And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city.
The fighting at Rabbah of the Ammonites was the setting in which Uriah was made the bearer of his own death warrant from David. That letter commanded Joab to set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and then retire from him, so that he would be struck down and die. Joab was already stained with the guilt of one deliberate, wanton murder, yet he did not hesitate to obey the king's instructions. Uriah accordingly fell by the sword of the children of Ammon.
After Uriah's death Joab sent a carefully worded account of the matters of the war that implicated neither himself nor David. He instructed the messenger, if the king's wrath arose at the report, to add that Uriah the Hittite was dead also. David answered that the sword devours one as well as another, that Joab should not be displeased, but should make the battle stronger against the city and overthrow it, and with that he encouraged him. Joab's fighting against Rabbah and taking the royal city continued that command to press the battle.
At this time David had departed from God and yielded himself to the wicked one, becoming for the time the agent of Satan. He still held the position and authority that God had given him. In that position he claimed an obedience that would imperil the soul of whoever yielded it. Joab, whose allegiance had been given to the king rather than to God, transgressed God's law because the king had commanded it. The king's power had been given by God to be exercised only in harmony with the divine law, so when he commands what is contrary to God's law it becomes sin to obey.
The fighting at Rabbah of the Ammonites was the setting in which Uriah was made the bearer of his own death warrant from David. That letter commanded Joab to set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and then retire from him, so that he would be struck down and die. Joab was already stained with the guilt of one deliberate, wanton murder, yet he did not hesitate to obey the king's instructions. Uriah accordingly fell by the sword of the children of Ammon.
After Uriah's death Joab sent a carefully worded account of the matters of the war that implicated neither himself nor David. He instructed the messenger, if the king's wrath arose at the report, to add that Uriah the Hittite was dead also. David answered that the sword devours one as well as another, that Joab should not be displeased, but should make the battle stronger against the city and overthrow it, and with that he encouraged him. Joab's fighting against Rabbah and taking the royal city continued that command to press the battle.
At this time David had departed from God and yielded himself to the wicked one, becoming for the time the agent of Satan. He still held the position and authority that God had given him. In that position he claimed an obedience that would imperil the soul of whoever yielded it. Joab, whose allegiance had been given to the king rather than to God, transgressed God's law because the king had commanded it. The king's power had been given by God to be exercised only in harmony with the divine law, so when he commands what is contrary to God's law it becomes sin to obey.