AP

2 Samuel 20:22  Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom.  And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab.  So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, every man to his home.  And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

We are not told the name of this woman, or anything else about her, except that she was ‘wise’.

The path for David to become King over all 12 tribes of Israel, and arguably their greatest King ever (except, of course, for Jesus, his descendant whom he foreshadowed in God’s bigger ‘Plan of Salvation’), was a very rocky one indeed, plagued with deeply entrenched political intrigue and divisive manoeuvering for power.  David’s son Absalom’s attempt to usurp the throne was no sooner quashed when the malcontentent ‘Sheba the son of Bichri’ orchestrated another rebellion against David’s rule over the 10 ‘northern’ tribes who had persistently resisted joining faithful Judah in making David King.

Joab was pursuing Sheba to quash the rebellion, and Sheba had fortified himself with his band of disgruntled followers in the city of ‘Abel of Beth-maacah’ in the north.  There was so much at stake for the future of David’s Kingdom that Joab was prepared to put the whole city to the sword, with much bloodshed, in order to stop Sheba.  The ‘wise’ woman described herself as ‘one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel’ (verse 19), and she could see it would be much better for Sheba himself to die rather than it be all the men of the city!

There were enough men in the city who saw the ‘wisdom’ of such a strategy, so they joined forces to relieve Sheba of his head and throw it over the wall to Joab who was building siege works to attack the city.

Thank God for unsung ‘wise’ women in every age and stage of Salvation History, those who act quietly and anonymously to defuse the hot-headed foolishness of men who see the sword as the only way to solve problems and who seem to enjoy wielding it with gay abandon to this end.  It was David’s ‘greater Son’ Jesus who would later declare to all who would follow him: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

– Bruce Christian