2 SAMUEL 20


The Revolt of Sheba‭ 

There is always some man of evil design ready to use an emergency for evil.‭ ‭

David was a man of promptitude and took immediate measures to quell Sheba's revolt.‭ ‬We ought to cultivate the habit of prompt action.‭ ‬Opportunity soon flies if there is delay.‭ ‬Joab could not brook eclipse.‭ ‬Murder was in his heart if men stood in the way of his wishes.‭ ‬This is the sorest condemnation of Joab with all his useful parts.‭

He commits a most atrocious and foul murder-in the act of kissing his unsuspecting cousin‭ (‬a frank and open man‭)‬.‭ ‬He stabs him for no other reason than that David had promoted him over his head.‭ ‬Some men will be first at any cost.‭ ‬This propensity is a destructive one and must be suppressed at any cost.

‭ ‬Joab appears to have been one of those whom jealousy will not permit them to look cheerfully on the success of another,‭ ‬even a kinsman.‭ ‬It must have been a terrible blow to David to be unable thus to get quit of a man who would sacrifice the interests of the king and the kingdom to his personal jealousy and spite.‭ ‬It was doubtless part of the punishment of David's grievous sin.

The Christadelphian, Dec 1894. p475