2 Samuel 20:4

_THEN SAID THE KING TO AMASA, ASSEMBLE ME THE MEN OF JUDAH WITHIN THREE DAYS, AND BE THOU HERE PRESENT._ Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days. Amasa is now installed in the command which David had promised him. The revolt of the ten tribes probably hastened the public declaration of this appointment, which he hoped would be popular with them, and Amass was ordered within three days to levy a force from Judah sufficient to put down the insurrection. The appointment was a blunder, and the king soon perceived his error. The specified time passed, but Amasa could not muster the men. Dreading the loss of time, the king gave a commission to assemble the royal body-guard to Abishai, and not to Joab-a new affront, which no doubt wounded the pride of the stern and haughty old general. But he hastened, with his attached soldiers, to go as second to his broth...

4-13 Joab barbarously murdered Amasa. The more plot there is in a sin, the worse it is. Joab contentedly sacrificed the interest both of the king and the kingdom to his personal revenge. But one would wonder with what face a murderer could pursue a traitor; and how, under such a load of guilt, he had courage to enter upon danger: his conscience was seared....

Verse 2 Samuel 20:4. _THEN SAID THE KING TO AMASA_] Thus he invests him with the command of the army, and sends him to collect the men of Judah, and to come back to receive his orders in relation to Sheba, in three days. It appears that Amasa found more difficulty in collecting his country-men than was at first supposed; and this detaining him beyond the three days, David, fearing that Sheba's rebellion would get head, sent Abishai, who it appears was accompanied by Joab, to pursue after Sheba. Amasa, it seems, got up with them at Gibeon, 2 Samuel 20:8, where he was treacherously murdered by the execrable Joab....

TO AMASA ... - Evidently feeling his way toward fulfilling the promise to Amasa (marginal reference)....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 20:1 THERE HAPPENED TO BE THERE A MAN OF BELIAL. The fierce words of the men of Judah led to evil results. It was a time when all wise and thoughtful persons would have laboured for peace, and tried to soothe and appease the angry passions fomented by the late war. Instead of this, the men of Judah irritated the Israelites with insult and contumely, and the day, intended as one of rejoicing and of the restoration of David to his throne by common consent, saw the rebellion break forth afresh. Among those who had taken part in the discussion with Judah was Sheba, a man of Belial, that is, a worthless fellow, but possibly possessed of rank and influence; for, according to many commentators, _ben-Bichri _does not mean THE SON OF BICHRI, but "a descendant of Becher," the second son of Benjamin ...

THEN SAID THE KING TO AMASA,.... Whom he had promised to make general of his army, 2 Samuel 19:13; and by the following order declared him such: ASSEMBLE ME THE MEN OF JUDAH WITHIN THREE DAYS; which was done by the sound of the trumpet, or by the proclamation of a herald; it seems that the men of Judah, who attended David to Jerusalem, were gone to their respective cities and places of abode, or there would have been no occasion for such a summons; though it is strange they should, when the men of Israel appeared so inclinable to a new rebellion: AND BE THOU HERE PRESENT; to take the command of them....

10. THE REVOLT OF SHEBA CHAPTER 20 _ 1. Sheba's revolt (2 Samuel 20:1)_ 2. The ten concubines shut up (2 Samuel 20:3) 3. Amasa's failure (2 Samuel 20:4) 4. Joab and the death of Amasa (2 Samuel 20:7) 5. Joab, the wise woman and the death of Sheba (2 Samuel 20:14) 6. David's officials (2 Samuel 20:23) The final revolt in David's reign was headed by a wicked man, whose name was Sheba. Israe

1 SAMUEL 20. THE REVOLT OF SHEBA (J). 2 SAMUEL 20:1 F. The result of this altercation was a fresh rebellion under a Benjamite, Sheba ben Bichri. 2 SAMUEL 20:3. The members of the king's harem whom he had left in Jerusalem are condemned to pass the rest of their days in seclusion (_cf._ 2 Samuel 16:21). 2 SAMUEL 20:4. David bade his new commander-in-chief, Amasa, assemble the general levy of Judah by a given day; the day came, but Amasa and the army did not appear. A few days before Amasa had been in command of an army fighting against Judah, and the men of Judah might be slow to tru

The pursuit of Sheba. Amasa murdered by Joab 4. _to Amasa_ The commission was given to Amasa in fulfilment of the promise privately made to him (ch. 2 Samuel 19:13). _Assemble me the men of Judah_ Clearly then "the men of Judah" in 2 Samuel 20:2 were only a small body of representatives....

_Amasa's Indolence._ 2 Samuel 20:4-9 4 Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present. 5 So Amasa went to assemble _the men of_ Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him. 6 And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than _did_ Absalom: take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and escape us. 7 And there went out after him Joab's men, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. 8 When they _were_ at the great stone which _is_ in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle _with_ a sword fastened upon his loins in the she