2 Samuel 20:16

2 Samuel 20:16 says, 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.  As Joab and his men were attempting to tear down the walls of Abel, a woman came to him and asked to speak to him.  Once more, a woman was taking charge, but of course a man coming to them from the city might have been killed before he had a chance to speak.  Woman are still too often having to bear the responsibility for sharing the gospel and doing God's work today.  Verse seventeen adds, And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.  When Joab came near her, she asked if he were Joab and if he would hear her, and he said yes to both questions.  If we are to be forgiven for our sins, we must first know Who Jesus is, and we can be certain that He will always hear us when we call on Him by faith.  Verse eighteen continues, Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter.  She said that the city of Abel had long been known as a city of wisdom and people had accepted what was said there as the truth.  Of course, true wisdom only comes from God, so we cannot appeal to Him based on our knowledge.  Verse nineteen concludes, 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?  She aaid she was one who was peaceable and faithful to Israel, as were most of the people of the city, and she asked Joab why he would destroy the city and them.  All Christians are a part of God's family, and we should never be attempting to destroy each other.  Verse twenty states, And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.  Joab said far be it from him to do such a thing.  Verse twenty-one adds, 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. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.  Joab said that he only wanted one man, Sheba, who had risen up against David and that if they delivered him, Joab would leave the city alone.  She said Sheba's head would be thrown over the wall.  Though we need to remove the enemies of God from the church, we certainly should not destroy other Christians to do so, and it really isn't our responsibility to kill them.  We should always reach out to them with the gospel.  Verse twenty-two continues, Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.   The woman went to the people in the city with the knowledge of what Joab wanted, and they did as she promised him and and cut off Sheba's head and threw it over the wall. It was better for one man who was rebelling against David to die than for the whole city to be destroyed.  Joab sounded the trumpet for the army to retreat and returned to Jerusalem and David.  Though I believe that we should leave their fate up to God, we certainly need to weed out those who are in our fellowship of believers but who are working against God, and when we do, we need to simply continue to faithfully serve Him.  Verse twenty-three says, Now Joab was over all the host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites:  Verse twenty-four adds, And Adoram was over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder:  Verse twenty-five continues, And Sheva was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests:  Verse twenty-six concludes, And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David.  We are then told who was in what position of leadership of those who were serving David.  Of  course, Joab was only in his position because he had killed the man David had appointed.  There are still power hungry people in the church today unfortunately, who put themselves ahead of what God wants.