And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Bethmaachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.

Now he had passed through all the tribes of Israel unto Abela and Bethmaacha: and all the chosen men were gathered together unto him.

who went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth-Maacah, and all the Berim; and they gathered together, and went also after him.

And he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth-maachah, and all the Berites: and they were assembled, and went also after him.

And he passeth over through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth-Maachah, and to all the Berites, and they are assembled, and go in also after him,

And Sheba went through all the tribes of Israel, to Abel of Beth-maacah; and all the Bichrites came together and went in after him.

Now he had passed through all the tribes of Israel into Abel and Bethmaacah. And all the elect men had gathered together to him.

Abel - More commonly called 2-Samuel 20:15 "Abel-Beth-maachah" to distinguish it from other places of the name of "Abel" (a grassy plain). It is represented by the modern Abil-el-Kamh, a Christian village on the northwest of lake Huleh, the ancient Merom. Compare 2-Chronicles 16:4, "Abel-maim," Abel by the water.
And all the Berites - What this means is utterly unknown. Many approve of the reading of the Latin Version, connecting it with what follows: "And all the choice young men mustered and followed him."

Unto Abel - This is supposed to have been the capital of the district called Abilene in St. Luke's Gospel, Luke 3:1.
Beth-maachah - Is supposed to have been in the northern part of the Holy Land, on the confines of Syria, and probably in the tribe of Naphtali.

And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to (i) Bethmaachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.
(i) To the city Abel, which was near Bethmaachah.

And he went through all the tribes of Israel,.... That is, Sheba the son of Bichri, last mentioned, 2-Samuel 20:13, who passed through all the tribes of Israel to get as many to be of his party as he could, and to be proclaimed their king; or finding himself pursued, he passed on as fast as he could from place to place, through all the tribes, until at length he fixed for safety in a place later named; though Josephus (w) understands this of Joab pursuing Sheba through all the tribes of Israel with the forces under him; and to this sense the Syriac and Arabic versions, and so R. Isaiah interprets it; but the first sense is more generally received, that Sheba is meant, who passing through various tribes, came
unto Abel, and unto Bethmaachah; which were two places very near one another, if not one and the same place; since Abel is in 2-Samuel 20:15 called Abel of Bethmaachah, to distinguish it from any other place: it was a city that lay to the north of Israel near Syria; and from 2-Kings 15:29, it appears to be in the tribe of Naphtali. There was one city of this name of Abel, six miles from Philadelphia, another twelve miles from Gadara, and a third between Paneas and Damascus, which, of the three, Reland thinks (x), is most eligible to be the place here meant; though he rather chooses to look for it in Galilee, to the west or south of Paneas, than to the east or north in the way to Damascus; and so Adrichomius (y) calls it a city of upper Galilee, sixty furlongs or seven and an half miles from Jordan; and though he also places it in the tribe of Naphtali, in the plain of the country of Berim (from whence perhaps were the Berites next mentioned), not far from Caesarea Philippi; see 1-Kings 15:20,
and all the Berites; the inhabitants of Beeroth, in the tribe of Benjamin, of which tribe Sheba was, they followed him hither, as in the next clause:
and they were gathered together, and went also after him; unto Abel; of these, see Joshua 18:25; though perhaps these Berim or Berites were nearer to Abel; or rather that was in their country, as has been observed by Adrichomius.
(w) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 11. sect. 7.) (x) Palestina Illustrata, tom. 2. p. 519. (y) Theatrum Terrae S. p. 101.

Justly is that place attacked, which dares to harbour a traitor; nor will the heart fare better which indulges rebellious lusts, that will not have Christ to reign over them. A discreet woman, by her prudent management, satisfied Joab, and yet saved the city. Wisdom is not confined to rank or sex; it consists not in deep knowledge; but in understanding how to act as matters arise, that troubles may be turned away and benefits secured. A great deal of mischief would be prevented, if contending parties would understand one another. Let both sides be undeceived. The single condition of peace is, the surrender of the traitor. It is so in God's dealing with the soul, when besieged by conviction and distress; sin is the traitor; the beloved lust is the rebel: part with that, cast away the transgression, and all shall be well. There is no peace on any other terms.

JOAB PURSUES SHEBA UNTO ABEL. (2-Samuel 20:14-15)
he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel--beating up for recruits. But there the prompt marches of Joab overtook and hemmed him in by a close siege of the place.

But Joab "went through all the tribes of Israel to Abela, and Beth-maacah, and all Berim." Abela (2-Samuel 20:15), or Abel (2-Samuel 20:18), has been preserved in the large Christian village of Abil, a place with ruins, and called Abil-el-Kamh on account of its excellent wheat (Kamh), which lies to the north-west of Lake Huleh, upon a Tell on the eastern side of the river Derdra; not in Ibl-el-Hawa, a place to the north of this, upon the ridge between Merj Ayun and Wady et Teim (vid., Ritter, Erdk. xv. pp. 240, 241; Robinson, Bibl. Researches, pp. 372-3; and v. de Velde, Mem. p. 280). Beth-maacah was quite close to Abela; so that the names of the two places are connected together in 2-Samuel 20:15, and afterwards, as Abel-beth-maacah (vid., 1-Kings 15:20, and 2-Kings 15:29), also called Abel-maim in 2-Chronicles 16:4. Berim is the name of a district which is unknown to us; and even the early translators did not know how to render it. There is nothing, however, either in the πάντες ἐν χαῤῥί is the lxx or the omnes viri electi of the Vulgate, to warrant an alteration of the text. The latter, in fact, rests upon a mere conjecture, which is altogether unsuitable; for the subject to ויּקּהלוּ cannot be כּל־הבּרים on account of the vav consec., but must be obtained from ישׂראל בּכל־שׁבטי. The Chethib ויקלהו is evidently a slip of the pen for ויּקּהלוּ.

He - Sheba, who marched from tribe to tribe to stir them up to sedition. Abel - Unto Abel - beth - maachah, as this place is called here in the Hebrew text, 2-Samuel 20:15, to distinguish it from other Abels; and to signify, that this was that Abel which was in the northern border of Canaan towards that part of Syria called Maachah, 2-Samuel 10:8. Berites - Such as lived in the city, or territory of Beeroth of Benjamin, Joshua 18:25, who being of the same tribe, if not city with Sheba, adhered to him, and followed him through all the tribes of Israel. They - The tribes of Israel; that is, a considerable number of them; as might well be expected, when the discontents were so high and general.