What Does 2 Samuel 20:6 Mean?
And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba, son of Bichri, will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take the servants of your lord, and pursue him, lest he find for himself fenced cities and slip from our grasp.
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
And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou thy lord’s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and escape us.THE KEY
A threat becomes harder to stop the moment it finds walls.
THE MEANING
A threat can seem containable while it is still moving; once it reaches fortified cities, it can resist capture and escape. David sees Sheba as capable of doing more harm than Absalom and orders pursuit before that shelter is reached.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the next threat is only a smaller replay of the last: Sheba may do greater harm than Absalom, especially if he reaches a stronghold.
THE ROOT
וּרְדֹף
u-redof
GROWS FROM
רדף
radaf
To follow after, chase, pursue.
“pursue him” in this verse is u-redof. English makes “pursue” sound like mere motion after someone, but this root also describes the pressure translated “persecute.” Here the sustained pursuit aims to keep Sheba from reaching fortified cities, where flight becomes entrenched resistance.
ALSO GROWS
rodef: One who follows or chases after another.
רֹדֵף
It makes clear that the verse depicts an active pursuer closing distance, not simply a general warning about danger.
redafuni: A form of the same root used for pursuit or persecution.
רְדָפוּנִי
It shows how the same action can become sustained pressure; here that pressure takes the form of a chase meant to prevent escape.
THE PATTERN
A threat still in motion can be intercepted, while refuge can change the pursuit into a longer struggle.
And David settled in the wilderness, in strongholds, and sat on a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.A prudent man sees the harm and hides himself; but the open ones cross over and are punished.THE THREAD
Turn aside from evil and do good; seek wholeness and pursue it.The Hebrew root רדף (radaf, “pursue”) appears in both verses. In one, pursuit is directed at a rebel before he reaches shelter; in the other, it is directed toward peace, revealing how the same forceful movement can follow very different aims.
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