What Does 2 Samuel 20:10 Mean?
But Amasa did not guard against the sword that was in Joab's hand, so he struck him with it in the fifth rib, and poured out his bowels to the ground, and did not strike him a second time, and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba, son of Bichri.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.THE KEY
A killing does not pause the pursuit around it: Joab’s one fatal blow is followed at once by the chase for Sheba.
THE MEANING
Amasa’s body is opened by Joab’s sword, and his entrails spill to the ground. Joab does not strike again; Amasa dies, while Joab and Abishai pursue Sheba. Death and pursuit occupy the same frame, with no pause to soften the violence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that a killing ends when the blade goes still; Joab’s pursuit continues immediately after Amasa dies.
THE ROOT
נִשְׁמַר
nishmar
GROWS FROM
שמר
To keep watch, guard, or preserve.
“did not guard against” in this verse is nishmar. The verb comes from שׁמר (shamar, guard or keep) and can carry the sense of guarding oneself. That gives “took no heed” a bodily shade: Amasa does not keep himself guarded against the sword, while the scene shows what the sword does to him.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Watchman, guard
שֹׁמֵר
A shomer watches over a boundary; this branch brings the guarding sense inside “took no heed.”
mishmeret: Guard duty, charge, custody
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch names the keeping entrusted to someone, sharpening the contrast with Amasa’s failure to guard himself from the sword.
THE PATTERN
A killing does not necessarily end violence; it can give way to the next act against another person.
And the king said to Doeg, Turn you, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and on that day struck down eighty-five living souls who bore a linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, he struck down with the mouth of the sword, men and women, little ones and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep, with the mouth of the sword.About that time Herod the king cast his hands upon some of the assembly to harm them. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he went further to seize Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread.THE THREAD
And the LORD God took Adam and set him down in the garden of Eden, to serve it and to guard it.The English “keep” here comes from שׁמר (shamar, guard or keep), the same root behind Amasa’s “took no heed.” The root links the human charge to guard what is alive with the absence of guarding in this fatal encounter.
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