Graham Scott
JOAB was a strong character, but I believe that he typifies for us the Christian who seeks to do God's will and God's work in the strength of the flesh. He was a man who acted in the flesh and not in the spirit, whose work was bound to end in death and not in life.
1 Chronicles 11:5-7
Joab was a man of courage and strength. The fortress of Jebus seemed impregnable, but David said that the first man who captured it would be made chief and captain. From the fact that Joab was the first man to tackle these Jebusites in their rocky fortress and dispossess them and so was made Commander-in-Chief of David's army, we know that he must have been a man of courage and strength. As we look at the Church today, we exclaim: 'We need men of courage and strength for our time; that is just the kind of man we have need of. Give us more men like that!
2 Samuel 11:14-21
We see also that Joab was a man of loyalty and unquestioning obedience to his leader. Though the instructions must have seemed strange to him, and though he must have suspected what lay behind David's orders, yet he did exactly as he was told. Even though the whole matter was terrible, it reveals Joab as a man who was loyal and unquestioningly obedient to his king. We say again: 'That is a quality which we could do with in our churches today. Would that there were loyalty and obedience to the King among us. We need men and women who are characterised by unquestioning loyalty.'
2 Samuel 12:26-28
Moreover he was marked by real selflessness. Having taken Rabbah, he invited David to come and get all the credit for capturing the city, in spite of the fact that he himself had been responsible for the victory. Again you will agree that we could do with more of this quality in the Church, this selflessness which means that a man looks on the things of others rather than on his own. A willingness for others to be praised for what we ourselves have accomplished is a characteristic which would add to the richness of our Church life.
1 Chronicles 21:1-6
This chapter gives us a further glimpse into Joab's good qualities. When David instructed him and his public officers to go out and number Israel and then to report back, Joab answered: 'Even if the Lord should increase His people one hundred fold, would not your majesty still be king and all the people your slaves? Why should your majesty want to do this, since it will only bring guilt on Israel?' Joab, however, [118/119] was overruled by the king, so he went up and down the whole country, finally returning to David to report the numbers recorded. But so deep was his repugnance to the king's order that he refused to count Levi and Benjamin. Here, then, was a man who was prepared to stand against something which he judged to be destructive to his king and country, a man unafraid of speaking out against what was clearly wrong. Certainly this is one more quality which we could do with in our Church life, and one which we all approve of.
Where, then, did Joab go wrong? He had so many good points which we could wish to see in our churches today, but he also shows us what is destructive to that life. He had the right objectives; he wanted to see Israel secure and prosperous under God's blessing; he wanted to see David firmly established on his throne; all his life was devoted to this end, and all his activities seemed directed towards what was good. We must consider, however, not his objectives but rather the means by which he obtained them. He was quite unscrupulous in this respect and in fact three times committed murder in order to achieve what he considered to be the right end.
