The Paradox Called Joab

    

    I studied this some months ago, and since then it has been on my heart to get it out on (digital) paper. I've been running from it. I don't know if it was meant to convict me, but recently it has.

    This is the story of Joab, the nephew of King David, a Captain in his army. Joab was a fearless, and sometimes careless leader. He got to the point where he thought he knew better than David what was good for him, and stepped outside of his boundaries. 

     For those of you who don't know, here is some background on this particular situation. Somewhere around the 13th chapter of the book of 2 Samuel, David's son Absalom decides that he shouldn't have to follow rules and kills his brother. Granted, the murder may have been justified but it really wasn't his decision to make. As the book progresses, Absalom becomes more arrogant and prideful, and begins to believe that his father is not fit to rule the kingdom, and that he deserves the job more. So, he begins to plot against his father and conspires to kill him and assume his throne. 

     Now, we're in chapter 18. Absalom has turned a good number of the people against David, and actually has him running for his life. Someone gets wind of Absalom's hiding place and tells David. David, who is still king, and therefore still the Commander in Chief, gives this instruction: "Be gentle with Absalom for my sake" (v. 5, NIV). Which means, by my interpretation, "Don't hurt him, or kill him." Right? Well, Joab felt otherwise. Absalom had a beautiful head of hair, which some Bible scholars say represented his pride and vanity. And just like pride and vanity, it became his undoing. He got his hair tangled up in a tree, and was stuck. Unfortunately for him, it was Joab's camp who got there first. Joab, despite being reminded of David's wishes, took it upon himself to fatally wound Absalom, and then have his men beat the rest of his life out of him (v. 11-16).

    So, David has to be told, and he mourns heavily, all the way into the next chapter (v. 32-33, Chapter 19:1-4). And Joab takes it upon himself once again to take action. He lets David know that he's being foolish for mourning someone who tried to kill him, and for not celebrating those who risked themselves to keep him alive. Furthermore, he tells David that if he doesn't get himself together, nobody is going to have his back in the future. And it works. David dries his tears and joins the party (v. 5-8). 

    The time has come, now, for David to clean up the mess that had become his life. He had to take stock and inventory of all who had proven to be loyal to him, and who had defected. Who deserved mercy, and who needed to be eliminated. Here's where it got interesting, at least to me. In verse 13, we see David give someone else Joab's position. Did you catch that? In the face of all his hard work, Joab got DEMOTED! Why? Let's recap, shall we? 

• First of all, Joab didn't follow instructions. It's easy to understand why. He figured, "Absalom has killed before, he's planning to do it again, and if we let him live, he'll only find a sneakier way to do what he wants to do." The thing is, despite all of that, he still acted in disobedience. He couldn't even say that he forgot, or was living in the moment. He was REMINDED. I believe that God will always send us reminders. It's up to us whether we'll heed them or not. Obedience to God, our King of Kings is always key. We may find ways to rationalize our sin, but it's still that. Sin. And it always comes with consequences.

• Secondly, Joab was consistently out of order. We talked about the disobedience thing, but the way he spoke to David, as his king, first, and as his uncle, second, was not okay. Again, I can relate to what he was thinking. David's priorities were messed up. He wasn't thinking clearly, and I'm sure that everything he said to David was absolutely true. The thing is... it just wasn't his place to say it, or at least not the way he said it. David had advisers all around him to help him make wise decisions. If Joab felt it needed to be dealt with RIGHT THEN, why not go to one of them and share his concerns? Let them go to David and rouse him with the appropriate authority. We're not always going to agree with everything our leaders say and do, and that's okay. No two humans will have the exact same views on any one topic. But there is a place and an order for everything. If something must be said, it must be said respectfully. And if it can't be respectfully said, better to keep quiet and pray about it. I know that sounds risky, especially in a day where there are so many false prophets and teachers. But if you truly believe your leader is saved and Holy Ghost filled (and you shouldn't be under their ministry if you don't) then sometimes it's better to let them find their way. They are human, just like you are. Sometimes it will seem as if their priorities are mixed up. We have to remember that we can pray for them as we expect them to pray for us. We can encourage them just like they encourage us (Joshua 1:18). But always keep it respectful. Don't touch God's anointed ones.

• Last, but certainly not least, Joab's attitude and actions were causing others to stumble. That's always the case with rebellion. It rarely affects just one. Let's look at Absalom again for a second. He had managed to lure away half of David's army and turn them against him. Joab, in his rebellion against the king's instructions, made his men finish off the job HE started. He wanted, in the end, to keep his hands clean of Absalom's actual death. It's funny how people like to break the rules, but are always trying to find loopholes so that they can avoid the consequences, even though the intentions are very clear. It's not okay to be disobedient. And it's even less okay when you lead others to be disobedient with you. Whether or not David punished them directly, they all had to deal with the fact that they were specifically asked to do one thing, and they deliberately did another. It's usually the followers who get the brunt of the consequences, usually because they hadn't planned to sin, and didn't forsee the consequences to the point where they could develop an escape plan. Of course, the longer you live in sin, the less that matters. It all catches up to you eventually.

     So, even though Joab was fearless, loyal, appeared to be a rational thinker and was a leader in his own right, he wasn't leadership material. Because he couldn't respect his leader in his position. And his attitude was indicative of future events (Read 1 Kings, no spoilers!). I couldn't understand initially why David would demote him after all he had done for him. But I realize now that Joab didn't act out of loyalty, really. He acted selfishly. He made decisions based on what he thought was best so that he could be seen as the true leader, all in the name of his king. He may not have realized at the time that that's what he was doing, but at the root of everything, there it was. 

     I said it before. Our leaders are human. They don't know everything. But if they love the Lord, and are in relationship with Him, then we have to trust them. And by trusting them, we ultimately show that we are trusting God because He appointed them to the position they are in. If they stumble a bit, pray them through. Like I said, encourage them. There would have been nothing wrong with Joab saying to David, "Hey, I know you're hurting, but we love you and we're praying for you." That may have been the word David needed to lift his spirits up. If you are thinking that you know better than your leader to the point where your actions are contrary to their vision and directives, then you need to get out from under their ministry and find one that better suits your particular needs. Because a house divided against itself cannot stand (Luke 11:17). And I hope you don't think you're going to find a perfect one. As my grandfather used to say, "There is no perfect church. And if you find one, it won't be perfect anymore because you're there." And that is real.

     Don't be a Joab. His talent was wasted on pride and arrogance, the very thing he thought he was fighting in Absalom. God has no problem moving people out of their place if they don't do what they are assigned to do. Be obedient. Be loving. Mind your business. Do what you are supposed to do, and let God handle the rest of it. I guarantee you, you'll go places you never dreamed of.