Commentaria in II Regum (II Samuelis)
Chapter 20. Synopsis of the Chapter
Seba raises sedition against David, who opposes to him Amasa, whom Joab treacherously kills. Seba, verse 14, seizes Abela, Joab besieges it, the citizens cut off Seba’s head and hand it over to Joab: wherefore he, the sedition being quelled by the slaying of Seba, returns a conqueror to David.
1. And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Seba, the son of Bochri, a man of Jemini, and he sounded the trumpet, and said: We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Isai: return to thy dwellings, O Israel. 2. So all Israel was separated from David, and followed Seba the son of Bochri; but the men of Juda stuck to their king from the Jordan to Jerusalem. 3. And when the king was come to his house in Jerusalem, he took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, allowing them provisions only, and he went not in to them, but they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. 4. And the king said to Amasa: Assemble to me all the men of Juda against the third day, and be thou present here. 5. So Amasa went to assemble the men of Juda, but he tarried beyond the set time which the king had appointed him. 6. And David said to Abisai: Now will Seba the son of Bochri do us more mischief than Absalom did; take therefore the servants of thy lord, and pursue after him, lest he find fenced cities, and escape us. 7. So there went out with him the men of Joab, and the Cerethi, and Phelethi, and all the valiant men went out of Jerusalem to pursue after Seba the son of Bochri. 8. And when they were near the great stone which is in Gabaon, Amasa coming met them. Now Joab was clothed with a close coat of the size of his body, and over it was girded with a sword hanging down to his flank in a scabbard, made in such a manner as to come out with the least motion, and to strike. 9. And Joab said to Amasa: God save thee, my brother. And he took Amasa by the chin with his right hand to kiss him. 10. But Amasa took no heed of the sword which Joab had, and he struck him in the side, and shed his bowels to the ground, without giving him a second wound, and he died: and Joab and Abisai his brother pursued after Seba the son of Bochri. 11. In the mean time some of Joab’s men, standing by the body of Amasa, said: Behold he that would have been in Joab’s place as the companion of David. 12. But Amasa, covered with blood, lay in the midst of the way. And a certain man saw that all the people stood still to see him, and he removed Amasa out of the way into the field, and covered him with a garment, that they that passed by might not stop on his account. 13. When he was removed out of the way, every man that passed followed Joab to pursue after Seba the son of Bochri. 14. Now he had passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abela, and Bethmaacha; and all the chosen men were gathered to him. 15. So they came and besieged him in Abela, and in Bethmaacha, and they cast up works about the city, and the city was besieged; and all the people that were with Joab, endeavoured to throw down the walls. 16. And a wise woman cried out from the city: Hear, hear, say to Joab: Come near hither, and I will speak with thee. 17. And when he was come near to her, she said to him: Art thou Joab? And he answered: I am. Then she spoke thus to him: Hear the words of thy handmaid. He answered: I do hear. 18. And she again said: A saying was used in the old proverb: They that inquire, let them inquire in Abela, and so they ended. 19. Am not I that answer the truth in Israel, and thou seekest to destroy the city, and to overthrow a mother in Israel? why wilt thou throw down the inheritance of the Lord? 20. And Joab answering, said: God forbid, God forbid it from me, I do not throw down, nor destroy. 21. The matter is not so, but a man of mount Ephraim, Seba the son of Bochri by surname, hath lifted up his hand against king David; deliver him alone, and we will depart from the city. And the woman said to Joab: Behold his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. 22. Then she went to all the people, and spoke to them wisely; and they cut off the head of Seba the son of Bochri, and threw it down to Joab, and he sounded the trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his own home, and Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. 23. Now Joab was over all the army of Israel, and Banaias the son of Joiada over the Cerethites and Pelethites. 24. And Aduram over the tributes; and Josaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder. 25. And Siva was scribe; and Sadoc and Abiathar were priests. 26. And Ira the Jairite was priest to David.
