“Sheva went through all the tribes of Israel, to Avel and Beit-Ma‘akhah, and to all the Berim; they assembled and followed him. Yo’av’s troops came and put him under siege in Avel of Beit-Ma‘akhah — they put up a ramp in the moat against the city wall; and all the people with Yo’av battered the wall in order to bring it down.”-2 Samuel 20:14-15
When we last left off, Joab and his troops were pursuing Sheva northward, among the many fortresses near Lake Merom.
Joab finally caught up to Sheva at a place called Avel-Beit-Ma‘akhah.
In Hebrew, AVEL means a brook or a stream.
BEIT means house.
So, the literal meaning is, “the house of MA’AKHAH by the stream.”
If you were to fly off to Israel today, you’d find Avel-Beit-Ma‘akhah located about 12 miles north of Hula Lake.
It’s just a little east of TEL DAN.
This is only ONE place, by the way.
Not two, like a lot of Bible translations make it out to be.
Apparently, Sheva and his small number of troops had forced themselves into this walled city.
As we’re gonna see later, the residents were none too happy about this sudden group of unruly visitors breaking into their fortified and peaceful little town.
Interestingly, we’re told a group of men named the BERIM joined Sheva as he tore through the northern tribal territories.
Later on, we’ll find this same group of men referred to as the Berites or the Bichrites.
What in God’s gracious green tarnation do these words actually mean?
Well, let’s go back to verse 1 of this chapter to find out:
“There happened to be there a scoundrel
whose name was Sheva
the son of Bikhri, a Binyamini.“
-2 Samuel 20:1
So Sheva is identified as the son of BIKHRI.
BIKHRI is the name of Sheva’s clan.
So the words BERIM, BERITES, and BICHRITES are all just different spellings of Sheva’s clan name.
Among all the clans that made up the Tribe of Benjamin, Sheva’s clan was most likely the largest and most formidable.
Alright, enough of delving into all of this etymological, linguistic, and geographical analysis.
Onward!
So Sheva and his troops decided to hole up in this city surrounded by towering walls of defense.
This meant there’d be only one way for Joab and his men to get to Sheva.
They’d have to launch a siege attack.
So to get the ball rolling, Joab and his men got busy building an earthen ramp to be placed against the city wall.
Now, you’ll notice that the Complete Jewish Bible and other Bible versions will refer to a “moat” surrounding the city.
Honestly, these Bible translators are getting a little too creative for their own good.
Why?
Because the word “moat” ain’t nowhere to be found in the original text.
It got tossed in during Medieval times, when everyone thought a fortress wasn’t cool unless it had a giant ditch full of water (and maybe a crocodile or two chomping on river rodents).
If anything, the folks at Abel Beth-Ma’acah probably dug a trench at the base of the wall to make it harder for enemies to scale it.
But calling it a “moat” is a bit of a stretch of imagination, motivated more by marijuana than factual accuracy.
Once Joab’s crew had finished building their ramp, it was time to go into full demolition mode.
They began bashing the top of the wall as if there was no tomorrow.
Alrighty, let’s stop here and as usual…
Extract a juicy takeaway from this baby!
So, today’s lesson centers on the single-minded focus of Joab.
I’m sure we can all agree he wasn’t the most noble of Bible characters to emulate.
But when it came to relentless execution to achieve one’s goal…
Including slaughtering generals appointed by the king…
Joab was as ruthless as they come!
Sheva thought he could hide behind big walls and deep ditches.
But Joab could’ve cared less.
He built his ramp and smashed the walls.
This homie wasn’t about to let anything get in his way.
The lesson?
Don’t overthink the obstacles.
Just start bashing.
Ya feel me?
Done.
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