Read 2 Samuel 18 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
18:1-2a {s} David set his army in order in three divisions under his three captains
18:2b-3 {s} The people prevailed upon David to remain in the city
18:4-18 {s} The death of Absalom at Joab’s hand (countermanding the king’s order)
18:19-28a {s} The son of Zadok persists to bear the news of victory to the king
18:28b {s} Blessed be YHVH God, who has delivered up the king’s enemies
18:29-31 {s} The Cushite bears the news of victory to the king
18:32 {s} The Cushite bears the news of Absalom’s death to the king
18:33-19:4 {s} King David mourned for his son Absalom
2 Samuel 14:28-18:18 Chiastic Structure:
In chapter 12, David pronounced a fourfold judgment upon the rich man who took the poor man’s lamb. However, David was the rich man. Because David abused his power as king to wield a sword against Uriah, YHVH decreed that the sword would never depart from his house. The child was the first son of David to die. Amnon was the second son of David to die. Now Absalom was the third son of David to die. Even though David decreed that Absalom be spared, Joab executed him for his rebellion against the king.
And what are we to make of Joab, who has defied the king’s orders more than once?
Reading the accounts of Joab and the sons of Zeruiah in 2 Samuel, it can be commonly assumed that Zeruiah was their father’s name, for that is the naming convention encountered most often in the Scripture. But,
Now Amasa was the son of a man, whose name was Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had gone in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah Joab’s mother. 2 Sam 17:25
We learned that Zeruiah was Joab’s mother.
Then they took up Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb, which was in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at daybreak. 2 Sam 2:32
Joab’s father was dead even before David was secured in his kingdom. If their father died when the boys were young, that might explain why they were referred to as the sons of Zeruiah, after their mother, if she was the only parent in the household.
But, as it turns out, David and Joab were relatives.
Jesse begot Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third, Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, Ozem the sixth, and David the seventh. Now their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah were Abishai, Joab, and Asahel — three. 1 Chr 2:13-16
David was Joab’s uncle. If David’s sister Zeruiah was born early in the line of Jesse’s children, her sons could have easily been David’s same age or even older, despite David being their uncle. The age similarity and family familiarity could explain why Joab didn’t pause to disobey the king when he felt it was expedient.
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