The Bad Guy
There is a man that is part of David’s life that I find a little confusing - Joab.
Honestly, in much of my reading of Joab early on in my life, I kind of just lumped Joab into the “bad guy” category – but I have grown to feel that maybe he is more nuanced than that. Joab is the one who tells David it is a bad idea to take a census. Joab reminds David of his faithful soldiers after Absalom’s rebellion, and it is Joab who led David’s army to many a victory. In fact, there is never a record of Joab losing a battle.
So – considering the above, why had I lumped him in the “bad guy” territory? Well, he killed both Abner and Amasa when David had turned Joab’s job over to them. He ignored the king’s order for mercy on Absalom and killed him as well. He sided with Adonijah at the end of David’s life. He seems like quite the violent and blood-thirsty person.
And then to add more confusion to the mix, it always seems like there is a level of contention between David and Joab. Interestingly, Joab is David’s nephew (the son of David’s sister Zeruiah). In a monarchy, it is typical for family to be appointed to serve the king. However, in this case, Joab was a particularly good choice as he was bold, courageous, and mighty. So – why the conflict?
The more I have thought on their relationship, the more I believe that Joab was the embodiment of an internal struggle for David. You see, David is called a man after God’s own heart, and he loved the Lord and wanted to do the right thing. But – power is corrupting – even for a man like David. In fact, if you look at both of Israel’s first two kings, you can see that Saul, the outwardly perfect king, was corrupted and driven mad by the power. You then see that David, the inwardly good choice for a king, is ALSO corrupted by power and ends up in a tangled web of sin and familial woes after his succession to the throne. But what does that have to do with Joab? Joab was clearly the guy who understood EXACTLY what it would take for David to maintain power. Although it could have been jealousy (and revenge in the case of Abner) that led him to kill Abner and Amasa, it could also have been that he understood from a political play, these men couldn’t really be trusted. He understood Absalom could definitely not stick around from a worldly wisdom point of view. Joab seems to be the man willing to do the dirty work needed to maintain power – and I think this made David uncomfortable, because this also appears to be an inward battle for David as well. For proof of this struggle, see David’s move to bring Michal back as his wife, his counting of the people, and his final speech to his son on who to remove that might be political enemies (including Joab). So of course, there is conflict – Joab represents David’s own very real internal struggle.
Even Joab’s end is confusing to me. The fact that he holds his ground and refuses to leave the altar and demands to be killed there leads me to believe that he was standing by his last decisions. So, how do I view Joab now? He honestly is still a bit of a mystery to me as the Bible doesn’t give clear commentary on Joab. But here is what I can learn from both Joab and David. They are the “bad guys”. Guess what, I am also the bad guy, and so are you. Maybe that sounds offensive to you – but at the end of the day ALL of us have the capacity for great amounts of evil. What ultimately makes the difference is our willingness to recognize this and who we turn to in order to correct the issue. We never will be able to correct these issues on our own, only God can make us righteous.
The heroes of the Bible are those that realize without God, they can’t be heroes. They are the ones who fail and fall but get back up again to run to God. They are the bad guys that God makes into the good guys. And THAT is the gospel – the good news - that just like David, we can make massive mistakes, but with God’s mercy, our story doesn’t have to end there.
