Joab (
Hebrew ??????, Modern&_160;
Yoav Tiberian&_160;
Yô?a?&_160;; "
YHWH is father") was the nephew of
King David, the son of
Zeruiah in the
Bible. He was made the captain of David's army (2
Samuel 816; 2023; 1
Chronicles 116; 1815; 2734). He had two brothers,
Abishai and
Asahel. Asahel was killed by
Abner, for which Joab took revenge by murdering Abner (2 Samuel 213-32; 327). However, according to Josephus, in Antiquities, Book 7, Chapter 1, Joab had forgiven Abner for the death of his brother, Asahel, the reason being that Abner had slain Asahel honorably in combat after he had first warned Asahel and had no other choice but to kill him out of self defense. This battle was part of a civil war between David and Ishbosheth, the son of Saul. After this battle Abner switched to the side of David and granted him control over the tribe of Benjamin. This act put Abner in David's favor. The real reason that Joab killed Abner was that he became a threat to his rank of general. He then justifies it later by mentioning his brother.
After leading the assault on the fortress of Mount Zion, he was promoted to the rank of General (1 Chronicles 2734). He led the army against Syria, Ammon, Moab and Edom. He also took part in David's murder of Uriah (2 Samuel 1114-25).
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, caught in a tree, Joab ordered his men to kill him (2 Samuel 181-33).
In addition to the murder of Absalom, Joab also murdered Abner son of Ner against David's wishes (2 Samuel 3). David later replaced him as commander of the army with his nephew, Amasa (2 Samuel 1725; 1913). Joab later killed Amasa (2 Samuel 208-13; 1 Kings 25).
