We’re comfortable with heroes and villains. We can cheer the one, scorn the other, and then get on with our lives. Most of us don’t rise to such heights or sink to such depths, however. Maybe that’s why the Bible says so much about Joab. Maybe that’s why a lot of Bible readers don’t pay much attention to him.

Who was Joab? He was David’s nephew and served as his army commander. He was also a bundle of contradictions: intensely loyal to David but sometimes disobedient, brave but not at the very end of his life, violent yet capable of mercy, utterly self-centered but pious.

We find his family relationships in the genealogy of Jesse:

Jesse was the father of Eliab his firstborn; the second son was Abinadab, the third Shimea, the fourth Nethanel, the fifth Raddai, the sixth Ozem and the seventh David. Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah’s three sons were Abishai, Joab and Asahel. Abigail was the mother of Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite. (1 Chronicles 2:13-17 NIV)

David always referred to Joab and his brothers as the sons of Zeruiah. The Bible never mentions the name of their father.

Joab and David’s rise to power

David’s rise to kingship is well known. Samuel anointed him to replace Saul. Saul spent much of the rest of his life trying to kill David. After Saul’s death, his remaining son Ishbosheth claimed the throne and, except for David’s own tribe of Judah, all Israel acknowledged him as king.

In the ensuing civil war, the sons of Zeruiah were among David’s staunchest supporters, although Joab was not yet officially the head of the army. Abner, commander of Saul’s army, led Ishbosheth’s forces.

In one battle, David’s troops defeated Abner. Asahel chased Abner on foot. After repeated warnings, Abner apparently turned his spear so the point faced backwards and abruptly stopped. Asahel, still running hard, impaled himself on it. Then, Abner prevailed on Joab to stop fighting.

Later, Ishbosheth offended Abner, who defected to David. Abner’s diplomacy handed all Israel to David and brought peace among Israel’s tribes. Joab, though, chose to avenge his brother’s death. Acting behind David’s back, he lured Abner and murdered him.

This murder interfered with David’s attempt to woo the other tribes to him. He did not want to rule with brutality or appear to depend on violence, but his response showed a persistent weakness in his character. He cursed Joab but did nothing to punish him. By law (Exodus 21:14), Joab should have been executed.

David might have had more reason than indolence and sentimentality towards blood relatives not to follow the mandates of the law. In 2 Samuel 3:39, David admitted that the sons of Zeruiah were too strong for him. Perhaps he sensed that the army was more loyal to Joab than to him and feared how his troops would respond to the execution of their commander.

Joab becomes chief commander of the army

When David had complete control of the kingdom, he decided to make Jerusalem, a city not associated with any tribe, his capital. The Jebusites controlled the city, so David moved to conquer it.

He announced, “Whoever leads the attack on the Jebusites will become commander in chief” (1 Chronicles 11:6). Scripture doesn’t specify how many leaders strove for the honor or how any competition took place. It does show that Joab was a ruthless competitor who could recruit troops quickly and efficiently. He got to Jerusalem first and thus became chief commander for most of David’s reign.

Joab’s faith

King Nahash of Ammon, one of David’s allies, died, and David decided to show loyal friendship to his son Hanun. Hanun’s advisors, however, viewed David with suspicion and persuaded the new king to humiliate the envoys. Realizing that they had provoked war with David, the Ammonites hired 33,000 mercenaries, mostly Arameans.

David sent Joab to fight them. Joab found the Ammonites in front of him guarding their capital city and Aramean mercenaries behind him in the open field. Never before or afterward did Joab face such a dire situation. He divided his troops and put half of them under the leadership of his brother Abishai.

Joab attacked the Arameans and sent Abishai against the Ammonites, telling him,

 If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight (2 Samuel 10:11-12).

Joab realized that he could possibly be defeated. He did not trust in his own strength or cleverness and rush into battle. He did not plead or bargain with God. His acceptance of God’s sovereignty shows genuine faith. It was one of his finest moments. At his victory over the Arameans, the Ammonites fled from Abishai. Then the Israelites went home instead of giving chase.

Joab and David’s big sin

One spring, “when kings went out to war,” David sent Joab to fight but decided to remain in Jerusalem himself. He lusted after a pretty woman, who happened to be the wife of one of his mighty men, Uriah the Hittite. David sent for her and she became pregnant.

David’s first thought was to call Uriah back to Jerusalem so he would have sex with his wife and think the baby was his. Uriah refused to see her, saying that he could not visit his wife while the rest of the army was camping in the open. So David sent him back with an instruction to Joab to make sure he was killed in battle.

Only Joab could know of David’s order. The Bible doesn’t say if he used his knowledge to blackmail his uncle, but it would certainly be in character. The whole incident gave David one more reason to fear Joab.

Joab and Absalom

Absalom’s exile

As a consequence of David’s sin, God decreed that he would bring calamity on him from his own household. David’s passivity made it worse than it needed it to be.

His firstborn son and heir to the throne Amnon seduced and raped his half-sister Tamar. David did nothing. Two years later, Absalom, David’s second-born and brother of Tamar, took matters into his own hands, murdered Amnon, and fled. David reconciled himself to Amnon’s death and missed Absalom, but again, did nothing about it.

After Absalom had been in exile for three years, Joab decided to engineer a reconciliation. He enlisted a woman to tell a story he had made up. Just as Nathan told a story that mirrored David’s sin with Bathsheba, Joab’s story mirrored Absalom’s murder of Amnon in such a way that made the murdering brother seem like a sympathetic character. David promised her that nothing would happen to her son.

