2 Samuel 20: The death of one man saves the nation

Brian Jonson asked a very good question about 2 Samuel 20 in the post about Christ being the subject and object of all of Scripture. If it is true that Christ is everywhere to be found in the Old Testament, what does that look like when we exegete Old Testament narrative, such as 2 Samuel 20?

Here are some scattered thoughts about this particular narrative, not necessarily in order:

Rebellion against the Davidic line is always rebellion against the Messianic line. From the moment the Messiah was first promised in Genesis 3:15, the serpent was bent on destroying the seed of the woman. And we find this “bent” all over the Old Testament. The treasonous song or poem on the lips of Sheba is the song of the serpent (vs. 1). Ultimately, it is the same song sung by a disobedient Israel against David's grandson (2 Kings 12:16) and leads to the Northern Kingdom being carted off to Assyria. This revolt that is chronicle in 2 Samuel 20 foreshadows the northern revolt and eventual collapse of Israelite loyalty to David’s throne. David is being rejected by the very people who had chosen him to be king. But Sheba’s rebellion is much more than a tribal revolution. His treason is treason against not just David’s theocratic throne, but also its covenant and messianic expectations. This narrative helps answer the question that seems to run underneath much of 2 Samuel: who has the rightful claim to the throne? Who has the divine claim as the anointed one of Israel? The answer, of course, is David, contra Absalom and contra Sheba both of whom will not, like David, wait on Yahweh’s time, place, and anointing to become king. And the end result of this narrative in chapter 20 is that the treasonous one’s head is crushed, the throne is secured, and the nation is saved – all of which point to the coming Messiah’s (Anointed One) crushing the head of the serpent, securing the throne of David forever and saving His people from destruction.

The woman of wisdom, who “saves” an entire city with her wisdom, points forward to the Incarnate Wisdom of God sent to save His people from their foolishness (or, in this passage, “worthlessness”... this woman is set over against Sheba, who is a “worthless” man in vs. 1). Like Mephibosheth, this wise woman, as a servant (vs. 17) is a contrast to the brute, monopolistic, and foolish power of the monarchy that has strayed from the covenant and is bent on destroying its own people (What is interesting is that Solomon later uses this narrative for his own polemical purposes about upside wisdom, or wisdom that is foolishness to the world, in Ecclesiastes 9:13-18). Both Mephibosheth and the wise woman are divinely orchestrated corrections for a king who has forgotten that he is supposed to be both King and Servant.

Bound up in this woman’s wisdom are peace and faithfulness, which are characteristic of this woman wisdom incarnate as *mediator*. It is through the mediation of this incarnate wisdom that the city is rescued and the “heritage of the Lord” is saved. This peace and faithfulness is set over against the raging Joab (and by extension, David) who, in a lapse of covenantal faithfulness, is ready to “swallow up” (see Numbers 16:32; Deut. 11:6; Psalm 21:9, 69:15, 106:17; Proverbs 1:12) and “destroy” the “heritage of the Lord”. This wisdom personified mediates the way of peace and the salvation of the Lord’s heritage through “sacrificing” the traitor. Not only does the mediation of this female wisdom incarnate saved her city, it saves the nation (David expects Sheba to do “more harm than Absalom” vs. 6).

Also among the implications of this narrative is that the death of one man *is* the wisdom that will save the people, a people that are "a heritage of the Lord" (vs. 19; see Deuteronomy 9:29, 32:9; 1 Sam. 10:1, 26:19; 2 Sam. 14:16, 21:3; 1 Kings 8:51-53). This is a theme that David has already experienced... this wise woman is not only a “reprise” of the wise woman of Tekoa in 2 Samuel 14, she is a divinely orchestrated parallel in the events of David’s life to Abigail, who wisely mediated on behalf of many men for the sake of one (1 Samuel 25), her own “worthless fellow”, Nabal. Caiaphas invokes this passage in speaking of Christ when he counsels the Jewish leaders that “it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” (John 11:50-51). John picks up on the significance because he repeats it in the narrative of Christ’s trial (John 18:14). The irony for John is that rebellious Caiaphas has flipped the narrative on its head. The statement is not coming from the lips of a wise man, but from the lips of corrupt Joab (Caiaphas), bent on using the ruthless and perverse power of the Sanhedrin against the innocent. And indeed, Christ is no Sheba. Christ, the substitute for the nation, is not treasonous, but righteous. Caiaphas refuses to recognize that the “Sheba” he is after has a divine right to David’s throne because He is the “son of David” (John 7:42; Luke 1:32).

One other final, but certainly not exhaustive thought about this passage... the writer of Samuel, in keeping with the other authors of the Old Testament, presents an imperfect hero to keep his audience longing for the coming of the perfect, Anointed One of Israel. By the time we get to 2 Samuel 20 in the story of David’s life, David is not acting like a Servant-King. For the second time, David has averted a coup (Sheba is Absalom’s parallel). David’s throne is only temporarily secure, and that only through the treachery of his loyal henchman, Joab (Amasa is Abner’s parallel). Absalom and Sheba have attempted revolt and have been squelched, but both represent growing tension between David and Joab, Judah and Israel. But this is also where we see God’s grace. David’s setting aside of his concubines reflects a repentant heart. As in Abigail, the wise woman is God’s grace extended to David not only in saving him from needlessly attacking the nation and destroying a city, but again extending the royal throne as God covenanted he would do. David is the man on whom God had set His heart. Yet he is the imperfect hero. The narrative, and indeed its events, leave Israel longing for a new king, and the reader anticipating the Messiah. --crb