2 Samuel 20 is the twentieth chapter of the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the second part of Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan,[1] but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains the account of David's reign in Jerusalem. This is within a section comprising 2 Samuel 9–20 and continued to 1 Kings 1–2 which deal with the power struggles among David's sons to succeed David's throne until 'the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon' (1 Kings 2:46).
This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 26 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 1Q7 (1QSam; 50 BCE) with extant verses 6–10[2] [3] and 4Q51 (4QSam; 100–50 BCE) with extant verses 1–2, 4, 9–14, 19, 21–25.[4]
Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B;
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Verses 1–3 of this chapter conclude the account of Absalom's rebellion with David safely back in his residence in Jerusalem:
The discontent of the northern tribes recorded at the end of the previous chapter led to another rebellion, this time under Sheba, 'the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite', and a representative of the Saulide camp (cf. Bechorath in 1 Samuel 9:1). Although verse 2 suggests that 'all Israel' (the tribes other than Judah) left David and followed Sheba, verse 14 shows that only the Bichrites were the active rebels, but the significance of this group must not be overlooked. David perceived in verse 6 that this dissent was potentially more harmful than Absalom's rebellion, because it endangered the structure of the kingdom. Significantly Sheba's rallying cry (verse 1) was repeated when the kingdom of Israel was really divided after the death of Solomon (1 Kings 12:16).
Once David had settled in Jerusalem and made arrangements for his ten concubines, whom he left behind (verse 3), he turned his focus to the dissension. The newly appointed commander, Amasa (2 Samuel 19:13), was given three days to rally a force, but did not do as requested. Abishai was immediately put in charge of the army, but Joab who still had 'men' under his command (verse 7) took the lead to pursue Sheba. When Amasa met them at Gibeon, Joab pretended to kiss Amasa by pulling his beard to kiss him, but used a hidden short sword in his girdle to kill Amasa. Now Joab unquestionably became the leader of the army (his brother Abishai was no longer mentioned after verse 10) and the pursuit reached Abel of Beth-maacah in the north, near Dan, where Sheba went into. During the siege a 'wise woman' spoke to Joab from the rampart, offering a plan to save Abel-beth-maachah, a city which had a reputation for wisdom (verse 18) and considered a 'mother city' in Israel (verse 19), by beheading Sheba and throwing his severed head to Joab. With this, the rebellion ended, all people went home to their own cities as Joab returned to Jerusalem to report to David.
There are obvious links between the appearance of the wise woman of Abel and that of Tekoa in 2 Samuel 14:
Then the king arose and took his seat in the gate.
And the people were all told, "Behold, the king is sitting in the gate."
And all the people came before the king.
Now Israel had fled every man to his own home.[5]
The chapter concludes with another list of David's court officials not exactly identical to the previous list in 2 Samuel 8:15-18. The comparison is as follows:
| 2 Samuel 20:23–26 | ||
| Joab, commander of the army | Joab, commander of the army | |
| Jehoshaphat, royal historian | Benaiah, over the Cherethites and Pelethites | |
| Zadok and Ahimelech (son of Abiathar), high priests | Adoram, in charge of forced labor | |
| Seraiah, royal scribe | Jehoshaphat, royal historian | |
| Benaiah, over the Cherethites and Pelethites | Sheva, royal scribe | |
| David's sons, palace administrators | Zadok and Abiathar, high priests Ira, David's priest |
Joab remained the established commander of the army, and Benaiah remained in charge of the Cherethites and Pelethites. Adoram (written as "Adoniram" in 1 Kings 4:6), not mentioned in the previous list, was in charge of forced labor, which was established in the latter part of David's reign. All the other names are identical with those in the previous list, except Ira, who replaces David's sons at 2 Samuel 8:18 and was called 'the Jairite', probably denoting his origin from the village of Jair (Numbers 32:41; Deuteronomy 3:14).