Daily Devotional for Friday, January 12

Joab’s Strategy

“And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this?And the woman answered and said, As thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid,” 2 Samuel 14:19.

David was an extremely emotional person. Just from reading the Psalms of David, we get a glimpse of how deeply he felt joy, grief, sorrow, relief, thankfulness and an array of other emotions. Joab had known David for years and had been one of his closest friends, for lack of a better word. Joab had fought beside him, kept his secrets, carried out his orders and had been loyal to David since before Saul’s death. He saw how grieved David was over Absalom, knowing that the Law demanded he must be put to death for murdering his brother, David’s oldest son, Amnon.

Scripture is not clear on why Joab decided to use someone else to bring a made-up story instead of discussing it with David himself, but we can speculate that Joab wanted David to think about the situation without emotional attachment. If he sent someone in with a similar problem, it would force David to make a decision from a kingly standpoint instead of a fatherly one. After hearing the woman’s story about her sons and how following the Law would leave her destitute, he was willing to put the Law aside to protect her heir and keep her from poverty. Before it was all said and done, David recognized that a woman from the hill country would not dare come in on her own to lecture the king, so he deduced that Joab had sent her.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY
Scripture and the Holy Spirit should always be our guide. Pray earnestly for clear direction and wisdom in your life.

Ashley Ridings