Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 313. Joab and Amasa

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Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 313. Joab and Amasa


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IV



Joab and Amasa



Scarcely had Absalom's rebellion against his father, King David, been quelled, when another and more serious defection broke out. The occasion was the loyal emulation of the northern and southern tribes in the great assembly gathered at Gilgal for the return of the king. The spark of rebellion was kindled by a Benjamite, Sheba, the son of Bichri, described as a “man of Belial” (a person of worthless character). He blew a trumpet, and raised the cry, “We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse.” The ten tribes followed the new rebel, and the first work of David, when he arrived at Jerusalem, was to send his own bodyguard and the picked men of his army, under Amasa's command, in pursuit of Sheba. But whether that officer, so recently in rebellion against David, had not yet gained the confidence of the king's forces, or whether he was secretly in sympathy with Sheba's revolt, does not appear. In any case, he tarried longer than the time appointed; and David, fearing that the rebellion might become even more formidable than Absalom's, commissioned Abishai to head his troops, and pursue Sheba before he could intrench himself within a walled city. It is observable that all through this affair there is a studied slight of Joab; yet that able if unscrupulous leader saw his opportunity; for, taking rank under his brother, he went out along with the king's troops.



At the “great stone” in Gibeon the cousins met. Amasa rushed into the treacherous embrace to which Joab invited him, and Joab, with the same sudden stroke as had dealt the death-wound of Abner, plunged his sword, which, whether by design or accident, fell out of its sheath, deep into Amasa's bowels. Amasa fell; Joab and Abishai hurried on in the pursuit of the rebels. The dead body lay soaking in a pool of blood by the roadside. As the army came up, every one halted at the ghastly sight, till the attendant whom Joab had left dragged it aside, and threw a cloth over it. Then, as if the spell were broken, they followed Joab, now once more captain of the host. He prosecuted the campaign with vigour, and speedily brought it to a successful issue. Sheba having taken refuge at Abel-beth-maacah, Joab laid siege to the town, and only desisted when the head of the rebel was cast to him over the wall.



I have repeatedly ridden round Abel of Beth-Maacah, and stood on the top of the long oval mound on which the town is situated, trying to realize the scene of its siege by Joab and his army. Taking advantage of an oblong knoll of natural rock that rises above the surrounding plain, the original inhabitants raised a high mound sufficiently large for their city. With a deep “trench” and strong wall, it must have been impregnable. The country on every side is most lovely, well watered, and very fertile. The Derdâra, from Ijon, falls from that plain by a succession of cataracts, and glides swiftly along the western declivity of the mound, and from the neighbouring mountain gushes out the powerful stream of Ruahiny. Such fountains and brooks would convert any part of this country into a paradise of fruits and flowers; and such, no doubt, was Abel, when it was called “a mother in Israel.” But the hoof of war tramples all in the dust. Abel itself is a sad example of the utter decay and ruin that has “swallowed up the inheritance of the Lord.” The present village, far from being a mother in Israel, occupies only a small portion of the mound; and wisdom and counsel will be sought in vain at the hands of the peasants who lounge in rags and filth upon the dunghills which barricade their streets and doors.1 [Note: W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, 195.]