Joab's Rebuke
1 Joab was told, “Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom.” 2 The victory that day was turned into mourning among all the people, for the people heard it said that day, “The king grieves for his son.” 3 The people sneaked into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. 4 The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!” 5 Joab came into the house to the king, and said, “Today you have shamed the faces of all your servants who today have saved your life, and the lives of your sons and of your daughters, and the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines; 6 in that you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have declared today that princes and servants are nothing to you. For today I perceive that if Absalom had lived and we had all died today, then it would have pleased you well. 7 Now therefore arise, go out and speak to comfort your servants; for I swear by Yahweh, if you don’t go out, not a man will stay with you this night. That would be worse to you than all the evil that has happened to you from your youth until now.” 8 Then the king arose and sat in the gate. The people were all told, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” All the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled every man to his tent. 9 All the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. 10 Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why don’t you speak a word of bringing the king back?” 11 King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the speech of all Israel has come to the king, to return him to his house? 12 You are my brothers. You are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?’ 13 Say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you aren’t captain of the army before me continually instead of Joab.’” 14 He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as one man, so that they sent to the king, saying, “Return, you and all your servants.” 15 So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan.
A victorious army creeps home in shame while the king weeps, and the man who caused the grief bullies him back onto his throne — brutally, and rightly.
2 The victory that day was turned into mourning among all the people, for the people heard it said that day, “The king grieves for his son.” 3 The people sneaked into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
The army has saved the kingdom and comes home like a beaten one, because the king's grief has told them what their victory is worth to him. Private sorrow in a public office is never private; David's tears have become a verdict on twenty thousand men.
5 Joab came into the house to the king, and said, “Today you have shamed the faces of all your servants who today have saved your life, and the lives of your sons and of your daughters, and the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines; 6 in that you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have declared today that princes and servants are nothing to you. For today I perceive that if Absalom had lived and we had all died today, then it would have pleased you well.
Joab's speech is insolent, self-serving, and true. He killed Absalom against explicit orders and now lectures the father about proportion — but the charge lands: the men who bled for him are watching him mourn the man who tried to kill them, and the message they are receiving is that princes and servants are nothing to you. Grief that cannot see the people still living beside it has become a kind of blindness.
Now therefore arise, go out and speak to comfort your servants; for I swear by Yahweh, if you don’t go out, not a man will stay with you this night. That would be worse to you than all the evil that has happened to you from your youth until now.”
The threat is a threat, and it is also accurate. David obeys — then the king arose and sat in the gate 2 Samuel 19:8 — and the kingdom holds. It is not a happy scene. The king does the right thing under duress from a subordinate he cannot control, and the book records the whole ugly transaction without comment.
11 King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the speech of all Israel has come to the king, to return him to his house? 12 You are my brothers. You are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?’
The restoration then has to be negotiated. The northern tribes are already arguing about recalling him, and David works through the priests to make sure Judah moves first — his own tribe, which had backed the rebellion and now needs to be seen leading the return.
Say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you aren’t captain of the army before me continually instead of Joab.’”
And here David makes the move that costs another life. Absalom's general is offered Joab's command — a shrewd amnesty that buys the rebel army's loyalty, and a settling of accounts with the man who had just humiliated him. Amasa is Joab's cousin, and Joab has killed for less. The king who could not punish his commander tries to demote him instead, and pays for it in a stranger's blood at Gibeon 2 Samuel 20:10.
settled What this mark means