Context No. 3281 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 20:12-17: in context

12Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. When the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still. 13When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. 14He went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, to Beth Maacah, and all the Berites. They were gathered together, and went also after him. 15They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. 16Then a wise woman cried out of the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come near here, that I may speak with you.’” 17He came near to her; and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your servant.” He answered, “I’m listening.”

Two images sit side by side. Amasa lies murdered in the middle of the road, and the passing troops keep halting at the sight until someone drags his body aside and covers it. And then, as Joab besieges the town of Abel to capture one rebel, a wise woman calls out from the wall, asking to speak with him: come near, that I may talk with you.

Bloodshed stops people in their tracks; violence leaves a mark that halts even an army on the march. But then, in a scene otherwise driven by warriors and vengeance, it is a woman's wisdom that speaks up, and in the verses to come her words will save an entire city from destruction. Wisdom that seeks to spare life raises its voice in the middle of the violence, and it can turn the course of events where force alone would only destroy. The warriors would batter down the wall; the wise woman finds another way, and lives are saved.

In situations driven by conflict and force, do I value and lend my voice to the wisdom that seeks to spare and reconcile, rather than only to the logic of vengeance?

Sources

2 Samuel 20:12: "Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway."
2 Samuel 20:16: "Then a wise woman cried out of the city, Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, Come near here, that I may speak with you."
Ecclesiastes 9:18: "Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good."