The Life and Times of

What Can We Learn From Abner and Joab?

(1) We can learn something about men from our text. I have always been a kind of “black hat, white hat” sort of guy. I'm sure I developed this trait during my childhood when I used to watch cowboy (western) movies. It was always easy to tell the bad guys from the good guys -- the good guys always wore white hats; the bad guys wore black hats (at least that's the way I remember it). I've always looked upon people as wearing a white hat or a black hat. I just don't find that happens much in the Bible. David wears a “white hat” much of the time, but there are a number of “black hat” days for him as well. The same can be said for almost any of our Bible heroes.

When I come to a character like Joab, I find my “white hat,” “black hat” standard fails. Joab is a very violent man. He murders two men in cold blood, and we have every reason to suppose he killed many others in war. We know, for example, that his brother Abishai killed 300 men single-handedly in one battle (2 Samuel 23:18-19), and he is more than willing to kill King Saul (1 Samuel 26:6-12). But in addition to Joab's murders, the Bible speaks of many commendable qualities and actions on the part of Joab. The bottom line of it all is that men like Joab are neither a “white hat” or a “black hat” person; Joab is a little of each.

When I stop to think about it, this is true for most all of us. The simple fact is that there is only one “white hat” person who has ever lived without sin -- our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is without sin, and we may thank God for this, because this is what makes His death on the cross of Calvary of benefit to us. His death was not for His sins, but for ours. He bore the punishment for our sins on the cross of Calvary. He gives us His righteousness in place of our unrighteousness. And all this is by simply acknowledging our sin and our need for salvation, and trusting in the work Jesus Christ has done at Calvary on our behalf.

If indeed only one “white hat” man has ever lived, then we must acknowledge that God usually accomplishes His purposes through less then perfect people. God is not limited in terms of those whom He is able to use. He can use us in our sin and rebellion to accomplish His ends, as He did with Joseph's brothers (Genesis 50:20) or with Pharaoh himself (Romans 9:17-18), or as He will do with every unbeliever (Romans 9:19-24). What an encouraging thought. Nothing we can ever do will undermine God's sovereign plans and purposes. He can use our rebellion and disobedience to achieve His purposes as easily as He can use our obedience. We will be used of God to bring about His glory, and even our own good, one way or the other. God's sovereignty means that He can and does use less than perfect people to achieve His purposes and to fulfill His promises. Thank God for that.

But let us beware of saying or suggesting that if we do not live up to some standard, if we do not live out our lives on the highest spiritual plane, God cannot and will not use us. He will use us, one way or the other. This must not be an excuse for sin or sloppy living. Rather, it should motivate us to give ourselves wholeheartedly to serving God, knowing that even when we fail to be and to do what we should, God's purposes and promises are sure.

Let us beware of idolizing men, as though some really do live sinless, spectacular lives. These men may want us to think they are a cut or two above the norm, they are more pious, more spiritual, and thus more successful. The longer I live, and the more Christian leaders I have come to know, the more I realize that God uses cracked pots, imperfect instruments, to accomplish His purposes. I should be careful to idolize others, to put too much trust, too much confidence in them. Men will fail. Only God faileth not. Let us keep our eyes on Him, and not on men. In this way, men will not disillusion us when they fail, as though God has somehow failed. Only God is above failure.

(2) We learn something about murder from our text. The Old Testament law clearly distinguished between what we might call killing in war, manslaughter, and murder. In our text, Abner is not considered at fault for killing Asahel, nor would Asahel have been guilty of murder had he killed Abner. Joab would not have been guilty of murder either had he killed Abner in war. But the killing of Abner in peace, along with the underhanded killing of Amasa later on, are clear cases of murder. Murder is rather carefully defined, and so it is clearly evident, as it is to David and all Israel when Joab murders Abner.

If it is murder for a man like Joab to kill Abner, even though Abner has killed his brother, surely it must be wrong for a mother to kill the unborn child in her womb. That child (with very few exceptions) does not threaten her life (in which case an abortion may be justified), but only her freedom. If God took the murder of Abner seriously (a violent and self-serving man), than how much more seriously does God take the killing of a helpless child, who looks to its mother to protect its life, not to end it?

Several years ago in a presidential election debate, George Bush was asked whether he thought abortion was murder. His answer was tentative and weak. I believe that question should be answered this way: “Abortion is the taking of a human life. It is not always murder to take the life of another. Sometimes it is an accident. Sometimes it is in self-defense. But when it is the pursuit of self-interest, at the expense of the unborn child, then it is murder.” Until we see the abortion of the unborn child as the taking of human life, the debate is over before it has started. The Bible justifies the taking of a human life in a few, restricted circumstances, and condemns the taking of life in other circumstances as murder. Let’s call things what they are: the unborn fetus is a person, a human life. The “termination” of the fetus is the taking of a human life. And an abortion, for the reasons it is most frequently practiced today, is murder. If David is righteous in his indignation concerning the death of Abner, how much more indignant should we be at the killing of the innocent in the womb.

(3) The ancient Israelites who first read the writing of Samuel, as well as the contemporary reader, should learn from this text how divisions come about. What does God want the first readers of this book¹⁸ to understand from our text? What is its message to them? We do not know for certain who the human author of this book is, nor do we know the exact date of its writing. It is likely that 1 and 2 Samuel were written shortly after the United Kingdom (of Israel, under Saul, David, then Solomon) ended in division under Rehoboam and Jeroboam (see 1 Kings 12).

