Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Jehovah is his father. ) One of the three sons of Zeruiah, David’s sister, and “captain of the host” during the whole of David’s reign (2 Sam. 2:13; 10:7; 11:1; 1 Kings 11:15). His father’s name is nowhere mentioned, although his sepulchre at Bethlehem is mentioned (2 Sam. 2:32). His two brothers were Abishai and Asahel, the swift of foot, who was killed by Abner (2 Sam. 2:13-32), whom Joab afterwards treacherously murdered (3:22-27).
He afterwards led the assault at the storming of the fortress on Mount Zion, and for this service was raised to the rank of “prince of the king’s army” (2 Sam. 5:6-10; 1 Chr. 27:34). His chief military achievements were, (1) against the allied forces of Syria and Ammon; (2) against Edom (1 Kings 11:15, 16); and (3) against the Ammonites (2 Sam. 10:7-19; 11:1, 11). His character is deeply stained by the part he willingly took in the murder of Uriah (11:14-25). He acted apparently from a sense of duty in putting Absalom to death (18:1-14).
David was unmindful of the many services Joab had rendered to him, and afterwards gave the command of the army to Amasa, Joab’s cousin (2 Sam. 20:1-13; 19:13). When David was dying Joab espoused the cause of Adonijah in preference to that of Solomon. He was afterwards slain by Benaiah, by the command of Solomon, in accordance with his father’s injunction (2 Sam. 3:29; 20:5-13), at the altar to which he had fled for refuge. Thus this hoary conspirator died without one to lift up a voice in his favour.
He was buried in his own property in the “wilderness,” probably in the north-east of Jerusalem (1 Kings 2:5, 28-34). Benaiah succeeded him as commander-in-chief of the army. ) 1 Chr. 4:14. ) Ezra 2:6.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
(whose father is Jehovah), the most remarkable of the three nephews of David, the children of Zeruiah, David’s sister. ) Joab first appears after David’s accession to the throne at Hebron. Abner slew in battle Asahel, the youngest brother of Joab; and when David afterward received Abner into favor, Joab treacherously murdered him. ” In the wide range of wars which David undertook, Joab was the acting general.
” (1 Chronicles 27:34) In the entangled relations which grew up in David’s domestic life he bore an important part, successfully reinstating Absalom in David’s favor after the murder of Amnon. (2 Samuel 14:1-20) When the relations between father and son were reversed by the revolt of Absalom, Joab remained true to the king, taking the rebel prince’s dangerous life in spite of David’s injunction to spare him, and when no one else had courage to act so decisive a part. C. 1023).
The king transferred the command to Amasa, which so enraged Joab that he adroitly assassinated Amasa when pretending to welcome him as a friend. (2 Samuel 20:10) Friendly relations between himself and David seem to have existed afterward, (2 Samuel 24:2) but at the close of his long life, his loyalty, so long unshaken, at last wavered. ” (1 Kings 2:28) This probably filled up the measure of the king’s long-cherished resentment. The revival of the pretensions of Adonijah after David’s death was sufficient to awaken the suspicions of Solomon.
Joab fled to the shelter of the altar at Gibeon, and was here slain by Benaiah.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
JO'AB (whose father is Jehovah). The eldest of the three sons of Zeruiah, David's sister, and the commander-in-chief of his army. 1 Chr 2:10; 1 Chr 11:6. He was evidently a valiant man, but ambitious and revengeful. To revenge the death of his brother Asahel, whom Abner had killed in self-defence, 2 Sam 2:23, he treacherously assassinated this distinguished general. 2 Sam 3:27.
He brought about a reconciliation between Absalom and his father after the murder of Amnon; but when Absalom rebelled, Joab adhered to his master, and under his generalship the troops of David, though much inferior in numbers, obtained a complete victory over the army of Absalom, and, contrary to the express orders of David, Joab put him to death with his own hand as he hung suspended from the oak tree. 2 Sam 18:14.
After this event David promoted Amasa to be his general-in-chief, by which Joab was deeply offended, and secretly resolved on the death of his rival, and took the first opportunity of assassinating him as he had done Abner. 2 Sam 20:10. David after this seems to have taken him again into favor. 2 Sam 24:2. When David the king had become old, however, Joab combined with Abiathar the priest and others to set Adonijah on the throne in defiance of the will of David, who had, by divine direction, resolved to make Solomon king. 1 Kgs 1:7.
The plot was seasonably defeated, and Solomon was proclaimed king the same day. But Joab now seemed to David so evidently an object of the divine displeasure that he solemnly charged Solomon to punish him for all his enormous crimes, and especially for the murder of two valiant men, both better than himself, Abner and Amasa. Joab, conscious that his life was forfeited, sought an asylum at the horns of the altar, which position he absolutely refused to relinquish, and Benaiah, now advanced to be the captain of the host, slew him by the altar, agreeably to the command of the young king.
He was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 1 Kgs 2:5-34. A descendant of Kenaz. 1 Chr 4:14. One whose posterity returned with Zerubbabel. Ezr 2:6; Rom 8:9; Neh 7:11.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
paternity; voluntary