Joab’s conspiracy

When Uriah the Hittite died, General Joab sent a messenger to David to report on the state of the battle. (1) The method of Uriah’s killing that David had commanded was: “Station Uriah on the front line of the fiercest battle and pull back from him, so that he may be struck and killed.” However, this would make it clear that Uriah was deliberately killed, and Joab’s responsibility would be questioned. (2) Therefore, Joab devised a strategy to make it appear that Uriah had died in the course of executing a normal military tactic. (3) Joab placed Uriah where the enemy’s strongest soldiers were stationed, so that he would be killed by arrows shot from the top of the wall. With this method, many other soldiers would also lose their lives, but to Joab, that was a trivial matter. In order to avoid suspicion being directed toward himself, he sacrificed the lives of those soldiers. (4) In fact, this tactic was foolish even in light of the lessons from past wars. In Judges chapter 9, there is a record of the brave warrior Abimelech, who approached a tower to set it on fire while pursuing the enemy. A nameless woman dropped a stone from above and crushed Abimelech’s skull. “Never approach the wall too closely” is a basic rule of warfare. Joab ignored this rule, but he was confident that as long as he reported Uriah’s death, David would understand.

David’s response

When he received the report from the messenger, David became furious, saying, “Why did you move against the city to fight?” However, when he heard the news that Uriah had also died, David understood everything. Furthermore, David encouraged Joab by saying to him, “fight with determination against the city and overthrow it.” One sin gives birth to the next, and that sin leads to an even greater one. Unless we break that cycle of sin at some point, we will fall into hell. Our hope is in the love and grace of the Lord Jesus. To those who confess their sins and express true repentance, forgiveness is given by the Lord. If you are carrying guilt in your heart, let’s immediately return to God the Father through the Lord Jesus.