Those first readers must have asked themselves, “How is it that we were once one nation, and are now two nations?” While the story of the division of the kingdom under Rehoboam must have been well known, the roots of this division go back some time. Indeed, they go back to the time of David and to the very text we are studying in 2 Samuel. Unwittingly, Abner paves the way for a divided kingdom by setting up Ish-bosheth as king of Israel, in Saul's place. Both Abner and Joab pave the way for a future division by agreeing to a contest between the two sides. And when this contest turns into a long-standing war, the rift between the two sides becomes even greater. One might say our text describes the origin of a “crack” in the foundation of the united nation of Israel, and that this crack will develop over time into a gaping chasm, one which seems almost impossible to bridge.

The divided kingdom comes about quickly and easily, because the dividing lines are already drawn, the crack in the foundation is already there. It does not take that much to turn the crack into a virtual chasm. But how does this crack come about in the first place? Our text tells us. The crack comes about because of two men who lead two competing armies. Abner and Joab both have their own agendas, and neither of them are commendable. It is like these two men are both trying to prove how macho they can be. The setting is such that each side feels obliged to prove itself, and the proposal of a contest seems to provide the opportunity. It does not prove a thing. It only sets a full-scale war into motion, which costs precious lives, results in a murder, and delays David's reign over all Israel.

I suggest that the contest, and its resulting conflict and division, is a kind of paradigm for much of the division and strife we see today in the home, in the world, and in the church. Before we consider this, let us look at the New Testament church of Corinth. Do we not see a parallel between our text and its division and strife and the church at Corinth? Are the Corinthians not followers of men, rather than of Christ, just as men in our text are followers of Abner and Joab. There is rivalry and strife, based upon which group you belong to. And the leaders of the divisions are men who seek to build their own empires by using others to do so. As a result, God's appointed leadership is rejected by many. I don't want to press this analogy too far, but I wish you to see that there truly is “nothing new under the sun” (see Ecclesiastes 1:9).

So it is in our day as well. Divisions occur in marriages because husbands and wives are more concerned with their ego than with serving their mates. Little “contests” arise in the marriage, and these only escalate to full-scale war. Men and women come into the church intent on furthering their own interests, in building their own empires, in gaining (and impressing) their own following. This appears to force people to choose sides, and then to engage in the battles that ensue.

Almost always, these divisions and conflicts start small, with what appears to be friendly competition (which, we all know, is accepted and promoted these days, even in the church). People do not necessarily intend for a major division to arise, or for many to be hurt. It's just “good, clean fun,” or so we tell ourselves. So two teenagers, each boasting in their souped up hot rods, look at each other at a red light. Each revs up his engine to impress the other driver (and very likely the young lady beside him). When the light turns green, both drivers “go for it.” Nobody means any harm. It's just good, clean fun. But neither driver is willing to stay within the speed limit. Neither is willing to give way and lose face, and so they go faster and faster, until they reach another red light, but neither driver is willing, or able, to stop. And then comes the young mother, with three young children in the back, going through a light which is green, for her. . . . No one meant for anyone to get hurt, but when our ego reigns and contests begin, trouble is not far away.

How many relationships are shattered because of ego and competition? How many marriages are ruined? How many churches split? We may think that because it is all in fun, all good-natured, all is well. Most sin starts out in things that appear harmless, even innocent. That is the way sin starts, with a little ego, a little competition, a little joke. . . . A couple of proverbs bear on this:

“Catch the foxes for us,

The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards,
While our vineyards are in blossom” (Song of Solomon 2:15).
So is the man who deceives his neighbor,
And says, “Was I not joking?” (Proverbs 26:19)

The “little foxes” spoil the grapes, we say. It is a common proverb which we hear today. It is not the big things which destroy us, but the little things, which become big. Eating a piece of fruit seems pretty insignificant; disobeying a direct command of God is something else. What harm can a “little contest” do? We know, don't we?

I have observed that we often joke about things we know are inappropriate in another context. I know there are clean jokes, but I believe dirty jokes are told because somehow the fact that the words we speak are a part of a joke makes it different -- almost acceptable -- somehow. I think men and women in the workplace joke with one another, because it is a way of speaking about forbidden topics which are accepted. I think we often joke about something to test the waters, to see what the response might be. If the response is negative, we can say, “It was only a joke. . . .” If it is positive, we pursue the subject in a more serious vein. Let us beware of the “little things” which lead the way to major sins.

One more word on “little things.” Often the little things cause the cracks in our relationship with God too. Our concern for the lost and our zeal to see them saved begins to wane. It seems like a little thing, so little that we do not even recognize it is happening. Our prayer life declines, almost imperceptibly. Our time in the Word of God decreases, or the amount we read diminishes. It is just a little thing. Suddenly a crack is there. It may not show up for months, even years. But when a time of stress arises, the crack becomes a break, a division. Let us beware of the cracks which appear because of neglect and decline.

I have been talking mainly to Christians, who by faith in Jesus Christ have a relationship with God. Cracks can occur, which weaken that relationship. They do not weaken the reality of salvation from sin or the security of the saint in Christ. But they can weaken the intimacy and fellowship of the relationship. But it is also possible that you are not a Christian. You may never have personally acknowledged your sin and your need of forgiveness from your sins. You may not have the certainty of knowing that your sins are forgiven, and you are destined to live through all eternity in the presence of God. If so, your problem is not a crack, it is a chasm -- a chasm which your sins have created between you and God. Jesus Christ came to the earth as the sinless Son of God -- fully God and fully man -- to reveal God to men, and to die on the cross of Calvary, to bear the punishment for your sins. He came to remove the divider between men and God. All you need to do is to acknowledge your sin, your need of forgiveness, and then trust in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ at Calvary on your behalf. It is in Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection that God has made salvation available to you. It is by trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation that you receive it. If you have never trusted in Him, I pray that you might do so now.