Bible Verses About Tact: The wise woman of Abel

Then a wise woman cried out of the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come near here, that I may speak with you.’”

He came near to her; and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your handmaid.” He answered, “I do hear.”

Then she spoke, saying, “They were used to say in old times, ‘They shall surely ask counsel at Abel;’ and so they settled it.

I am among those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?”

Joab answered, “Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.

The matter is not so. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city.” The woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.”

Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the shofar, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.