Joab: David’s Weak Strongman

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LESSON 8

November 13 - 19

Joab: David’s Weak Strongman

SABBATH AFTERNOON

Read for This Week's Study:

2 Sam. 2:17–23, 3:23–27, 11:15–25, 20:7–1l, 1 Kings 1.

Memory Text:

“All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart” (Proverbs 21:2, NIV).

Joab’s story is a story of power politics, intrigue, misguided loyalties, jealousy, and stubbornness; Joab’s time is a time where survival is not guaranteed by a strong central administration and a comprehensive retirement plan. Strong people survive; weak people quickly seem to fade away. It is during Joab’s tenure as David’s strongman and caretaker that Israel truly becomes a nation. After the clan feuds and tribal rivalry that characterized the period of the judges, it is the figure of the king (beginning with Saul and later on, to a much stronger degree, with David and Solomon) that unites Israel, even though the Bible makes it clear that centuries of clan thinking will not be done away with in a matter of thirty or forty years. Joab’s life, as depicted in the Bible, is marred by wars, feuds, and even genocide. Though we might not be involved in the kind of things that Joab was, we may come to face some uglier sides of our own character when we look at his story. It is here that, through the negative example of Joab—the weak strongman of David—we may be able to identify some of our own character faults and seek the only answer to them: Jesus.

*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 20.