Joab (Hebrew יוֹאָב Modern:Yōʼav, Tiberian:Yōʼāḇ) the son of Zeruiah, was the nephew of King David and the commander of his army, according to the Hebrew Bible.
Joab (Hebrew יוֹאָב Modern:Yōʼav, Tiberian:Yōʼāḇ) the son of Zeruiah, was the nephew of King David and the commander of his army, according to the Hebrew Bible.
The name Joab is, like many other Hebrew names, theophoric—derived from YHVH (יהוה), the name of the God of Israel, and the Hebrew word 'av' (אָב), meaning 'father'. It therefore means 'YHVH [is] father'.
Joab was the son of Zeruiah, a sister of king David (1 Chronicles 2:15–16). According to Josephus (Antiquities VII, 1, 3) his father was called Suri. [1]
Joab had two brothers, Abishai and Asahel. Asahel was killed by Abner in combat, for which Joab took revenge by murdering Abner against David's wishes and shortly after David and Abner had secured peace between the House of David and the House of Saul (2 Samuel 2:13–3:21; 3:27).
While 2 Samuel 3:27 explicitly states that Joab killed Abner "to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel", Josephus (Antiquities VII, 1, 3) paints a different picture: Joab had forgiven Abner for the death of Joab's brother Asahel, since Abner had slain Asahel honorably in combat, but killed Abner as a potential threat to his rank after Abner had switched to the side of David and granted David control over the tribe of Benjamin. [1]
After Joab led the assault on the fortress of Mount Zion, David made him captain of his army (2 Samuel 8:16; 20:23; 1 Chronicles 11:4–6; 18:15; 27:34). He led the army against Aram, Ammon, Moab and Edom. He also colluded with David in the murder of Uriah (2 Samuel 11:14–25).
Joab played a pivotal role as the commander of David's forces during Absalom's rebellion. Absalom, one of David's sons, rallied much of Israel in rebellion against David, who was forced to flee 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 and caught in a tree, Joab and his men killed him (2 Samuel 18:1–33).
Hearing of David's grief over the reported death of Absalom, Joab confronted and admonished David. The king followed Joab's 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 David's nephew, Amasa (2 Samuel 19:13). Joab later killed Amasa (2 Samuel 20:8–13; 1 Kings 2:5).
Joab and other commanders began questioning David's judgment (2 Samuel 24:2–4). As David neared the end of his reign, Joab offered his allegiance to David's eldest living son, Adonijah, rather than to the eventual king, Solomon (1 Kings 1:1–27).
On the brink of death, David told Solomon to have Joab killed, citing Joab's past betrayals and the blood that he was guilty of. Solomon ordered Joab's death by the hand of Benaiah (1 Kings 2:29–34). Hearing this, Joab fled to the Tent of the Tabernacle (where Adonijah had previously sought successful refuge according to 1 Kings 1:50–53) and told Benaiah that he would die there. Benaiah killed Joab there and thereby replaced him as commander of the army. Joab was buried in 'the wilderness' (1 Kings 2:34).
The ATS Bible Dictionary describes Joab as "a valiant warrior, and an able general; and his great influence on public affairs was often exerted for good, as in the rebellion of Absalom, and the numbering of Israel ... [b]ut as a man he was imperious, revengeful, and unscrupulous". [2]
In the Hebrew Bible, Abner was the cousin of King Saul and the commander-in-chief of his army. His name also appears as אבינר בן נר "Abiner son of Ner", where the longer form Abiner means "my father is Ner".
The Book of Samuel is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books that constitute a theological history of the Israelites and that aim to explain God's law for Israel under the guidance of the prophets.
David was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
According to 2 Samuel, Adonijah was the fourth son of King David. His mother was Haggith as recorded in the book of 2 Samuel 3:4. Adonijah was born at Hebron during the long conflict between David and the House of Saul. In 1 Kings, he briefly proclaimed himself king of Israel during the terminal illness of his father David, before peacefully ceding the throne to his brother Solomon.
Amasa (עמשא) or Amessai is a person mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. His mother was Abigail, a sister of King David. Hence, Amasa was a nephew of David, and cousin of Joab, David's military commander, as well as a cousin of Absalom, David's son. David calls him "my bone and my flesh". Amasa's father was Jether who was also called Ithra. Jether had dual-nationality, being an Ishmaelite and Israelite, although it might be a case of an assimilated Ishmaelite living in Israel.
Benaiah is a common name in the Hebrew Bible.
Asahel was a military leader under King David and the youngest son of David's sister Zeruiah. Asahel thus was the nephew of David and the younger brother of David's general, Joab, Asahel is mentioned in 2 Samuel chapters 2 and 3.
Zeruiah was a sister of King David. According to both the Hebrew Bible and the Babylonian Talmud, Zeruiah was a daughter of Jesse and sister of Abigail, to whom reference is made in 1 Chronicles and Samuel 2. Zeruiah had three sons, Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, David's nephews, all of whom were soldiers in David's army.
Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical character Joab, the nephew of King David and commander of his army, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
According to the Hebrew Bible, Abigail was the mother of Amasa, the commander-in-chief of Absalom's army.
Abishai was a military leader under the biblical King David. He was the eldest son of David's sister Zeruiah. According to Josephus his father was called Suri. The meaning of his name is "Father of a gift". He was the brother of Joab and Asahel.
The Davidiad is the name of an heroic epic poem in Renaissance Latin by the Croatian national poet and Renaissance humanist Marko Marulić. Likely finished in AD 1517, the poem, as its Latin title suggests, details the ascension and deeds of David, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, who is said to have reigned c. 1010–970 BC.
1 Kings 2 is the second chapter of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter belongs to the section focusing on the reign of Solomon over the unified kingdom of Judah and Israel. The focus of this chapter is the reign of David and Solomon, the kings of Israel.
1 Kings 1 is the first chapter of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter belongs to the section focusing on the reign of Solomon over the unified kingdom of Judah and Israel. The focus of this chapter is the reign of David and Solomon, the kings of Israel.
2 Samuel 2 is the second chapter of the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the second part of Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains the account of David becoming king over Judah in Hebron. This is within a section comprising 1 Samuel 16 to 2 Samuel 5 which records the rise of David as the king of Israel, and a section comprising 2 Samuel 2–8 which deals with the period when David set up his kingdom.
2 Samuel 3 is the third chapter of the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the second part of Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains the account of David's reign in Hebron. This is within a section comprising 1 Samuel 16 to 2 Samuel 5 which records the rise of David as the king of Israel, and a section comprising 2 Samuel 2–8 which deals with the period when David set up his kingdom.
2 Samuel 19 is the nineteenth chapter of the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the second part of Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains the account of David's reign in Jerusalem. This is within a section comprising 2 Samuel 9–20 and continued to 1 Kings 1–2 which deal with the power struggles among David's sons to succeed David's throne until 'the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon'.
2 Samuel 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the second part of Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains the account of David's reign in Jerusalem. This is within a section comprising 2 Samuel 9–20 and continued to 1 Kings 1–2 which deal with the power struggles among David's sons to succeed David's throne until 'the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon'.
2 Samuel 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the second part of Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains the account of David's reign in Jerusalem. This is within a section comprising 2 Samuel 9–20 and continued to 1 Kings 1–2 which deal with the power struggles among David's sons to succeed David's throne until 'the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon'.
2 Samuel 20 is the twentieth chapter of the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the second part of Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains the account of David's reign in Jerusalem. This is within a section comprising 2 Samuel 9–20 and continued to 1 Kings 1–2 which deal with the power struggles among David's sons to succeed David's throne until 'the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon'.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Easton, Matthew George (1897). Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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