"But a wise woman in the town called out to Joab, 'Listen to me, Joab. Come over here so I can talk to you. …
'I am one who is peace loving and faithful in Israel. But you are destroying an important town in Israel. Why do you want to devour what belongs to the LORD?' …
And Joab replied, 'Believe me, I don't want to devour or destroy your town! That's not my purpose. All I want is a man named Sheba son of Bicri from the hill country of Ephraim, who has revolted against King David. If you hand over this one man to me, I will leave the town in peace.'
'All right,' the woman replied, 'we will throw his head over the wall to you.' Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off Sheba's head and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the ram's horn and called his troops back from the attack. They all returned to their homes, and Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem."
A wise woman (who is never even named) saved a whole town from destruction. How? She had the courage to engage Joab, who was battering down the city wall! She got his attention, ascertained who he was, asked him to listen to her, focused him on his real goal (destroy Sheba, not the city), and then went back to her people with a plan of action (kill Sheba and prove it to Joab). What an example of a woman not being afraid to speak up and take action! In fact, that's exactly what made her "wise."
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