2 Samuel 3:22

JOAB'S ANGRY REBUKE OF DAVID

"Just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. When Joab and all the army that were with him came, it was told Joab, "Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace.." Then Joab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone? You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you, and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing."

"H. P. Smith thought that Joab's anger at David was because David had sent Abner away in peace, when, as a kinsman of Asahel, he should have taken action."[22] If that was Joab's reason for anger, it was without any justification whatever. Killing during a battle neither required nor allowed that the next of kin should avenge the death. Abner's slaying of Asahel was justified as being in a battle and in self-defense and absolutely unavoidable, except upon the premise that Abner should have sacrificed his own life to avoid it. David himself gave this evaluation of the killing of Abner in 1 Kings 2:5. "Joab ... murdered (Amasa and Abner), avenging in time of peace blood which had been shed in war and putting innocent blood upon the girdle of my loins." This contradicts what H. P. Smith stated, namely, that, "By tribal morality, David as kinsman of Asahel was bound to take blood revenge as much as Joab himself."[23] Keil stated that:

"This act of Joab in which Abishai was also concerned (2 Samuel 3:30), was a treacherous act of assassination, which could not even be defended as blood-revenge, since Abner had slain Asahel in battle after repeated warnings, and only for the purpose of saving his own life. The principle motive for Joab's action was his most contemptible jealousy, or the fear lest Abner's reconciliation to David should diminish his own influence with the king. The same was true later in his murder of Amasa (2 Samuel 22:10)."[24]

Following this insulting tirade against his king, Joab rushed off to carry out his own diabolical scheme of jealous envy against Abner. We must agree with R. Payne Smith that, "Had David acted openly, all would have been done with Joab's consent and approval."[25]