Joab

Joab was perhaps the most remarkable of the three nephews of David, the children of Zeruiah, David's sister. Joab first appears after David's accession to the throne at Hebron. Abner slew in battle Asahel, the youngest brother of Joab, and when David afterward received Abner into favor, Joab treacherously murdered him. There was now no rival left in the way of Joab's advancement, and at the siege of Jebus, he was appointed for his prowess commander-in-chief--"captain of the host."

In the wide range of wars which David undertook, Joab was the acting general. He was called by the most regal title of "lord," and "the prince of the king's army." In the entangled relations which grew up in David's domestic life, he bore an important part, successfully reinstating Absalom in David's favor after the muder of Amnon. When the relations between father and son were reversed by the revolt of Absalom, Joab remained true to the king, taking the rebel prince's dangerous life in spite of David's requests to spare him, and when no one else had courage to act so decisively.

The king transferred the command to Amasa, which so enraged Joab that he adroitly assassinated Amasa when pretending to welcome him as a friend. Friendly relations between himself and David seem to have existed afterward, but at the close of his long life, Joab's loyalty, so long unshaken, at last wavered.

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