2 Samuel 20:1
And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.
The verse stands in chapters 19 to 21 near the close of David's reign, within the books whose great event is the establishment of the monarchy with Samuel, Saul, and David as the three leading characters. That history runs from the aged priest Eli as priest, judge, and leader, through Samuel born in answer to prayer taking Eli's place, to the people asking for a king with Saul given and then deposed as unworthy, and David taking his place. It records Sheba's revolt after the suppression of Absalom's revolt, growing out of a quarrel between the men of Judah and the men of Israel, and threatening to prove a very serious thing. It belongs to the later history of David after his great wickedness in the case of Uriah, by which he gave great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, and forms part of his unending troubles in judgment for that sin. That record does not cover up or excuse the transgression, and it shows how completely the terrible denunciation of the prophet Nathan was accomplished in the judgments that came upon David.
It is part of the account of troubles in David's family and kingdom that grew out of his taking many wives. It shows Sheba's rebellion as one of the severe trials David faced during his life, alongside the rebellions of Absalom and Adonijah and the famine and plague that afflicted Israel. These hardships were part of the discipline through which David's humility, noble character, and deep piety were strengthened. The call for every man to go to his tents applies as a call for churches to stand independent of the world, take responsibility for their own affairs, and rely on their own God-helped strength rather than worldly support. Even worship in only a tent with God's blessing is better than worship in a cathedral without it.