The Mother of Abel Beth Maachah.

Chapter 8

She climbed the rickety ladder, actually two ladders that had been lashed together.  When she reached the top of the wall, she vigorously waved the white head scarf.  No-one from the army side noticed her at first.  Eventually a cry went out, there was someone on the wall.  The men arming the battering ram were halfway through their tensioning pull.  So shocked were they to see a woman on the wall that they accidentally let go the rope.   The ram swung away hitting the wall.  Serah grabbed hold of the top block as the wall shook. 

There was an eerie silence all around.  One woman had halted the activities of a whole army.  Serah quickly made use of this break. 
"I want to speak to Joab" she shouted.
Slowly the men parted and a soldier mounted on a fine looking warhorse rode through.
She asked, "Are you Joab?"
"I am" He answered
Serah looked around. No-one else came forward. This man did not look like a man of high position. So she asked again, "I want to speak to Joab, Commander-in-chief of the army."
Joab suddenly realised he was not attired in a General's uniform. He smiled as he answered.
"Forgive my appearance, doubting woman, but I assure you, I am Joab who you seek."
Serah started her argument. "For many years people have said 'If you want good advice, go to the city of Abel '. The answers they got here were all that was needed to settle any problem.
This city is a mother to many, and I, having been blessed with Godly wisdom, am considered a mother to the city. Why are you trying to destroy this peaceful city? We are all Israelites. Why do you want to wipe out the Lord's people?"
Joab answered, "No, no! Mother of Abel, woman of wisdom! That is not the case. Far be it from me to swallow up or destroy the Lord's inheritance. We have been pursuing a scoundrel named Sheba son of Bikri, who has defamed the name of the king and started an uprising against David. Our search has led us to your gates. We thought you were protecting him, so we laid siege to your city. Hand over this one man and I promise you, I'll withdraw from the city."
Before she even realised what she was saying, Serah shouted back, "His head will be thrown over the wall!"

When Serah descended the wall, she faced the city fathers. They were in a panic. They accused her saying, "How could you make such a promise. We don't even know where this man is hiding. He will be dangerous, like a cornered rat he will kill any who approach him. We are not fighters that we can overpower him. Let us open the gates and the soldiers can come and search for him."
"NO!" Serah shouted. Have I not always given you good advice in the past? Heed now my wisdom. If we open the gates now we will allow a much greater disaster to overcome us than to face this man named Sheba. The army has been on the march for weeks, the men are tired, frustrated and hungry. If we allow them inside our city they will be like locusts. They will devour all our food, drink all our wine. They will plunder our houses looking for spoils of war. The men have been away from their homes for a long time. Their bodies lust for sexual satisfaction. They will rape your daughters and wives. Is that what you want?"
"You words ring true, but what are we to do?" The city fathers wailed.
Serah replied, "Go, organise search parties. Find out where Sheba is hiding. When you know where he is, do not approach him, come and inform me and I will decide what to do."

Serah went home, she was shaking. The events of the last few hours were catching up with her. Her suppressed fears and anxieties were now surfacing. Climbing high ladders, facing a formidable army alone and calming and guiding the confused city fathers, was all too much for a woman alone to bear. But she wasn't alone. She had felt the presence of her God through all her trials.  Not only his presence but intervention.  The words she uttered about throwing the head over the wall....those weren't her words.  She would never even have thought of such an idea, let alone shout it out for all to hear.

She heard the front door open violently, the door slamming into the wall.  First she thought it was Meadow, but her daughter would never be so rough with her entry.  Heavy footsteps stomped through the house till the kitchen doorway was filled with a rather short, but well built man, with muscular arms and huge hands?  He stopped when he saw Serah standing on the other side of the kitchen.  A smile slowly showing on his face.  He said, "Oh hello, could you help me, is this the house belonging to the Mother of Abel?  I've come to deliver my head!"
He stepped into the room and burst out laughing.  Looking at Serah's surprised face he continued, "Oh shame, don't you think that's funny.  The great and mighty wise woman isn't so great and mighty now is she?  Well if you want my head,  you'd better come and get it now, because you won't be alive for very much longer."
Serah tried to buy some time.  She had never met Sheba but she had a pretty good idea that this scoundrel in her house was that man.  She asked, "Who are you?"
Sheba laughed. "Come now, you are the wise woman and yet you ask me who I am!  You jest with me woman.  But I will play your game.  I will torture you but I will not kill you if you can name my wife and my three children.  That should be an easy task for one such as you."
Serah spat out her reply, "My wisdom  comes from God, I am not some cheap fortune teller."

Sheba became serious, he crossed the kitchen and took hold of Serah's tunic with one hand and drew his knife with the other.  He drew her closer, when he spoke Serah cringed, not with fear, but at the foul smell of his putrid breath. "You have caused me much trouble. Ever since your little speech from the city wall, people hunt me down.  They refuse me food and shelter.  My own men doubt my cause and question my decisions.  You will pay for my discomfort." Sheba raised his knife but suddenly paused. 

He sniffed her hair, then her neck.  He sheathed his knife and smiled an evil smile.  His close proximity to a woman had clearly aroused certain primal feelings that suddenly welled up within him.  He whispered in her ear, "Word on the street is your husband passed some years ago.  You never remarried.  That's a long time to be without a man."  Holding her tunic top even tighter with his one
hand, he started to lift her skirt with the other.  "He continued to whisper, "Prepare to enjoy the delights of a real man!"