1. SEBA THE SON OF BOCHRI, A MAN OF JEMINI,—namely of the tribe of Benjamin, who took it ill that the kingdom had been transferred from Saul and his tribe of Benjamin to David and the tribe of Juda; whence this Seba seems to have been one of Absalom’s leaders against David, and perhaps the first after Amasa.
WE HAVE NO PART IN DAVID,—as if to say: The tribe of Juda, at the end of the preceding chapter, by words and deeds clearly showed that David, as their fellow-tribesman, belongs to them, not to us who are Israel, or the ten tribes, and that we have no part of him, but that he is wholly theirs. Let us go away, then, each to our dwellings and homes, and cast off David as a stranger, not belonging to us. This was David’s sixth punishment, namely the rebellion of the ten tribes, stirred up by Seba, whose beginning and occasion were both the rebellion of Absalom, with which a little before the ten tribes had conspired, and which was not yet plainly extinguished; and the quarrel of the ten tribes with the tribe of Juda, because it alone, the rest not being called, had brought David back to Jerusalem to the kingdom. For they contended about primacy, because Juda pretended to be the prince of all the tribes, especially since King David was descended from Juda; but the other ten tribes preferred themselves to Juda, because they were superior in number, and ten times more. And it stung them that David, in the preceding chapter, verse 11, had sent Sadoc and Abiathar to the tribe of Juda alone, to bring him back to the kingdom, and not to the other tribes; whence he seemed to them more inclined than was fair toward the tribe of Juda, and to prefer it to all the rest.
Politically, let princes and kings learn from this to guard against and calm the jealousy of the different nations they rule, that they may show to all a like affection, care and providence, and prefer none to another, but follow them with equal benevolence, and so unite them to themselves and to one another. Aristotle in the Politics gives these two principles of right government: first, that the prince have a diligent care of all his subjects, and provide for all, and neglect none; second, that he show himself equal to all, and just, and prefer neither one nation to another, nor one prince to another; but show himself impartial and fair to each. For if he shows greater affection to one than to another, he will stir up anger and envy in the other, nay raise schisms, seditions and rebellions. An example to imitate is God, of whom Plutarch in the Morals:
he set up the sun as a most pleasing image of himself; so in the commonwealth a prince who by prudence, justice and kindness shows himself toward all.” As the sun, therefore, is not one thing to the poor and another to the rich, but common to all, so the prince ought not to regard persons, but to show himself common to all.
Cyrus in Xenophon says that the duties of a good shepherd and a good king are alike: as the shepherd, therefore, has an equal care of all the sheep, so let the king have the same care of all his subjects.
Alexander the Great, to bind to himself the conquered Persians, took up their dress, and contracted marriages with them for his own people, that they might know they were as much his care and heart as the Macedonians.
To Themistocles, as Plutarch witnesses, a wise man gave this warning: “You will govern well at Athens if you wish to be common and gentle to all.”
Singular in this matter was Charles V, who, ruling over so different nations, yet showed himself equal to each, nay a father, so that to the Spaniards he seemed a Spaniard, to the Italians an Italian, to the Germans a German, to the French a Frenchman, to the Belgians a Belgian. Prudent men think that neglect of this warning gave origin and occasion to the Belgian wars, which have now lasted 70 years, nay rage more than ever.
4. ASSEMBLE TO ME ALL THE MEN OF JUDA AGAINST THE THIRD DAY,—namely that he, as leader of the army appointed by David in place of Joab, with soldiers of the tribe of Juda adhering to David and himself, might suppress and stifle the rebellion of Seba in its birth, lest, if time were given it, it should grow so that it could not be overcome. I myself have seen in Belgium twenty-two rebellions of the royal soldiers on account of the delayed payment of wages, some of which were at once suppressed by an army sent against the few rebels and their heads cut off, but the rest, for the most part, given delay of time, grew so that, seizing and fortifying some city, they became impregnable, and more harmful and formidable even than the enemies; so that the prince was forced at once to pay them their whole wages and concede all their demands, to the great loss of Belgium.
