David
realized how urgent it was to squelch the rebellion led by Sheba. Wanting to
find him before he could hide in a fortified city to continue in his rebellion,
he instructed Amasa to gather the men to pursue Sheba. But Amasa
procrastinated. David then quickly instructed Abishai to lead a group to
complete the mission that Amasa delayed. David even placed Abishai’s brother
Joab and his men under him. For this mission, he also sent, together with
Abishai, his own personal mercenary bodyguards, the Cherethites and
the Pelethites, and his mighty men. The king virtually left himself unprotected
just to get Sheba, that was how urgent the matter was to him.
We
need to get some context as to why Joab wanted to get rid of Amasa. We know
that Joab had followed David and had fought with him since the time when Saul
was out to get him. But he had disobeyed David’s instruction to be gentle with
Absalom. He killed Absalom in the interest of David and the nation.
Then he also acted harshly to a point of being disrespectful to the king to get
him out of his despondency over his son’s death. Joab also did it in his own interest,
for he saw how David’s despondency was affecting the morale of his men. Though
Joab had acted in David’s interest, the king was not happy with what he had
done.
The
last straw was when David gave Amasa the position as the commander of his army,
a position Joab held. David of course had his reason for doing it. Perhaps it
would have helped had he explained to Joab, but he did not. David’s strategy
was to first win the support of Amasa, who was then in-charge of Absalom’s
army. David's strategy was to get the rest of those who followed Absalom to
return to serve him by first gaining the support of Amasa. By appointing Amasa without
any explanation, it was seen as a demotion for Joab. Understandably, the later
would be waiting for an opportunity to get his hand on Amasa.
The opportunity seemed to have arrived in 2 Samuel
20:8. The troop led by Abishai in pursuit of Sheba met Amasa at the large stone
in Gibeon. Accordingly, Joab was dressed in his military gear, with a sword in
a sheath fastened to his belt. He schemed to let his sword dropped off the
sheath as he came forward as if to greet Amasa. Apparently, the latter misread
Joab’s intention. He thought Joab was coming forward in a kind gesture to greet
him. Catching him unguarded, Joab seized Amasa by the beard with his right
hand, while with his left hand he picked up his dropped sword and thrust it
into the unsuspecting Amasa and killed him. What happened was gruesome.
Amasa’s guts literally oozed out as Joab thrust his sword into his abdomen. He
was killed instantly without another strike.
For the most part, Joab was loyal to David and had
largely obeyed him but for three occasions. They had to do with the killing of
Abner, Absalom, and now Amasa. In Joab’s own eyes, he was probably thinking
that he was acting in the interest of the king, failing to see that he was in
fact acting in his own interest. Joab’s actions also reflect how many times we
would often do in our service to the Lord Jesus. There is a tendency to mix our
personal interest in serving our Lord. There are times when we allow our
personal interest to come in the way of our service to Him. In those moments,
we may be serving ourselves though we claim to be serving the king. Take a
lesson from Joab and learn to serve our Lord with the right motive, and not
allow our personal interest to come in the way. Watch out that it is not our
own agenda we are serving!
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