Dare to Be The Wise Woman of Abel Beth Maakah

Daily Scripture Threshing for Today, Sunday, October 11, 2026

Today's Text: 2 Samuel 20:14-22

Key Verse: 2 Samuel 20:16 (KJV) — “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.”

Before the sword could fall, before the battering ram could break the wall, before a whole city could be buried under the sins of one man, God already had an unnamed voice waiting at the gate. After Absalom's rebellion was crushed, another rebel rose — Sheba the son of Bichri blew a trumpet and said, We have no part in David. He dragged Israel into a new revolt. Joab pursued him, and Sheba took refuge in Abel of Beth-maachah, a mother city in Israel, a place known for wisdom. Joab laid siege, his men casting up a bank against the city, and were destroying the wall to throw it down. An entire city — mothers, children, aged, innocent — was about to be destroyed for the treason of one hidden man. But one woman arose. Dare to be God's strategic voice of prayer. Be the Intercessor for your men, your city, your household, husband, wife, children and generation.

The cry was not in needless tear, it was a prayer of a wise woman for her city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee (vs 16). She did not scream in panic. She did not wait for the elders to decide. Prayer does not wait. No it never procrastinates. This woman cried with wisdom from the wall. For the falling walls, virtues, morality and spirituality ofvour day, God is looking for faithful and wise men and women of prayer that would dare to speak when silence will cause a city to fall, to lift their voice not in noisy protest but in strategic wisdom, believing that their singular godly, clear-thinking spiritual intervention can stop any army at the gate.

She was not a queen. She was not a prophetess with a title. Scripture does not even give us her name. She was simply called a wise woman. But her wisdom was disarming and diplomatic. When Joab came near, she asked him, Art thou Joab? And he said, I am he. Then she said, Hear the words of thine handmaid. She approached a general covered in blood with the humility of a handmaid and the boldness of a mother. She reminded him of Abel's ancient reputation: They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter (vs 18). She told him, 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? (vs 19). She reframed the conflict and made Joab see that he was not just fighting Sheba; but about to swallow up a mother in Israel, a city known for peace and counsel. Dare to be the wise woman of Abel: dare to be peaceable and faithful in a season of rebellion, to use your mouth not to curse the army at your gate but to counsel it, and to remind warriors of who they really are lest they destroy what they were called to defend.

Joab answered, God forbid that I should swallow up or destroy. The matter is not so, but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city (2 Samuel 20:20-21). And the woman said, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. She did not negotiate with the rebel. She did not harbor treason in the name of loyalty to her city. She understood that you cannot save a city by protecting a rebel. True wisdom knows when to cut off what is destroying the whole. She went unto all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba and threw it over the wall to Joab. And Joab blew the trumpet and withdrew. The city was saved. One woman's wisdom delivered a whole mother city.

What Joab's army could not do with a siege, one woman did with a word. What elders could not achieve in council, one mother achieved from the wall. The wise woman of Abel shows us that courage is not always holding a sword; sometimes courage is opening your mouth when every man is silent. She saved her city not by fighting Joab, but by agreeing with truth, exposing the rebel, and executing righteous judgment. God is still looking for wise women and wise men in Abel — in cities, in churches, in families, in nations — who will not let a Sheba hide and bring destruction upon all. One head delivered can save a thousand heads.

In our day, when unwise Shebas are blowing bad trumpets of untrimmed habits, blowing up relationships, families, churches, and nations with division, we need Abel wisdom. Abel was called a mother in Israel because mothers preserve life. This woman mothered her whole city. She mothered Israel by stopping the spread of rebellion. Dare to be that mother, that father, that intercessor, that leader who will say, I am peaceable and faithful, but I will not let one rebel destroy the inheritance of the Lord.

Action Steps: Identify one Sheba in your sphere — one sin, one gossip, one compromise, one divisive voice that has hidden itself inside your city, your family, your church, your team, and is drawing the sword of judgment toward everyone. Do not defend Sheba to prove loyalty to your city. Do what the wise woman did. Seek counsel, speak with the authority at the gate, and cut off the head. Have that wise, hard conversation today. Bring the people into wisdom. Deliver the head over the wall, and you will save the city.

Quote for the Day: “A city is not saved by being a rebel or by hiding one, but by godly wisdom that delivers by being the voice on the wall that preserves the generation under siege.” — (Simon Olatunji #quotablequotes)

Let Us Pray: Heavenly Father, give me the wisdom of the woman of Abel Beth-maachah. I choose to be peaceable and faithful in Israel, a mother, a preserver, a counselor in my city. Give me holy boldness to cry, Hear, hear, when destruction is at the wall, and give me words that disarm warriors and deliver cities. Expose every Sheba hiding in my life, my family, and my church. Give me grace to not harbor rebellion, but to cut it off, that the inheritance of the Lord may be preserved. Make my mouth a gate of counsel and my life a wall that saves, in Jesus’ most glorious name. Amen.

____________________

Thank you for threshing the Word with me today. For further study on this topic, please read: 2 Samuel 20:14-22; Ecclesiastes 9:14-18; Proverbs 24:6; Proverbs 31:26; James 3:13-18; Matthew 5:9.

With all my love and prayers,

Simon Wale Olatunji, Ph.D.

Your Darling Bishop (DaBishop)

Send | Share | Subscribe | Support