Strange Story: II Samuel 3 Joab used trickery to kill Abner

This is one of the stories used in my study series about chivalry in ancient combat. It is an example showing that, in one-on-one combat, there were rules that the combatants were expected to follow.

After Abner killed Joab’s brother Asahel by using trickery, Joab was overflowing with anger and silently vowed to take revenge for his brother’s death. When David accepted Abner’s offer to bring him the tribes that were not yet committed to his reign, it was more than Joab could take. So, he sent a messenger to Abner to come back to the city gate because he (Joab) had something to tell him. Abner came back, probably thinking that Joab wanted to discuss ways to meld into one the armies of these various tribes. But, according to II Sam 3:27, when Abner arrived, Joab stabbed him in the stomach and killed him.

The Biblical narrative gives us few details, and yet it is enough to surmise that there was deceit involved. First Joab called Abner back with the pretense that he wanted to talk to him. Also, this was done within the chambers of the city gate, which was the place to transact business agreements, not the place for one-on-one combat. The account, though brief, strongly implies that Joab did this the wrong way.

Was Joab the proper one to take this action? Joab may have argued that he was acting as the “avenger of blood,” which is a possibility. Even if his family had not gotten together and asked him to do this, which was the proper method, he knew that he would likely be chosen, so my guess is that he appointed himself. But even the avengers of blood had to follow the rules. I think that an avenger of blood had to challenge the one he thought was guilty of committing murder to a one-on-one encounter with all the rules that applied. Therefore, the family would choose someone who was good at one-on-one combat – someone like Joab. So the problem was not that Joab took action, but how he took action.

David was very displeased with this and took great pains to prove to the people that he, David, had nothing to do with the murder of Abner. David was angry with Joab for repaying a wrong with another wrong. Joab did not reflect God’s character by saying, “I will do it the right way even if he did it the wrong way.”

Abner broke the unwritten rules of warfare by not fighting fairly; Joab broke the written law by committing murder.

This act is one of the two major reasons David told Solomon to not let Joab die a peaceful death; instead Solomon was instructed to take Joab’s life as punishment for his acts of violence.

To see explanations about the rules of combat and other related topics, go to my topical study series starting with THE UNWRITTEN RULES FOR ONE-ON-ONE COMBAT