After Absalom’s death and the defeat of the men of Israel in 2 Sam 18 David crosses back over the Jordan to Gilgal (2 Sam 19:40-41), only to be confronted with the next rebellion:
Now a worthless fellow happened to be there whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite; and he blew the trumpet and said, “We have no portion in David, nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse; Every man to his tents, O Israel!” So all the men of Israel withdrew from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah remained steadfast to their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem. (2 Sam 20:1-2)
Beginning in v 4 we are informed about the measures David takes to deal with this uprising. Just before this, however, the author reveals to us another thing David did when he returned to Jerusalem:
Then David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, the concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and placed them under guard and provided them with sustenance, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as widows. (2 Sam 20:3)
At first glance this information about what David did with the concubines seems irrelevant and unrelated to the story of Sheba’s rebellion. Since we know, however, that the biblical writers are very intentional in the way they present their material we must ask why the author chose to include this information in chapter 20 and why he chose to reveal it to us at this particular point in the narrative.
An answer begins to emerge when we take a closer look at the immediate context of 2 Sam 20:3. Notice first of all that there are ten concubines and that the number ten also occurs just three verses earlier in 19:44:
But the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, “We have ten parts in the king…”
Next, take another look at the second part of 20:2:
But the men of Judah, from the Jordan as far as Jerusalem, remained loyal to their king.
The Hebrew word that the New King James Version translates as “remain loyal to” literally means “to cling to” or “to stick to” and significantly first occurs in Gen 2:24:
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Thus the relationship between the men of Judah and their king is described using a term that first occurs in the context of marriage. This word choice is not surprising in light of the message that David sent to the elders of Israel earlier in chapter 19:
Then King David sent to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the word of all Israel has come to the king, even to his house? ‘You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’ (2 Sam 19:12-13)
Note in particular the phrase “you are my bone and my flesh” which once again reminds us of Gen 2:
And the man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (Gen 2:23)
Note also that what David says to Judah in 2 Sam 19 was previously said to him by all Israel in 2 Sam 5:
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. (2 Sam 5:1)
With all of this in mind we can now start to put things together. Apparently the relationship between David and Israel was understood by both parties as a marriage: David was the husband and Israel was his wife. (This is not surprising given that the relationship between God and Israel is also compared to a marriage and that David was God’s representative.) This marriage began when David was anointed as king over all Israel in 2 Sam 5. Significantly, however, David had already been anointed as king by the men of Judah seven years earlier (2 Sam 2:4). Thus Judah was David’s first wife. As it turned out, Judah was also the faithful wife because it apparently did not join Absalom in his rebellion against David (the narrative consistently speaks of the “men of Israel” following Absalom – see e.g. 2 Sam 15:6; 16:15; 17:24). As we already noted above Judah also did not join Sheba’s rebellion (2 Sam 20:2).
Thus David’s ten concubines seem to represent the ten tribes of Israel. Both the concubines and the tribes of Israel were left behind by David when he had to flee from Absalom. With regard to the concubines the author informs us that David left them behind “to keep the house” (2 Sam 15:16). Significantly, the verb that is used here can also mean “to guard.” Thus it seems that the housekeeping of the concubines represents the keeping/guarding of the house/kingdom that Israel should have engaged in when David left. This they did not do, however, but instead committed adultery by following after Absalom, just like the concubines who slept with him on the roof of the palace (2 Sam 16:22). Though Israel recognized the mistake they made and sought to bring David back, they once again left him in chapter 20 and followed Sheba. David’s first and faithful wife Judah, on the other hand, clung to him.
Now the placement of 20:3 makes perfect sense. Just like the ten concubines had failed to keep the house by sleeping with Absalom, so the ten tribes of Israel had failed to guard the kingdom by joining Absalom’s rebellion. As a consequence of the concubine’s unfaithfulness they became like widows, locked up until the day of their death. This is precisely what would happen to the tribes of Israel in the future. Because of their unfaithfulness they would be separated from the Davidic king until the day of their death. (Significantly, this fate is foreshadowed by Sheba in 2 Sam 20 who is also locked up until the day of his death!) Yet 2 Sam 20 also shows the way out of this prison back to freedom: listen to woman wisdom, stop the rebellion and acknowledge the true king (2 Sam 20:16-22). Then Israel would not have to remain a widow but would once again be the wife of the king.