In like manner heresies grew: for, as St. Jerome says, Arius was a spark at Alexandria, which, because it was not at once put out, burst into a flame that laid waste the whole world. Whence “the whole world groaned, and wondered to find itself Arian,” says the same against Lucifer.
6. AND DAVID SAID TO ABISAI,—because Amasa, who had gone to assemble the army from Juda, was delaying beyond the three days prescribed to him by David, and did not return, David, fearing that Seba would strengthen himself against him, at once sent ahead Abisai, Joab’s brother, with part of the forces that were at hand, to pursue him.
8. MADE IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO COME OUT WITH THE LEAST MOTION AND TO STRIKE.—The Hebrew: which came out and fell, that is, which was so made that with a light motion it could be drawn from the scabbard, and as it were fell out of it, so that Joab, taking Amasa by the chin with his right hand as if to kiss him, with the left drew the sword or dagger from the scabbard with a light motion, and with it treacherously stabbed the unsuspecting Amasa. The Hebrews translate and explain this variously; but our version has rendered the sense clearly. The cause of the slaughter was that Joab took it ill that Amasa had been preferred to him by David, himself being removed, and made leader of the army: which he reckoned a great ignominy and injury; and therefore he killed Amasa though his cousin. Let princes learn here to remove their generals cautiously, and only under the appearance of honour, as though to raise them higher. Joab sinned gravely in killing Amasa, and therefore David on his deathbed commanded Solomon to kill him. Amasa, however, also paid the just penalty of his perfidy, in that he had rebelled against David his uncle, and had been leader of the rebels,
9. AND HE TOOK AMASA BY THE CHIN WITH HIS RIGHT HAND TO KISS HIM,—For this was the ancient custom of greeting. Hear Pliny, book 11, chapter 45: “With the ancient Greeks it was the custom in supplicating to touch the chin.” Hence of Thetis supplicating Jove, Homer says, Iliad 1: “With her right hand she seized his chin, and as a suppliant addressed Jove.” For the chin is a sign of the mind; hence “mentum” is said from “eminere,” because it stands out from the throat and neck; whence also the chin is given to man alone, to no other animal, as Pliny witnesses, book 11, chapter 37.
11. BEHOLD HE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN IN JOAB’S PLACE AS THE COMPANION OF DAVID,—namely David’s deputy in war and captain-general. Otherwise from the Hebrew Vatablus and others render it: he who favours Joab, and who is for David, let him follow Joab, and with him pursue the rebel Seba.
14. TO ABELA, AND BETHMAACHA.—The “and” signifies “that is”; for Abela was by another name called Beth, that is, house, Maacha: for Seba was not in two cities, but in one which Joab besieged. Hear Adrichomius, page 104, number 9: Abela, which is also Abel Bethmaacha, or Abel of the House of Maacha, called Abelmachea by Josephus, Bethmacha by Jerome; by others Abelmaacha and Machanedam: it was a distinguished and fortified city of Upper Galilee, and a metropolis of the Israelites, situated in the tribe of Nephthali, in the plain of the region of Berim, not far from Caesarea Philippi; sixty stades distant from the Jordan. To it Joab, the leader of David’s army, pursued the rebel Seba.
18. A SAYING, SHE SAID, WAS USED IN THE OLD PROVERB: THEY THAT INQUIRE, LET THEM INQUIRE IN ABELA, AND SO THEY ENDED.—So the Roman editions, though the Royal read “proceeded.” The Hebrew here is concise and obscure, and is therefore translated variously by various men.
First, Vatablus and the Hebrews in St. Jerome render it: by inquiring they inquired, and ended, as if to say: Formerly, those attacking a city inquired of it, according to the law of Deuteronomy 20:10, whether it would accept the conditions of peace, and surrender: if thou, O Joab, hadst done the same here now, thou wouldst already have ended the war; for this city is ready to accept the conditions of peace: for it has always been faithful and subject to David. Others otherwise.
