Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 20:16
Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee.
16. a wise woman ] Cp. ch. 2Sa 14:2.
out of the city ] The Sept. reads “from the wall.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2Sa 20:16-22
Then cried a wise woman out of the city.
Abels oracle; or prudence and peaceableness
I. The people in Abel of Bethmaachah are on the verge of ruin, for Joab is battering away at the walls. Soon his soldiers will be pouring into the city, and the sword will devour and destroy. Now if a man could do wrong and suffer alone it would be more tolerable. No man can, how, ever, suffer alone. We always suffer in greater or less degree by any sin committed by our fellows. We are all so co-related, interwoven. We may even, as one has said, sin in the persons of other men, for those who received an evil influence from us may go on sinning through that influence, and so suffer through their own sin and ours. Even when we have passed from this stage of existence our influence will still live. Being dead we speak, either for evil or for good. It is so hard to check evil once committed, much more to stop it altogether. Every day we meet with instances of similar suffering. A father has forged a cheque, and his children must suffer, although it is not their fault that they are his children. A mother is fretful and gloomy, and the whole household is made wretched. A brother defrauds another; or over-speculates with money entrusted to him, and his sisters are ruined; or a marriage just about to take place is checked, and the sisters hopes blighted. Sin is terrible. Its near and remote consequences are beyond our power of conception. The deed of folly and sin soaks into the lives of others, and breaks out or flows on in channels undreamt of. We can do nothing that shall have an end in ourselves. One sinner destroyeth much good. The rough, unskilled hand touching a picture, or attempting to repair the delicate mechanism of a watch, may do much greater damage than can be conceived. So one Sheba can imperil a city. So one hidden sin can endanger salvation–can ruin a soul.
II. But we see, on the other hand, that the power of an individual to bless may balance the evil wrought by the careless and selfish. While Joabs soldiers are battering the walls, above the din is heard the voice of a woman–Hear! listen! listen, I pray you! Deliver him up, and I will depart from the city. This was the concession the wise woman wanted, and soon Shebas head was thrown over the wall. Then Joab blew the trumpet of recall, and his soldiers dropped their arms and refrained from further attack. The city was saved.
1. We may learn that as no city is safe with a traitor in it, so no heart is safe where a single sin is cherished. We must pluck out or cut off the sin that besets or absorbs us.
2. We should in all circumstances seek to act in a commonsense manner. Wisdom is not merely extraordinary knowledge, but perception.
3. There was no sacrifice of principle in the action of the woman or of the citizens. Caiaphas in after ages suggested that it was better that Christ should die than that the whole nation should perish. Caiaphas cared not that Christ was innocent. Christ had not brought the evil Sheba had. It was better for a nation to suffer than to permit an innocent man to be condemned.
4. The wise woman chose a suitable time for ending the strife. Some good projects are marred through being inopportune, but it was not so in this ease. The woman had done all she could to save the city. Conclusion. In the matter of our salvation, we would say, let not the traitor of pride and procrastination be permitted to remain within the soul. Cast away self-will and pride, and seek peace. Law is terrible, so long as we are not in harmony with it, not when our sin is forgiven. Christ has come to make peace. He is our peace. He saw our danger. At the right moment he interposed. He allowed Himself to bear contumely and crucifixion that we might be delivered. He took, as it were, the place of Sheba. He was made sin for us, and permitted Himself to be case out, that we might be saved. He died in our place, for sin-enslaved, defiant, rebellious souls. He did it unasked. He did it from pure love. He saw not one man, but a whole world perishing, and He said, Better that I should die than that all these should perish. (F. Hastings.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. A wise woman] She was probably governess.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
16. Then cried a wise womanTheappeal of this woman, who, like Deborah, was probably a judge orgoverness of the place, was a strong one.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then cried a wise woman out of the city,…. And such an one as the woman of Tekoah, supposed by some to be the governess of the city; but whoever she was, she well deserved the character of a wise woman; her conduct in this affair shows it: she cried with a loud voice, upon the wall of the city, to Joab’s men, who were underneath battering it,
hear, hear; which she repeated to make them hear:
say, I pray you, unto Joab, come near hither, that I may speak with thee; tell your general I desire to speak with him; which was wisely done, to have nothing to say but to the general himself.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
16. A wise woman And one that had great influence with the people, as the sequel shows. She may have been a prophetess, like Deborah. Jdg 4:4.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Sa 20:16-20. Then cried a wise woman, &c. As Joab pressed the siege with all earnestness, a wise woman, who probably was governess of the city, (an office, though generally filled by men, yet sometimes administered by women, such as Deborah, Athaliah, Judith, &c.) This wise woman from within called out over the walls, and desired to speak with him, in all the modesty and decency of language then in use: prefacing what she had to say with a short account of the reputation of wisdom (2Sa 20:18.) in which that city anciently stood; she covertly, as the text, 2Sa 20:19 is generally understood, expostulated with him upon the iniquity of going about to destroy an ancient and venerable city of his nation, without proposing terms of submission to it, and offering peace upon acceptance of those terms, as the law of God expressly directed to be done, even to an hostile and heathen city. Deuteronomy 20. She urges, that her city was faithful and peaceable in Israel: upon what pretence, then, could he engage in destroying a city of that character? Was not this to destroy a mother city, and to swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? Her speech is marked with all the characters of wisdom; close, clear, and cogent; singularly emphatical and moving, and such as well supported the reputation of her city. It is scarcely to be supposed, that she undertook this parley otherwise than in concert with the chief persons of her city; and if so, nothing surely could be managed with more address than their choosing out a wise and venerable woman to plead their cause. In the first place, her sex and character intitled her to attention and respect, which possibly could not have been so well secured to any rebel of the other sex, with a man of Joab’s rough and haughty spirit. In the next place, they knew that ancient and honourable cities were wont to be considered under the character of matrons, revered for virtue and a numerous well-educated offspring, a way of speaking familiar to all languages; and indeed we frequently find both cities and countries in distress, represented under the character of complaining matrons, both in the writings and on the medals of the ancients. Who then could be so proper a representative of a city in distress, as a complaining matron?
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(16) Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. (17) And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. (18) Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter. (19) I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?
Solomon speaks of a poor man’s saving a city by his wisdom. No doubt, JESUS may be there intended. But here is a wise woman. See Ecc 9:14-15 . The expression of asking counsel of Abel, seems to have been somewhat proverbial; meaning, probably, that counsel of advice, in proposing terms of peace, were first made before an army proceeded to battle. Paul dwells upon this feature, of brethren going to war, as unsuitable to the very name of Christianity. 1Co 6:5-7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Sa 20:16 Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee.
Ver. 16. Then cried a wise woman out of the city. ] There are wise women, then, as well as men: souls have no sexes. It was a foolish speech of him –
“ M ”
God delighteth oft, by weak means, to effect great matters.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
hear. Repeated by Figure of speech Epizeuxis. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Sa 14:2, 1Sa 25:3, 1Sa 25:32, 1Sa 25:33, Ecc 9:14-18
Reciprocal: Pro 11:16 – gracious Pro 21:22 – General Pro 31:26 – openeth Ecc 7:19 – General Dan 2:14 – with
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Sa 20:16. Then cried a wise woman A woman of great understanding, who also could speak well. Many such there were in Israel, as appears by the woman of Tekoah, by Abigail, and the mother of Lemuel. It seems none of all the men of Abel offered to treat with Joab: no, not when they were reduced to extremity; but one wise woman saved the city. Souls know no difference of sex: many a manly heart is lodged in a female breast. Nor is the treasure of wisdom the less valuable for being lodged in the weaker vessel.