Joab

Yoav redirects here. For the musician, see Yoav

(musician).
Joab (Hebrew M Yo'av T Y) the son of
Zeruiah, was the nephew of King David and the commander of his army, according to the Bible.

Name
Illustration from the Morgan Bible of a story in 2 Samuel 20 of
Joab pursuing Sheba as far as Abel-beth-maachah and Shebas
head being thrown down to him.

The name Joab ( )is derived from Yahweh (),

the name of the God of Israel, and the Hebrew word 'av'
(), meaning 'father'. It therefore means 'Yahweh [is]
father'. Apart from Davids nephew, the name is given to
two other individuals in the Bible[1] (see Ezra 2:6, 8:9).
Those are the descendants of Joab of Bethlehem the son
of Zeruiah the subject is of the house and head of the
house. The individual is Obadiah the son of Jehiel. It is
also a common name in modern Israel.

followed Joabs advice to make a public appearance to

encourage his troops (2 Samuel 19:1-8).
David later replaced him as commander of the army with
his nephew, Amasa (2 Samuel 19:13). Joab later killed
Amasa (2 Samuel 20:8-13; 1 Kings 2:5).

The name Yoav (Joab) may also be attributed to the district of Moav (Moab in Latin transcription),eastern bank Joab and other commanders began questioning Davids
judgment (2 Samuel 24:2-4). As David neared the end
of the Jordan, from where Ruth the Moabitess came.
of his reign, Joab oered his allegiance to Davids eldest
son, Adonijah rather than to the promised king, Solomon
(1 Kings 1:1-27).

Biblical narrative

On the brink of death, David told Solomon to have Joab

killed citing Joabs past betrayals and the blood that he
was guilty of, and for this Solomon ordered his death by
the hand of Benaiah (1 Kings 2:29-34), who then replaced
him as commander of the army. Joab was buried in 'the
wilderness (1 Kings 2:34). It is interesting to note that
Joab ed to the Tent of the Tabernacle (where Adonijah
has previously sought successful refuge (1 Kings 1:5053)) and told Benaiah that he will die there. Benaiah,
as ordered by King Solomon, kills Joab in the House of
Yahweh.

Joab was the son of Zeruiah, a sister of king David, who

made him captain of his army (2 Samuel 8:16; 20:23;
1 Chronicles 11:6; 18:15; 27:34). He had two brothers, Abishai and Asahel. Asahel was killed by Abner,
for which Joab took revenge by murdering Abner against
Davids wishes (2 Samuel 2:13-32; 3:27).
After leading the assault on the fortress of Mount Zion,
he was promoted to the rank of General (1 Chronicles
11:4-6; 27:34). He led the army against Aram, Ammon,
Moab and Edom. He also took part in Davids murder of
Uriah (2 Samuel 11:14-25).

3 Josephus

Joab played a pivotal role as the commander of Davids

forces during Absalom's rebellion. Absalom, one of
Davids sons, rallied much of Israel in rebellion against
David, who was forced to ee with only his most trusted
men. However, David could not bring himself to harm
his son, and ordered that none of his men should kill Absalom during the ensuing battle. However, when a man
reported that Absalom had been found, alive, caught in a
tree, Joab and his men killed him (2 Samuel 18:1-33).

According to Josephus,[2] Joab did not kill Abner out of

revenge, because he had forgiven him for the death of
his brother, Asahel, the reason being that Abner had slain
Asahel honorably in combat after he had twice warned
Asahel and had no other choice but to kill him out of
self-defense. If this was the case, the reason Joab killed
Abner may have been that he became a threat to his rank
Hearing of Davids grief over the reported death of Absa- of general, since Abner had switched to the side of David
lom, Joab confronted and admonished David. The king and granted him control over the tribe of Benjamin. Yet
1

the narrative explicitly states that Joab killed Abner to

avenge the blood of his brother Asahel (2 Samuel 3:27).

See also
Joab in Rabbinic Literature

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now

in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897).
"article name needed ". Eastons Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.
[1] Strongs Concordance, entry 3097 Yow'ab
[2] Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 7, Chapter
1

REFERENCES

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