At that point, the woman explained the connection with Absalom and David immediately recognized Joab’s hand in the story. He had been tricked. Because of his oath to the woman, he couldn’t very well refuse to have Absalom return.

David instructed Joab to bring Absalom back to Jerusalem but then refused to see him for two years. At that time, Absalom asked Joab to intercede for him with David again. Joab refused until Absalom ordered his men to burn Joab’s field. When Joab finally asked David to see Absalom, David sent for him and kissed him.

Absalom’s rebellion

The meeting hardly counted as a reconciliation. Absalom had five years of resentment to work through. He immediately started to draw the people away from David to himself by being more visibly present in the gate to judge cases. He kept it up for four years, during which time David characteristically did nothing about it.

Finally, Absalom told David he had taken a vow and needed to go to Hebron, where David had reigned before conquering Jerusalem. David agreed and Absalom declared himself king there, forcing David to flee the capital. When the two sides met in battle, David gave strict orders to Joab and other commanders to spare Absalom.

Instead, Joab killed Absalom. On hearing the news, David wept. Despite acting contrary to David’s orders, Joab acted in his best interest. David would never reign securely as long as Absalom lived. David’s mourning undermined the morale of his army. Joab rebuked David, pointing out that he had humiliated them and that if he failed to encourage his men, not one of them would continue to follow him.

David went to sit in the gate, which partly solved the problem with the army. The populace as a whole, however, could not decide what to do. They had recognized Absalom as king and were not sure if they wanted to return to David. David worked to win them over, but his tactics sowed division between Judah and the other tribes.

Sheba’s rebellion

A Benjaminite named Sheba rose up in rebellion. Judah remained faithful to David but the rest of the tribes deserted to Sheba. David appointed Amasa, Absalom’s commander, and gave him three days to recruit troops, Amasa, by the way, was another nephew of David, the son of his sister Abigail.

It seems good politics to appoint Absalom’s commander to attract his followers to rally to David instead of Sheba. And, of course, it gave him an opportunity to get back at Joab for his disobedience. Amasa did not raise an army within three days, so David gave the task to Abishai. Joab promptly murdered Amasa and took back command of the army.

Then he pursued Sheba, who took refuge in a walled city. Joab mounted a siege against it When a wise woman asked him for mercy, he promised he would depart if they would hand over Sheba. Soon enough, they tossed his head over the wall. Joab promptly lifted the siege.

Joab and David’s foolish census

David decided he needed to know the number of men in his realm and ordered Joab to take a census. According to a traditional tenet of the Hebrew people, one could only count what belonged to him. The people belonged to God, not to David.

Joab recognized the pride and vanity behind the request and asked David why he wanted to do such a thing. Other captains of the army also tried to persuade David to reconsider. Ultimately, however, he remained stubborn and Joab had no choice but to obey his king.

It took Joab and his crew ten months to complete the count. Only after he finished did David recognize his sin.

David is known as a man after God’s own heart. Joab has been called a man after his own heart. No question that David was the godlier man, but God chose to correct a godly man from the mouth of a less godly man.

Joab’s final mistake and last days

David ended his days feeble and bedridden. He had designated Solomon as his successor. Adonijah, his oldest surviving son, had other plans. Like his older brother Absalom, he connived to declare himself king and prepared to make himself the popular choice.

Knowing that David had, in fact, designated Solomon as the next king, Adonijah did not consult with many of David’s senior advisors. He did, however, take Joab and Abiathar the priest into his confidence. David had tried to pass over Joab in favor of Amasa and favored Zadok over Abiathar.

Adonijah appealed to their jealousy. David had never disciplined or corrected any of his sons, so Adonijah had every reason to believe that he could succeed where Absalom had failed.

When David learned about it, he ordered his most faithful servants to have an official coronation for Solomon, including offering his own mule for Solomon to ride on. The ceremony took place while Adonijah was still banqueting and before he could make a public pronouncement of his accession to the throne. When he heard about Solomon’s coronation, he recognized that he had failed.

David then gave Solomon some final instructions, including what to do about various rebels. Regarding Joab, he said, “Do not let his gray hair go to the grave in peace.” He cited the murders of Abner and Amasa but did not mention killing Absalom or supporting Adonijah.

He should have executed Joab for Abner’s murder but left that task to Solomon. When David died, Joab knew he was under a death sentence. In fear, he ran to the tabernacle and took hold of the horns of the altar. An accused man could flee to the altar as sanctuary from being killed, but only if he was not fleeing from justice for premeditated murder. He refused to leave the sanctuary and so was killed while still grasping the altar.

Joab’s character

Whatever else we can say about Joab, he comes across as a real person, with all the complexity of the human personality.

• Having no interest in being king, he was fiercely loyal to the king, except when he chose to disobey.
• David was his uncle, so maybe family ties partly explain the loyalty, but he had no compunction about his cousin Amasa.
• It was his wise counsel that saved David from his own self-pity after the failure of Absalom’s rebellion. Who would have expected wisdom and gentleness from such a headstrong and ruthless man?
• He was a man of faith—when it suited him—but didn’t seek God either for guidance or forgiveness.
• He had great courage—except when he knew he would be executed.

Joab is hardly a fit role model, a scoundrel, in fact, but we can’t number him among biblical villains, either. Why does the Bible tell us so much about this very flawed minor character? Possibly because most of us don’t achieve the level of the Bible’s major heroes or villains.

When we look closely at Joab’s contradictory character, can we see ourselves?