Joab in rabbinic literature
Not to be confused with Job in rabbinic literature.
Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical character
Joab, the nephew of King David and commander of his 29] or let me live and suffer from the curses only.”
army, contain various expansions, elaborations and infer- Solomon took on himself the curses, all of which were
ences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible fulfilled in his descendants (Sanh. 48b).[1] The Talmud-
itself.
1 Introduction
Joab appears in the Mishnah as the ideal general (Talmud
makkot 11b).[1] He and David supplemented each other;
he would not have succeeded in his wars without David’s
continuous study of the Torah, and David would not have
been able to apply himself to his ideal pursuits without
such a reliable general as Joab (Talmud Sanhedrin 49a).[1]
His generosity is indicated by the words “his house in the
wilderness” (I Kings ii. 34), which are taken to mean
that his house was as free as the wilderness; that it was
open to everybody; that everybody could find there food
of all kinds; that, like a wilderness, it was free from rob-
bery (Sanh. 49a).[1] Rabbi Johanan even declared that
Joab was not guilty of Abner's death, but that he brought
him before the Sanhedrin, which, in the gate of the city
(comp. Deut. xvi. 18 et al.), condemned Abner for
killing Asahel (Sanhedrin 49a).[1] When Joab had smitten
the male children of Edom, David inquired why he had
done so; Joab answered, “It is written, 'Thou shalt blot out
the males (zachar) of Amalek'" (Deut. xxv. 19).[1] David
retorted, “But it is zecher (“remembrance”), not zachar!"
Joab replied that his teacher had made him read zachar
(Bava Batra 21a, b).[1]
Joab struggled hard but vainly to dissuade David from
numbering the people.[1] Joab made two numberings,
a complete and an incomplete one.[1] He intended to
render the incomplete numbering; if David became an-
gry, he would give him the complete one (Pesiḳ. R. 11
[ed. Friedmann, p. 43b]).[1] After Joab had fled to the
Tabernacle, he was brought before the judges for trial.[1]
Declared not guilty of the murder of Abner, as he had
only avenged the blood of his brother Asahel, he was
condemned for the murder of Amasa; to Joab’s defense
that Amasa was a traitor because he had failed to execute
David’s order (comp. II Samuel xx. 4-5), the judges ob-
jected that Amasa, being occupied with the study of the
Law, was not bound to execute the king’s order (Sanh.
49a).[1] When Benaiah went to execute Joab the latter
said: “Let not Solomon condemn me to a double pun-
ishment; let him either kill me and take on himself the
curses which his father uttered against me [II Sam. iii.
[1]
ists do not agree as to whether Joab left a son or not, as
some identify the Joab of Ezra viii. 9 (see Joab, No. 3)
with the general of David (B. B. 116a).[1]
2 Midrashim
In various midrashim Joab is the subject of a number
of hero-tales.[2] Once, hearing David repeat, “Like as a
father pitieth his children” (Psalms. ciii. 13), Joab ob-
jected that a mother had more pity for her children than
a father.[2] David suggested that he should more carefully
observe the dispositions of parents toward their children,
and to do this, Joab undertook a journey.[2] He arrived
at the house of a poor old laborer who had twelve sons
and who worked very hard to support his family.[2] In the
evening the old man divided the bread which he had won
by his day’s labor into fourteen equal pieces, for his twelve
sons, his wife, and himself.[2]
On the following day Joab said to the old man: “You are
old and feeble; why do you work for your young sons?[2]
Take my advice and sell one of them; and with the money
you will be able to live with your family in comfort.”[2]
The old man rebuked him for such advice and went on to
his work; from the mother, however, he succeeded, af-
ter meeting many objections, in buying one son for one
hundred pieces of gold.[2] In the evening Joab, himself
unseen, observed what passed between the father and the
mother.[2] The former, having noticed that one of the
fourteen pieces of bread remained untouched, asked af-
ter his son.[2] His wife at first gave various reasons for
his absence, but her husband remained unsatisfied, and
she was obliged to tell him the truth.[2] The man took the
money, and, having found Joab, demanded the return of
his son.[2] As Joab resisted, the man threatened to kill
him unless he restored his son to him, which Joab gladly
did, and acknowledged that David was right (Midr. Rab-
botenu, in Adolf Jellinek, “B. H.” v. 52-53).[2]
1
2 4 NOTES

3 Siege of Kinsali
At the head of 12,000 warriors Joab besieged Kinsali, or
Ḳinsari, the capital of the Amalekites.[3] After a fruitless
siege of six months Joab’s men despaired and desired to
return to their homes.[3] But Joab, having supplied him-
self with money, and taking his sword, ordered them to
hurl him over the wall from a sling and wait forty days; if
at the end of that time they saw blood flowing under the
gates they would know that he was alive.[3] His order was
executed, and he fell in the yard of a house where lived
a widow and her married daughter.[3] Joab was taken and
revived by its inmates, meeting their questions by telling
them “I am an Amalekite; the Israelites captured me and
threw me over the wall; now let me stay with you and I
will pay you.”[3] At the end of ten days Joab went into
one of the 140 streets of the city, entered a smith’s shop,
and ordered the smith to make a sword like the one which
he had, but which was broken.[3] The first two which the
smith made Joab shook and broke, but the third one stood
the test.[3] Joab asked the blacksmith who should be killed
with such a sword, and the answer was “Joab.”[3] With
the words “Suppose I am Joab” he slew the smith.[3] Then
Joab went into the principal street, killed 500 mercenaries
whom he met, and returned to the house.[3] In the city it
was rumored that Asmodeus had killed the mercenaries;
when Joab was asked whether he had heard of it he said he
had not.[3] Joab paid his hostess for ten more days, and at
the end of that time went to the gate of the city, where he
slew 1,500 men.[3] This time his hand stuck to the sword,
and he returned to the house and asked the young woman
for warm water.[3] But she said to him, “You eat and drink
in our house and go out to kill our people!"[3] Joab there-
upon ran her through with his sword, after which his hand
was healed.[3] He then went into the street, killed every
one he met on his way to the gates, slew the guard and
threw open the gates.[3] The Israelites had seen the blood
flowing under the gates and shouted for joy.[3] After or-
dering them to send for David, Joab climbed onto a tower
in order that all might see him, and then saw the twentieth
Psalm written on his right foot.[3] Joab slew all the peo-
ple of the city except the king, whom he left for David
himself to kill.[3] Then Joab put the slain king’s crown on
David’s head while his troops were engaged in carrying
off the spoils of the city (Jellinek, “B. H.” v. 146-148).[3]

4 Notes
[1] JewishEncyclopedia.com - JOAB

[2] JewishEncyclopedia.com - JOAB

[3] JewishEncyclopedia.com - JOAB

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