JOAB (Heb. " Yah [well] is a father ")

This article appears in Volume V15, Page 417 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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JOAB (Heb. " Yah [well] is a father ") , in the Bible, the son of Zeruiah,

David

sister

SISTER

(1 Chron. ii. 16). His

brothers

BROTHERS, RICHARD (1757-1824)

were Asahel and Abishai. All three were renowned warriors and played a prominent part in

David

's history. Abishai on one occasion saved the king's life from a

Philistine

PHILISTINE

giant (2 Sam. xxi. 17), and Joab as warrior and statesman was directly respon-
XV. 14sible for much of David's success. Joab won his spurs, according to one account, by capturing Jerusalem (1 Chron. xi. 49); with Abishai and Ittai of

Gath

GATH

he led a small army against the Israelites who had rebelled under Absalom (2 Sam. xviii. 2); and he superintended the campaign against Ammon and Edom (2 Sam. xi. 1, xii. 26; I Kings xi. 15). He showed his sturdy character by urging the king after the death of Absalom to place his duty to his people before his grief for the loss of his favourite son (2 Sam. xix. 18), and by protesting against David's proposal to number the people, an innovation which may have been regarded as an infringement of their liberties (2 Sam. xxiv.; I Chron. xxi. 6).
The hostility of the " sons of Zeruiah " towards the tribe of Benjamin is characteristically contrasted with David's own generosity towards

Saul

SAUL (Heb. shd'ul, " asked ")

's fallen

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

. Abishai proposed to kill

Saul

SAUL (Heb. shd'ul, " asked ")

when David surprised him asleep (t Sam. xxvi. 8), and was anxious to slay Shimei when he cursed the icing (2 Sam. xvi. 9). But David was resigned to the will of Yahweh and refused to entertain the suggestions. After Asahel met his death at the hands of

Abner

ABNER (Hebrew for "father of [or is a] light ")

, Joab expostulated with David for not taking revenge upon the guilty one, and indeed the king might be considered bound in honour to take up his nephew's cause. But when Joab himself killed

Abner

ABNER (Hebrew for "father of [or is a] light ")

, David's imprecation against him and his brother Abishai showed that he dissociated himself from the act of vengeance, although it brought him nearer to the throne of all

Israel

ISRAEL (Hebrew for " God strives " or " rules "; see Gen. xxxii. 28; and the allusion in Hosea xii. 4)

(2 Sam. iii.). Fear of a possible rival may have influenced Joab, and this at all events led him to slay Amasa of Judah (2 Sam. xx. 413). The two deeds are similar, and the impression left by them is expressed in David's last charges to Solomon (1 Kings ii.). But here Joab had taken the side of Adonijah against Solomon, and was put to death by Benaiah at Solomon's command, and it is possible that the charges are the fruit of a later tradition to remove all possible blame from Solomon (q.v.). It is singular that Joab is not blamed for killing Absalom, but it would indeed be strange if the man who helped to reconcile father and son (2 Sam. xiv.) should have perpetrated so cruel an act in direct opposition to the king's wishes (xviii. 5, 10-16). A certain animus against Joab's family thus seems to underlie some of the popular narratives of the life of David (q.v.). (S. A. C.)

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