.”

David said, “I'll do whatever you ask.”

₅They replied, “Saul tried to kill all our people so that none of us would be left in the land of Israel. ₆Give us seven of his descendants. We will hang these men near the place where the LORD is worshipped in Gibeah, the home town of Saul, the LORD's chosen king.”

“I'll give them to you,” David said.

₇David had made a promise to Jonathan with the LORD as his witness, so he spared Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul. ₈But Saul and Rizpah the daughter of Aiah had two sons named Armoni and Mephibosheth. Saul's daughter Merab had five sons whose father was Adriel the son of Barzillai from Meholah. David took Rizpah's two sons and Merab's five sons and ₉turned them over to the Gibeonites, who hanged all seven of them on the mountain near the place where the LORD was worshipped. This happened right at the beginning of the barley harvest.

₁₀Rizpah spread out some sackcloth on a nearby rock. She wouldn't let the birds land on the bodies during the day, and she kept the wild animals away at night. She stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until it started to rain.

_11-12Earlier the Philistines had killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa and had hung their bodies in the town square at Beth-Shan. The people of Jabesh in Gilead had secretly taken the bodies away, but David found out what Saul's wife Rizpah had done, and he went to the leaders of Jabesh to get the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. _13-14David had their bones taken to the land of Benjamin and buried in a side room in Saul's family burial place. Then he gave orders for the bones of the men who had been hanged to be buried there. It was done, and God answered prayers to bless the land.

₁₅One time David got very tired when he and his soldiers were fighting the Philistines. ₁₆One of the Philistine warriors was Ishbibenob, who was a descendant of the Rephaim, and he tried to kill David. Ishbibenob was armed with a new sword, and his bronze spearhead alone weighed about three and a half kilogrammes. ₁₇But Abishai came to the rescue and killed the Philistine.

David's soldiers told him, “We can't let you risk your life in battle any more! You give light to our nation, and we want that flame to keep burning.”

₁₈There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, where Sibbecai from Hushah killed a descendant of the Rephaim named Saph.

₁₉There was still another battle with the Philistines at Gob. A soldier named Elhanan killed Goliath from Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam. Elhanan's father was Jari from Bethlehem.

₂₀There was another war, this time in Gath. One of the enemy soldiers was a descendant of the Rephaim. He was as big as a giant and had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. ₂₁But when he made fun of Israel, David's nephew Jonathan killed him. Jonathan was the son of David's brother Shimei.

₂₂David and his soldiers killed these four men who were descendants of the Rephaim from Gath.

₁Jesus said to his disciples:

₅The apostles said to the Lord, “Make our faith stronger!”

₆Jesus replied: