Daily Tanach Sunday Shmuel 2 Chapter 20: The rebellion of Sheva Ben Bichri

1.      Dovid gatherers an army to fight the rebellion of Sheva Ben Bichri:

• Amasa is summoned to gather an army but he stalls in the job: The king summoned Amasa [the new general of Dovid’s army[1]] and asked him to gather an army from the tribe of Judah within the next three days [in order to fight the rebellion, of Sheva Ben Bichri[2]] and then come back and stand before him [with the army that was gathered, immediately after the three days[3]]. So, Amasa went to gather the people of Judah and he ended up delaying from the set date of three days from appearing before the King [as he found the Jewish people learning Torah and he did not want to disturb them from their learning[4]].
• Avishaiy is summoned to gather an army: [After the passing of three days when Dovid saw that Amasa had yet to return with an army[5]] Dovid summoned Avishaiy and said to him, “Sheva Ben Bichri has become a greater trouble for us than even Avshalom. Now, please take the servants of your master [i.e., the people that are found around us in the city[6], and the army of Yoav[7]] and chase after him. It is possible that he has taken refuge in a walled city in order to hide from us.” [However, he did not summon Yoav as he was angry at him for having killed his son Avshalom.[8]]
• The Army leaves for battle: The men of Yoav followed him to battle, including the archers and Pleisi who were part of the Sanhedrin [and the slingers], and all of the warriors. They left Jerusalem to chase after Sheva Ben Bichri.

2. Amasa is murdered by Yoav:

• They [i.e. Yoav and his men] were standing near a great stone which was in Givon when Amasa arrived to them. Yoav was wearing his uniform and armor and he had his sword within its casing strapped to his loins [resting horizontal to his body in a way that it can easily fall out of its casing^[9]]. Yoav walked towards Amasa [and due to the way that he was wearing his sword] the sword slipped out and fell onto the floor [and Yoav bent down to pick it up and he held it in his right hand^[10]]. Yoav then said to Amasa, “My brother, peace unto you,” and he then took his right hand and grabbed onto the beard of Amasa in order to give him a kiss. At this point, Amasa did not guard himself from the sword that was in the hands of Yoav, and Yoav took advantage of the situation and stabbed Amasa in the abdomen, causing his intestines to spill out onto the ground. The blow was so mighty that he did not need to stab him a second time as he immediately died.
• Yoav and Avishaiy go out to war: Yoav and Avishaiy his brother then proceeded to chase after Sheva Ben Bichri.
• The people gather around the dead body of Amasa and are told to leave the body and join the battle: [The people who are with Yoav gathered around the dead body of Amasa] and there was a certain man who stood over him [i.e. the body of Amasa] from amongst the lads of Yoav, and he proclaimed to everyone, “Whoever desires Yoav and whoever desires Dovid should now follow Yoav.” In the while, Amasa was waddling in his own blood in middle-of-the-road.
• The body of Amasa is moved into the field and covered: The man saw that the entire nation had stopped to be with the body of Amasa, and so he took the corpse of Amasa, and he moved it from the road and dragged it into the field. He threw a garment onto Amasa, thus covering his body being that he saw everyone stopping by the body [and he wanted to prevent them from delaying going to war].
• When the body was moved from the road, all the people followed Yoav to join the chase after Sheva Ben Bichri.

[1] See Radak and Metzudos Dovid on 20:4

[2] Rashi and Radak 20:4

[3] Rashi 20:4

[4] Rashi 20:5; Sanhedrin 49a

[5] Rashi 20:6

[6] Rashi 20:6

[7] Radak 20:6

[8] Metzudos Dovid 20:6

[9] Rashi 20:8

[10] Rashi 20:8