“Get Rid of the Skeletons”

1 Kings 2

5 Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

6 Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace.

Here we find the commander of Israel’s forces for the whole of David’s life, being executed at the command of David.
This is amazing. It is unparalelled. It baffles the mind.

But as we look at what really happened here it brings to us a truth which can set us free and help us.
Why did Joab’s life end like this?

In the first place Joab had done many good things. Joab was quick and faithful in his job.

Let us look at 2Sam 20. Here Sheba rebelled against David and the people of Israel “went back to their tents”. Have you been ‘back in your tent’ or have you been busy where God has called you. Yes you should look after your own family, but you should also be faithful in the work God has given to you to do.
It’s a sign of the times we live in. People cannot stand under authority. If something displeases them in their church they simply break away and start their own church or start a home church. Be careful when you want to do something like that; it could simply be that you cannot stand under authority and that your own ego is driving you (However, home churches certainly has a place).

So here Sheba stood up against David and David sent two men to put down the rebellion. However Amasa did not do it properly, so David asked Joab to do it and he quickly cornered Sheba and had him killed.

Some Christians are like Amasa, they are very vocal about their faith, but the way they do their work destroys their testimony. If you are not faithful in your day-to-day duties you are doing harm to your testimony as a Christian. Do you feel a responsibility to be faithful in your work or do you try and see with how little you can get away with?

A person whose Christianity is true will feel for the work being done so that they go out of their way to see that the work is done – and they do it cheerfully.

Joab was faithful in his work and regularly went the extra mile to see that the work is done as it should be. Joab had even a sense of right and wrong. When David wanted to count the nation contrary to God’s will, he went to David and gently challenged him whether it was truly necessary. It was a subtle issue and Joab had the discernment.

When Joab was about to capture the city of Rabba, he called for David to get the honour of capturing the city. He even knew how to respect David’s authority and humble himself.

When David was heartbroken about his son Absolom’s death, and Joab realised that David paid too much attention to his emotions, he went to David and gave him good advice to pull himself together and thank his men who risked their lives for him.
Why did Joab die such a terrible death?

The reason lies herein that he had some skeletons in his cupboard. He had killed two people innocently. He killed Abner right at the beginning of David’s reign, and Amasa later.

At the beginning of David’s reign, Abner, who used to be Saul’s commander, walked over to David and it wasn’t clear who would be David’s new commander. Joab was jealous. Jealousy is a terrible sin – a sin from the pit of hell. There will be people burning in the pit of hell because of jealousy. It is evil. So Joab went to Abner as if to greet him, but then he stabbed and killed him. At that time David kept quiet.

It was a time of grace for Joab to confess and repent from his sin. But he did nothing about it. Maybe because he was putting his life at peril for David and God, he though that God would overlook his sin. He could have pointed to his success on the battle field and thought that God was blessing him. He fought God’s battles faithfully and was victorious again and again.

But we cannot make right our sins by living a good life. There is only one thing that can rid you from your sins – the Blood of Christ. In order for God to take away your sins through the Blood of Jesus, you must confess it and bring it to the cross. You must own up to your sins.

Joab did not realise God was blessing him because of David, and not because of his own life. It is dangerous to live with the children of God with sins in your life. Joab had innocent blood on his hands and all the years of faithful service could not remove his guilt.

Something else which might have put him at ease was that David himself was not innocent, but committed adultery and murder. However he forgot that David owned up to his sin, confessed it and cried to God for forgiveness (Ps 51).

We see the character of the Heavenly David, the Lord Jesus, in the character of David. David was patient with Joab. So too God is patient with you, gently pricking your conscience to own up to your sins, and come to the cross to be washed from them.

David allowed many years to pass, but when David was old and frail he commanded Solomon to see to it that Joab die a violent death for the blood he spilt in peace time.

Joab mistook David’s silence as if he had forgotten his crimes, but did not realise that it was the time of grace.

So too gentle Lord Jesus is coming back to judge, and then He will be the ruthless Judge of those who refused his grace. People won’t recognise Him. They will come to Him claiming they’ve eaten and drunk in His presence and even done miracles in His name, yet He will tell them, “go away I never knew you”.

Come to Him and cleanse your life while it is the time of grace. Prepare yourself and test your life whether you have oil in your lamp.