{"id":61307,"date":"2019-08-18T15:03:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-18T12:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=61307"},"modified":"2023-03-13T11:55:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T09:55:56","slug":"joabs-final-obedience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/joabs-final-obedience\/","title":{"rendered":"Joab\u2019s Final Obedience"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[689,900],"acf":{"old_id":"61307","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34891,"related_cahpter":"287","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And Joab never even gets to say \u201cI told you so\u201d","content":"

This chapter contains David and Joab\u2019s last face-to-face conversation – at once banal and carrying the<\/span> baggage<\/span><\/a> of<\/span><\/a> all<\/span><\/a> of<\/span> their<\/span><\/a> previous<\/span><\/a> interactions<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

God \u201cincites\u201d David \u201cagainst\u201d Israel, causing David to take a census.\u00a0 To fulfill this demand, David calls his general, Joab. Joab has kept this position by striking the right balance between being<\/span> obedient to a fault<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>going it along to eliminate his own rivals<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapter 24\u2019s interaction embodies both sides of Joab\u2019s relationship with David. On the one hand, David calls him to faithfully execute David\u2019s plan, and Joab does not act as if he has a choice in the matter. On the other, as he did in previous incidents, Joab knows that David is making a mistake. He protests, \u201cBut why should my lord king want this?\u201d\u00a0 Still, when David insists, he obeys.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The census is a massive undertaking with Joab and his men fanning out across the land (and across several verses): \u201cThey traversed the whole country, and then they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.\u201d Previously, Joab has had moments where he had to decide whether to obey the king, whether to kill a rival at an opportune moment, and how to serve a King bent on undermining his own interest.\u00a0 But the very banality of the census, combined with its duration, is something new: Joab\u2019s obedience lies not just in the moment of decision, but in the days, weeks, and months of methodical follow-through on a command he knows is wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joab is, of course, vindicated: The census was a mistake, as David himself recognizes in the very next verse. The remedy for that mistake lies between David and God, as David comes to terms with what it means to be a leader, and how to put himself on the line to protect his people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joab, for his part, never even gets to say \u201cI told you so.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And with this image, we leave Joab and David\u2019s direct interactions: Joab unflinchingly, methodically obedient. David taking that obedience so for granted that it becomes almost invisible. And David still struggling with his own demons as a king, with Joab watching.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joab and David never speak again (at least, no such conversation is recorded).\u00a0 But their history echoes into the beginning of I Kings, where we will pick up (and conclude) this series.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":60360,"id":60360,"title":"2sam12-david and joab","filename":"2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-king-and-his-general-intertwined\/2sam12-david-and-joab\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam12-david-and-joab","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":60359,"date":"2019-07-31 08:39:50","modified":"2021-11-30 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