This is the Bible Book Club.

I'm Susan.

And I'm Heather.

And we're in the book of Second Samuel.

Welcome to the club.

Last episode in chapters 18, 19, and 20, David learns that Absalom died and he's devastated.

His grief runs deep and his men feel guilty

for their victory over Absalom and the rebellion. Joab chastises David though and redirects his attention

to serving God and Israel. David began his return home to Jerusalem and met many of the same

people he had met during his Exodusodus. On the way back,

the ten tribes of Israel get jealous of David's tribe, Judah, because their proximity to the king.

This creates another rebellion led by Sheba the Benjaminite. The episode ended with a short update

on the ten concubines who were abused by Absalom, who were consigned

to widowhood. It was packed, and this episode is packed too, because we have a lot of stories.

So we pick up in this episode in the middle of the new rebellion led by Shiba the Benjamini.

Now, David has a new commander, Amasa, remember, who is the former commander

of Absalom and actually tried to kill David, which is kind of weird that David made him

his new commander, but he did. When David appointed Amasa as his commander back in chapter

19, we were never given any insight as to how Joab felt about being replaced by a

traitor. Was Joab totally fired or just demoted and ordered to report to Hamasov, which would

have been really hard for him? How did Joab react? Did he walk off in his usual temper and quit? And what was David thinking? Was he

confident in this decision? Or had he decided rashly to replace Joab with Amasa, a traitor? We don't know.

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