Lives of Scripture

Joab, David's nephew through his sister Zeruiah, commanded David's army through most of his reign, leading the capture of Jerusalem from the Jebusites and numerous military victories (1 Chronicles 11:6; 2 Samuel throughout). He was capable, decisive, and fiercely protective of David's throne -- yet Scripture repeatedly shows him acting with a ruthlessness David could not control. He murdered Abner in peacetime to avenge his brother Asahel's death (2 Samuel 3:27), later murdered Amasa, his own replacement as commander, in the same treacherous manner (20:9-10), and directly disobeyed David's explicit order to spare Absalom's life, killing him himself with three spears while he hung trapped in a tree (18:5, 14-15). Joab could also be a voice of hard wisdom: he warned David against publicly mourning Absalom in a way that would demoralize the very soldiers who had saved his throne, and David heeded him (19:1-8). Yet his unresolved killings of Abner and Amasa weighed on David to the end of his life; on his deathbed, David charged Solomon not to let Joab's "gray hair go down to Sheol in peace," for shedding innocent blood in peacetime under the guise of war (1 Kings 2:5-6). When Joab, sensing the reckoning, fled to the altar's horns for sanctuary near the end of Solomon's succession struggle, Solomon had him executed there, closing out one of David's most capable but morally compromised servants.