2 Samuel 3 · a question people ask
David didn't punish Joab. Should he have?
The chapter doesn't judge David here. It gives his words: "I am weak today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. May the LORD reward the evildoer according to his wickedness" (3:39). It shows him mourning Abner, until "all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to kill Abner the son of Ner" (3:37). Joab stays at David's side; later the book says, "Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army" (8:16). Christians read David's choice in two main ways, each resting on its verses. Both agree that David had no part in the killing (3:26, 3:37), and that the chapter doesn't say whether he should have done more.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
He left it with the LORD
Those who read it this way hear 3:39 as David handing the matter to the LORD: "May the LORD reward the evildoer according to his wickedness" (3:39). David had done the same with Saul: "may the LORD avenge me of you; but my hand will not be on you" (1 Samuel 24:12). He had blessed Abigail for keeping him "from avenging myself with my own hand" (1 Samuel 25:33). The Law has the LORD say, "Vengeance is mine, and recompense" (Deuteronomy 32:35), and Paul writes, "Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath" (Romans 12:19).
2 Samuel 3:39 · 1 Samuel 24:12 · 1 Samuel 25:33 · Deuteronomy 32:35 · Romans 12:19
Justice left undone
Those who read it this way note what the book later says of David's reign: "David executed justice and righteousness for all his people" (8:15). The Law said, "you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death" (Numbers 35:31), "for blood pollutes the land" (Numbers 35:33). Near his death David himself charged Solomon about Joab, "don’t let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace" (1 Kings 2:6), and when Solomon gave the order, he said it would "take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house" (1 Kings 2:31).
2 Samuel 8:15 · Numbers 35:31 · Numbers 35:33 · 1 Kings 2:1 · 1 Kings 2:5-6 · 1 Kings 2:31
The verses
“When Joab had come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah; but David didn’t know it.”
“So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to kill Abner the son of Ner.”
“I am weak today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. May the LORD reward the evildoer according to his wickedness.””
“Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder,”