Defeating Joab

I've been slowly making my way through the entire Bible, from start to finish, with a friend. The New Testament is generally easy to understand and I've frequently read from sections of it, but the Old Testament is a bit more difficult; full of sacrificial rituals, violence, and countless evil deeds. Lately, in 2 Samuel, I found myself growing more and more disgusted by Joab, a captain under David. His first act I could "dismiss" him for, I suppose, since it was David's sin: he was the man ordered by David to put Uriah in the thick of battle so that he would be killed. Considering that his king told him to do it, I could understand...slightly. Obviously Joab had a choice to disobey David and prevent Uriah's murder, but people fall short and commit terrible acts of violence all the time...right? The focus on that chapter was more on David.

Of course, David is shown repenting and being punished for his acts of adultery and murder, but Joab is not spoken of at this point. Still, it was not until later that he began to catch my attention as someone who was unrepentant and bloodthirsty. First, he killed David's son against the king's orders. (Proof that he could have disobeyed David before as well to do good? Absolutely. Instead, he seemed to be a man focused only on evil, whether that evil could be done under David's orders or not.) But the most appalling act for me was when, in chapter 20, he murdered one of David's own men. Amasa was someone Joab worked alongside, someone who, as a fellow warrior in battle, should have been like a brother to him. Instead, pretending to embrace Amasa, he disemboweled him with his sword. He then left Amasa to literally wallow in his own blood on the road.

For several chapters it seemed as if no punishment would be executed upon Joab. To my knowledge, David didn't even know of the murders Joab had committed to be able to punish him. But God did know. I waited to see what would happen, growing more and more disgusted with Joab and his violence. Where was justice?

It wasn't until 1 Kings, when Solomon became king, that he executed Joab for his multiple murders. I must say, it was a relief. Finally evil had been defeated, and Joab wouldn't be killing anyone else for his own gains.

Today I began to think about how this story applied to life now, and even some of the old Grimm's fairy tales I've been studying for my English class. We as humans want to see justice. Our movies and books are full of evil men and women being punished in the end and the heroes and heroines triumphing over them. Perhaps this is because we see so many Joabs surrounding us in the real world. I don't just mean evil men, but all the evil deeds and thoughts, and all the violence and suffering in general. Why does it continue for so long? Why doesn't good prevail right away and why isn't evil punished immediately? We ask these questions all the time.

I can think of several reasons: God's grace giving even the most evil and violent of people time to change their ways; the fact that there can be purpose and good brought out even in and through suffering; and the truth that God does, in fact, allow humans free will and a lot of evil is brought upon us by our own doing. However, the eventual defeat of Joab is encouraging. No matter what trials we as Christians go through, whether persecution by people or the general hardships of life or spiritual warfare from outside and inside of ourselves, evil does not win.

It may seem as if darkness and pain and suffering last for much too long, but God is still there. In the end, He's going to defeat Joab, whatever Joab is in our lives. There will be victory, because He is sovereign and in control of our destinies. Even if we do not see Joab's defeat immediately, or even in our lifetimes, we can hold on to the hope and trust in God that ultimately, the pain and evil will be eliminated. In God, we will be victorious.

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." ~Romans 8:37