So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him.
The verse stands in the closing history of David's reign, a period marked by difficulties and by sad consequences flowing from his course. Those consequences included his many wives and the sons he was unable to control, Absalom's rebellion and the death of that petted idol of the kingdom. They included also David's lament and return to Jerusalem, his troubles with Joab, and his numbering of the people. More specifically, the verse belongs to the revolt of Sheba the son of Bichri, which arose from a quarrel between the men of Judah and the men of Israel after Absalom's revolt had been put down.
That revolt of Sheba threatened to prove very serious. It was part of David's troubles that were not yet ended, showing God's continued chastening of David for his sin in the case of Uriah and carrying out the judgments announced by Nathan after his great transgression. The detailed faithfulness with which this history is told stamps the whole account as inspired. That faithfulness shows that God does not hide the sins of even the greatest of kings.
The verse stands in the closing history of David's reign, a period marked by difficulties and by sad consequences flowing from his course. Those consequences included his many wives and the sons he was unable to control, Absalom's rebellion and the death of that petted idol of the kingdom. They included also David's lament and return to Jerusalem, his troubles with Joab, and his numbering of the people. More specifically, the verse belongs to the revolt of Sheba the son of Bichri, which arose from a quarrel between the men of Judah and the men of Israel after Absalom's revolt had been put down.
That revolt of Sheba threatened to prove very serious. It was part of David's troubles that were not yet ended, showing God's continued chastening of David for his sin in the case of Uriah and carrying out the judgments announced by Nathan after his great transgression. The detailed faithfulness with which this history is told stamps the whole account as inspired. That faithfulness shows that God does not hide the sins of even the greatest of kings.