Sheba son of Bichri שֶׁבַע בֶּן־בִּכְרִי
he raised the north against David and died at the hands of the city that was besieged for him
A man of the tribe of Benjamin. Hardly had David returned to Jerusalem after Absalom's revolt when a quarrel broke out between the men of Judah and the men of Israel over who stood closer to the king. Then Sheba blew the horn and said: "We have no portion in David, and no inheritance in the son of Jesse—every man to his tents, O Israel!" And all Israel went up from after David (II Samuel 20:1–2).
The king sent Amasa after him; Amasa delayed and was killed by Joab, and Joab carried on the pursuit. Sheba shut himself in Abel Beth-maacah in the north, and the city was besieged.
The woman on the wall. "Then a wise woman called out of the city: Hear, hear!… I am of the peaceable and faithful in Israel; you seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel." Joab answered that he wanted one man. The woman went to the people "in her wisdom," and Sheba's head was thrown over the wall. The siege was lifted (20:16–22).
His words were not forgotten. When under Rehoboam, in 2964, the north broke from the house of David, it said almost the same thing (I Kings 12:16)—forty-four years later.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Tanakh
- Shmuel II 20:1–2 — the horn and the words “we have no portion in David”
- Shmuel II 20:14–22 — the siege of Abel and the wise woman on the wall
- Melachim I 12:16 — the same words when the north broke from Rehoboam
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.