Era 6 · The First Kings2 Samuel
Sheba's Revolt and the Wise Woman of Abel
"I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel"
"We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel." At Jerusalem David puts the ten concubines "in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood."
Amasa delays. At the great stone in Gibeon Joab greets him: "Art thou in health, my brother?" taking his beard to kiss him, and stabs him with a sword Amasa did not notice. Joab pursues Sheba to Abel of Beth-maacah and builds a siege ramp.
"Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear… They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter. I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?" Joab: give me Sheba alone. "Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall." The woman goes to the people "in her wisdom," and it is done. A second list of David's officials closes the chapter.
Abel-beth-maacah
Tell Abel Beth Maacah, in the far north near Metula, has been excavated since 2013 by Nava Panitz-Cohen, Robert Mullins and Naama Yahalom-Mack, with substantial Iron Age remains. The identification is generally accepted; no siege of Sheba is attested there.
The concubines
Having been violated by Absalom, the ten women are confined for life. The text records their fate in one verse; they suffer for decisions made by men.
A shorter text at Qumran?
1QSam (1Q7) is reported to preserve parts of 2 Samuel 20:6–10 and to have a shorter text around 20:8 than the Masoretic. The fragment's exact readings have not been checked here; the claim is reported, not displayed.
The Case for the Biblical Account
Scripture's account
Sheba's revolt and the wise woman (2 Samuel 20).
What evidence would we expect?
A northern town of Abel with walls; siege ramps.
The discoveries
Tell Abel Beth Maacah's Iron Age fortifications; siege ramps at Lachish (8th century BC).
Testing the discoveries
The site is real; the siege is known only from Samuel.
The strongest reconstruction
A memory of northern revolt against David.
What remains possible
The wording of 20:8 in 1QSam.
What the evidence shows
- Tell Abel Beth Maacah is biblical Abel-beth-maacah.
- 1QSam has a shorter text at 20:8. Reported in specialist surveys; not checked.
Continue the journey
Connected in this bookThe Wise Woman of Tekoa2 Samuel 14: The wise woman of Tekoa.More from this lesson
On the map
Location securely identified Probable identification Proposed or debated location Biblical route (roads schematic) Scholarly proposal
- Pursuit of Sheba. Illustrative. Joab's force passes the great stone at Gibeon and pursues Sheba through the northern tribes to Abel-beth-maacah.
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- The wise woman of Tekoa.
- "To your tents, O Israel."
- Ben-hadad strikes Abel-beth-maacah.
- Another woman on a wall.