The Israelites answered, “We have ten shares in David. [112] So we have more right to David than you do. But you ignored us. Why? We were the ones that first talked about bringing our king back.”
David touched the hearts of all the people of Judah, so that they agreed like one man. The people of Judah sent {a message} to the king. They said, “You and all your officers come back!”
All the people in all the family groups of Israel began to argue. They said, “King David saved us from the Philistines and our other enemies. David ran away from Absalom.
At that place, there was a man named Sheba son of Bicri. Sheba was a good-for-nothing troublemaker from the family group of Benjamin. Sheba blew a trumpet {to gather the people together}. Then he said,
David said to Abishai, “Sheba son of Bicri is more dangerous to us than Absalom was. So take my officers and chase Sheba. Hurry before Sheba gets into cities with walls. If Sheba gets into the well protected cities, we won’t be able to get him.”
All the people of Israel saw that the new king refused to listen to them. So the people said to the king: “Are we part of David’s family? No! Do we get any of Jesse’s land? No! So Israel, let’s go to our own homes. Let David’s son rule his own people!” So the people of Israel went home.
If you insult your friend, then he will be harder to win back than a city with strong walls. And arguments separate people like palace gates with strong bars across them.
worshiping false gods, doing witchcraft, {\cf2\super [73]} hating, making trouble, having jealousy, being very angry, being selfish, making people mad at each other, making divisions,
The men of Ephraim were angry at Gideon. When the men of Ephraim found Gideon, they asked Gideon, “Why did you treat us this way? Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight against the people of Midian?”