 Setting up a siege at the town, Joab threatened to destroy it, when the local "wise woman" (possibly an oracle) informed him that the city was loyal to David, calling it "a city and a mother in Israel" () and arranged to have the rebel who took refuge there beheaded, and thus saving her town.This is the only time the phrase "a city and a mother in Israel" is mentioned in the Bible and might allude to its particular political and/or religious status.This narrative also emphasizes the town as the northernmost point of the Israelite state entity, although it is not clear to which time period this relates, since this narrative most likely reflects a time later in Iron Age II than the reign of David.