But our version renders it clearly and naturally, as if to say: Our city “Abela” has been held from ancient times the dwelling-place of wise men, a school and as it were an oracle of wisdom, so that, if anything in religion, in morals, in business were doubtful and difficult, they would bring it to the wise men of Abela to be resolved, and whatever they resolved, they carried out, and “completed” it, and that with happy and best success: for this is what “they completed” hints and involves, as if to say: Why then dost thou, O Joab, dare to attack this city which is the oracle of faith and wisdom? It is plain from what follows. So Angelomus, Abulensis, Cajetan and others.
19. AM NOT I THAT ANSWER THE TRUTH IN ISRAEL?—The Septuagint, the Hebrew: I who make peace among the faithful of Israel, or, as the Septuagint render it, I am the peaceful one of the strongholds of Israel. The woman speaks in the person of her city and country, namely Abela, as if to say: I am Abela, who decide all the doubts and suits of the Israelites, and so pacify the litigants, while I answer them with the truth and the true resolution of the doubt; as if to say: I, Abela, abound in wise and prudent men, and am the academy of the learned, and therefore as a mother and university from which all Israel may seek instruction and counsels. Seek then, thou also, O Joab, counsels from her, and thou shalt at once end the war. Furthermore Vatablus and Pagnini render: I am one of the peaceful and faithful of Israel, as if to say: I have always stood firm in the faith of David, and have been at peace with him: why then dost thou try to overthrow me? So Sylla, surnamed the Fortunate, reckoned these two the greatest gifts of fortune: first, the friendship of Metellus Pius; secondly, that he had not destroyed Athens which he had taken, but had spared the city as the academy of wisdom. So Plutarch in the Roman Apophthegms. So Attila, at the request of St. Leo, spared Rome, as the school of true faith and religion. So also Genseric, king of the Goths, at the prayers of the same St. Leo, though he occupied Rome, abstained from burning, insults and slaughters, as the Life of St. Leo has it.
AND TO OVERTHROW A MOTHER IN ISRAEL?—a mother, namely, and nurse of wisdom, religion and virtue. For such are orthodox academies, such as Abela was, and such before David, in the time of Josue, was the city Dabir, that is, oracle, and Cariath Sepher, that is, city of letters, Josue chapter 15, verse 15. Wherefore the fable of Rabbi Solomon and the ancient Rabbis in St. Jerome is a fiction, who say, or rather feign, that this woman was Sara the daughter of Aser, of whom Genesis 46:17, who was a prophetess, and revealed to Jacob that his son Joseph lived and reigned in Egypt, and who showed to Moses the place in which the bones of Joseph were laid in Egypt, that he might carry them thence into Chanaan; and they prove this from nothing else than from these her words: “I am she that answer the truth in Israel”; which is certainly an empty and frivolous proof, especially since Sara, as just said, would have had to be seven hundred years old: for so many flowed by from Aser the son of Jacob to David.
22. AND SPOKE TO THEM WISELY—saying, as Josephus says: “Will you, wicked men, perish wickedly with your children and wives for a bad and unknown man, and for him to reign instead of David, whose benefits to you are so great? Do you hope that one city can resist so strong an army?”
26. AND IRA THE JAIRITE WAS PRIEST TO DAVID.—“Priest,” namely properly so called, through whom David offered his sacrifices to God. As today kings have their chaplains, who celebrate Masses for them and in their presence. So Theodoret and Abulensis, as if to say: The first and chief of David’s chaplains was “Ira”; or “priest,” that is, chief chamberlain and first counsellor of David, in the way that the sons of David are said to have been “priests,” 2 Kings 8:18. So Vatablus and Lyranus. Hence the Chaldee for priest renders prince, namely a familiar and particular friend of David.