This Is a Cut Throat Game; Find Ways to Get a Head

The Head of Sheba being delivered over the wall

Scripture:
“Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bikri and threw it to Joab. So he sounded the trumpet, and his men dispersed from the city, each returning to his home. And Joab went back to the king in Jerusalem.”

—2 Samuel 20:22

Observation & Application:

The bible is full of stories where people are said to have acted wisely, or justly, or righteously, or any number of “insert positive adjective here” descriptions. But the reality is that most people living today, at least in the West, would fundamentally disagree if people tried to act like that today, but still make excuses nonetheless when they do about how it served the greater good or something like that. But yet we hold up these stories from the bible as “principles” to follow. Should we then cut off a man’s head because he opposed the president? If that were the case the Tea Party would have been short lived. Should we chop up the body of a rape victim and mail the pieces across the country, mimicking another “principle” from the scriptures? But that is the problem with trying to make narratives a deposit of principles that need to be imparted to the reader. Can one derive principles from the narratives? Absolutely. Is that the point of the passages that contain these rich narratives? Not at all.

Now if we look at this passage carefully we find government sanctioned murder. David is fearful, and after the Absalom fiasco he had good reason to be, and kills a man who has done nothing wrong besides tell people to go home. Sheba actually quells potential trouble by dispersing a disgruntled crowd before tempers got the best of them. But no doubt, when reading this passage people will cue into the word “wise” describing this women’s actions and say something like, “she saved the city with her quick thinking, we need to think quickly as well.” Turning a tragic narrative of unneeded death into a lesson on thinking quick. The real principle, if we must derive one, of this story is that those who speak truth to power end up with their heads being lobbed over the wall of a city. But that principle won’t sell books or even “preach” in a church, so chances are it will be ignored. This is a narrative that should be mourned not celebrated. Sheba is another victim of King David’s life falling apart as he finishes poorly as a leader.

Prayer:

Lord, guide me as I read the different narratives and listen in on ancient conversations about you. Help me to not blindly and ignorantly turn the Bible into a depository of principles to be followed, but rather engage the narratives as rich history that we can interact with. Help me to be a leader that finishes well, not conveniently. In Jesus name I pray Amen…