2 Samuel 20:14, commentary and pictures

The verse records Joab going through all the tribes of Israel in pursuit of Sheba as far as Abel and Beth-maachah, with the Berites gathered together and going also after him. Abel-Beth-maachah was a city in Naphtali, afterward called a mother in Israel and renowned for wisdom, which Joab besieged in the course of that pursuit. The pursuit was part of the revolt of Sheba the son of Bichri, which arose after the suppression of Absalom's revolt when a quarrel broke out between the men of Judah and the men of Israel and gave occasion for it. That revolt threatened to prove a very serious thing.

The verse belongs to the closing and later history of David's reign found in 2 Samuel 11-24 and 1 Kings 1-2. That history covers the difficulties and family troubles that followed his taking many wives and having sons he could not control, Absalom's rebellion and the death of the petted idol of the kingdom, David's lament and return to Jerusalem, his troubles with Joab, and his numbering of the people. It is told with a detailed faithfulness that stamps the whole account as inspired. It openly records David's great wickedness in the case of Uriah without covering it up or excusing it, showing that God does not hide the sins of even the greatest kings.

Sheba's revolt kept David's troubles from ending, as one of the calamities brought upon him in judgment from God for his sin in the case of Uriah. It came after the terrible denunciation by the prophet Nathan, showing how completely that denunciation was accomplished. By that sin David gave great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. The account shows that people cannot violate God's laws without suffering the consequences, because transgression carries its own curse.