tribesmen, and threatened by a formidable revolution in front. To suppress the movement before it had time

to spread and disintegrate the country by everywhere exciting tribal jealousies - such was David's first care

on his return to Jerusalem, after setting his household in order (2 Samuel 20:3). But the fatal consequences

of David's late conduct now appeared. True to his promise, he proposed to entrust to Amasa the command

of the expedition against Sheba and what, to borrow a modern term, we may call the "Federal Republic." But,

whether from personal incapacity, or, more probably, from the general want of confidence in, and

dissatisfaction with, the new commander, Amasa did not even succeed in bringing together a force. As time

was of the greatest importance,34 David felt himself obliged again to have recourse to Abishai, or rather,

through him, to Joab.35 There was now no lack of trusty warriors, and the expedition at once moved

The forces, under the leadership of Abishai and Joab, had reached the great stone at Gibeon, when Amasa

"came to meet them"  36 from the opposite direction, no doubt, on his way to Jerusalem. Joab was, as usual,

"girt with his armor-coat as a garment, and upon it the girdle of the sword, bound upon his loins, in its

scabbard; and it [the scabbard] came out, and it [the sword] fell out."  37

Amasa seems to have been so startled by this unexpected appearance of a host with another leader as to

have lost all presence of mind. He saw not the sword which Joab picked up from the ground, and now held

low down in his left hand, but allowed his treacherous relative to take him by the beard, as if to kiss him, so

that the sword ran into the lower part of his body. Probably Joab, while determined to rid himself of his rival,

had adopted this plan, in the hope of leaving it open to doubt whether Amasa's death had been the result of

accident or of criminal intention. Then, as if there were not time for delay, Joab and Abishai left the body

weltering where it had fallen, and hastened on their errand.

It was a dreadful sight; and not all the urgency of the soldier whom Joab had posted by the dead or dying

man could prevent the people from lingering, horror-stricken, around him. At last the body had to be

removed. It had been left on the ground, probably alike as a mark of contempt and a warning to others not to

provoke the jealousy of Joab. And now David's army was in full chase after Sheba and his adherents. They

followed him through the whole land up to the far north among the fortresses  38 by the Lake Merom, where

he was at last tracked to Abel, or rather, Abel-Beth-maachah.

To this fortress Joab now laid siege. Its destruction, however, was averted by the wisdom of one of its

women. Demanding speech of Joab from the city-wall, she reminded the general that the people of Abel had

been famed, not for being rash in action, but rather wise and deliberate in counsel. Had Joab ever asked

whether the town of Abel, which he was about to destroy, shared the views of Sheba, or took part in the

rebellion? She, and, by implication, her fellow-citizens, were quite the contrary of turbulent conspirators.

How, then, could Joab act so unpatriotically, so un-Jewishly, as to wish to destroy a city and a mother in

Israel, and to swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah? And when Joab explain ed that it was not the

destruction of a peaceable city, but the suppression of a rebellion which he sought, she proposed, as a

speedy end to all trouble, that Sheba should be killed, and, in evidence of it, his head thrown over the wall. It

was an easy mode of ridding themselves both of a troublesome visitor and of a terrible danger, - and the

gory head cast at his feet convinced Joab that the rebellion was at an end, that he might retire from the city,

dismiss his army, and return to Jerusalem. So ended the last rising against David - and, we may add, the

political history of his reign.