Poole on 2 Samuel 20:1-3: Sheba's Rebellion!

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[circa 1022 BC]  Verse 1:[1]  And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite:  and he blew a trumpet, and said, (2 Sam. 19:43) We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse:  (1 Kings 12:16; 2 Chron. 10:16) every man to his tents, O Israel.

[And it also happened, that there was in that place, ‎וְשָׁ֙ם נִקְרָ֜א]  And there a man came forth, etc. (Montanus).  By chance he was in attendance (Junius and Tremellius, similarly Pagnine, Vatablus), or, encountered (Tigurinus).  He was meeting (Piscator, Septuagint, Complutensian in Nobilius), namely, the Israelites quarreling with the tribe of Judah.  Thus ‎נִקְרָא is taken, Exodus 5:3[2] (Piscator) [in the place of נִקְרָה , to meet,[3] concerning which see the things noted there].  Leaping forth (Arabic); boldly advancing himself (Syriac); when he had come there (Strigelius, Munster), or had met (Jonathan in Munster).  And to that place was summoned a son, etc. (Septuagint).  This even was by chance with respect to men, but happened by the providence of God.  God willed, 1.  To exercise the faith of David, so that David might depend upon Him alone, not upon the inconstant multitude; 2.  To cleanse his kingdom of the factious; 3.  To punish Sheba; 4.  To expostulate with David, both on account of his betrayal of Uriah, and because he had used over much clemency toward Shimei.  If he had punished him, perhaps Sheba and others would not have dared such a thing (Martyr).

There happened to be there; his presence was casual in itself, though certain, and ordered by God’s providence.  Man of Belial; a lawless person, one that attempted to shake off the yoke of civil authority.  See Deuteronomy 13:13.

[Sheba…a Jeminite man[4]]  Hebrew:  a man of Jemini; that is, of the tribe of Benjamin (Vatablus, similarly all interpreters).  Perhaps, like Shimei, a near relative of Saul (Menochius).  This Sheba appears to have been one of the Absalom’s captains against David, and perhaps the first after Amasa (Lapide out of Sanchez).

Benjamite; aggrieved at the translation of the kingdom from Saul and that tribe to David.

[He sounded upon a trumpet]  Seizing the attention of the people (Martyr).

[We have no part in David, etc.]  This is a formulaic expression (or proverbial saying [Tirinus]) belonging to the Hebrews, whereby they were denying to themselves any future commerce with a particular one (Menochius, thus Tirinus out of Sanchez).  There is a similar expression in 1 Kings 12:16; Acts 8:21, thou hast no part, etc.  Thus the Romans were wont to speak in divorce:  Keep thine affairs to thyself, and do thine own business[5] (Tirinus out of Sanchez).  According to the sentence of the tribe of Judah we do not have a part in David:  those alone want to have their king, and so let them have him:  the king does not have regard to us, and so let us not have regard to him (Martyr).  Those say, or show by their deed, that David does not pertain to us (Vatablus, similarly Lapide, Junius).

We have no part in David:  the tribe of Judah have monopolized the king to themselves, and will not allow us any share in him; let them therefore enjoy him alone, and let us seek out a new king.

[Nor inheritance in the son of Jesse]  Thus he contemptuously calls him, for Jesse was a private man.  Certain interpreters thus:  The right of the kingdom is not hereditary in the posterity of Jesse:  But I think it to be an interpretation of the former; we do not pertain to his inheritance (Martyr).

The son of Jesse; an expression of contempt, implying their rejection of him, that he was no more to be owned as their king, but as a private person, as the son of Jesse.

[Return to thy tents]  To what end?  Perhaps so that they might restore the republic to its pristine form, which sort had been in the time of the Judges; or so that they might deliberate over the creation of a new king, perhaps even choose him.  We had assembled to bring the King back; now we will depart with the matter unfinished (Martyr).  Let us depart to our tents, and let us cast David aside, as foreign (Vatablus).

Every man to his tents; let us all desist from this unthankful office of bringing the king back, and go each to our homes, that we may consider, and then meet together to choose a new king.

Verse 2:[6]  So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri:  but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem.

[And all Israel was separated]  It was not difficult to persuade the people to withdraw, whom ambition and the angry clamor cast from both sides were inflaming (Sanchez).

Every man of Israel, that is, the generality of those Israelites who were present.

[The men of Judah clave to their king]  It also appears, therefore, that Benjamin did not state with David:  yet others say, that the tribe of Benjamin is almost always included in the tribe of Judah (Martyr).  From the Jordan (that is, escorting the king [Piscator]) unto Jerusalem (Piscator).

Verse 3:[7]  And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his (2 Sam. 15:16; 16:21, 22) concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward (Heb. an house of ward[8]), and fed them, but went not in unto them.  So they were shut up (Heb. bound[9]) unto the day of their death, living in widowhood (Heb. in widowhood of life[10]).

[He put them in ward]  Hebrew:  into a house (or in a house [Pagnine]) of custody (Junius, Piscator), that is, into prison (Vatablus, thus the Syriac), furnishing provisions for them, either as a recompense for their preceding service, or because they were not going to be married to others, by whom they might be supported (Menochius).

[But they were shut up, ‎צְרֻרוֹת [11]]  Bound (Pagnine, Montanus, Junius and Tremellius, Piscator), not cast into chains, but detained in a house of custody (Piscator).  Detained (Septuagint); held in custody (Jonathan); confined (Munster, Tigurinus, Castalio, Vatablus).

[Living in widowhood]  Perhaps in our version it is to be read in the widowhood of the living (Mariana).  ‎אַלְמְנ֥וּת חַיּֽוּת׃, in the widowhood of life (Pagnine, Vatablus, Piscator, Junius), understanding, continuing (Vatablus); widowhood for life (Junius and Tremellius); remaining widows for their whole life (Piscator); living widows (Tigurinus, thus the Septuagint).  Living in widowhood (Munster), so that it is a hypallage[12] (Piscator).  Widows of their husband yet living, or surviving (Jonathan).  It is a widowhood of death when the husband died; a widowhood of life, when, with the husband yet living, spouses are separated (Mariana nearly out of Vatablus).  Question:  Why did David do so?  Response:  They appear to have sinned; for they are not read to have resisted, or to have cried out; if they gave their consent, they ought to have been stoned or burned.  But it appears that there was force, and so he mitigated the punishment, and granted life, but not marriage (Martyr).  He did indeed pardon the fear; but he was unwilling himself to touch women touched by his son as impure to him (according to the law in Leviticus 18:15; now, these were made daughters-in-law to him, as it were [Menochius out of Sanchez, thus Estius, Lyra]); nor was he willing that they be touched by others, since they were royal concubines (Grotius); it was not safe for such to marry private men[13] (Martyr).  From then on, if they had gone out into public, the memory of the deeds disgracefully perpetrated by Absalom would be renewed (Martyr, thus Estius, Lyra).  Perhaps the concubines acquiesced tot his condition (Martyr, similarly Sanchez):  he shut them up, with them being, not resisting, but willing; and he provide them with honorable and royal support (Sanchez).

Put them in ward, etc.; partly, because they had not vigorously opposed Absalom’s lustful desire, as they should have done, even with the hazard of their lives; and partly, lest the sight of them should renew the memory of Absalom’s filthiness, and of their own and David’s reproach, which it was fit to bury in perpetual oblivion; and partly, because it might appear incestuous to have to do with those who had been defiled by his own son; and partly, because as David would not, so it was not now convenient that any other man should have any conjugal conversation with them.

[1] Hebrew: ‎וְשָׁ֙ם נִקְרָ֜א אִ֣ישׁ בְּלִיַּ֗עַל וּשְׁמ֛וֹ שֶׁ֥בַע בֶּן־בִּכְרִ֖י אִ֣ישׁ יְמִינִ֑י וַיִּתְקַ֣ע בַּשֹּׁפָ֗ר וַ֠יֹּאמֶר אֵֽין־לָ֙נוּ חֵ֜לֶק בְּדָוִ֗ד וְלֹ֤א נַֽחֲלָה־לָ֙נוּ֙ בְּבֶן־יִשַׁ֔י אִ֥ישׁ לְאֹהָלָ֖יו יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

[2] Exodus 5:3:  “And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met (‎נִקְרָא) with us:  let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.”

[3] קָרָה signifies to meet or encounter; קָרָא, to call, or to encounter or befall.

[4] Hebrew:  ‎אִ֣ישׁ יְמִינִ֑י—שֶׁ֥בַע.

[5] Cicero’s Philippicæ 2:28; Plautus’ Amphitruo 3:2:47.

[6] Hebrew:  ‎וַיַּ֜עַל כָּל־אִ֤ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ מֵאַחֲרֵ֣י דָוִ֔ד אַחֲרֵ֖י שֶׁ֣בַע בֶּן־בִּכְרִ֑י וְאִ֤ישׁ יְהוּדָה֙ דָּבְק֣וּ בְמַלְכָּ֔ם מִן־הַיַּרְדֵּ֖ן וְעַד־יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃

[7] Hebrew: ‎וַיָּבֹ֙א דָוִ֣ד אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ֘ יְרֽוּשָׁלִַם֒ וַיִּקַּ֣ח הַמֶּ֡לֶךְ אֵ֣ת עֶֽשֶׂר־נָשִׁ֣ים׀ פִּלַגְשִׁ֡ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר הִנִּיחַ֩ לִשְׁמֹ֙ר הַבַּ֜יִת וַֽיִּתְּנֵ֤ם בֵּית־מִשְׁמֶ֙רֶת֙ וַֽיְכַלְכְּלֵ֔ם וַאֲלֵיהֶ֖ם לֹא־בָ֑א וַתִּהְיֶ֧ינָה צְרֻר֛וֹת עַד־י֥וֹם מֻתָ֖ן אַלְמְנ֥וּת חַיּֽוּת׃ ס

[8] Hebrew:  ‎בֵּית־מִשְׁמֶרֶת.

[9] Hebrew:  ‎צְרֻרוֹת.

[10] Hebrew:  ‎אלְמְנ֥וּת חַיּֽוּת׃.

[11] צָרַר signifies to bind, or to be restricted.

[12] That is, an interchange of the syntactical relationship of two terms.

[13] See, for example, 1 Kings 1; 2.