JOAB'S DEATH AND THE CENTRAL THEME OF THE SUCCESSION NARRATIVE (2 SAMUEL IX-1 KINGS II)1 by J. W. WESSELIUS Amsterdam Apart from King David himself, the most prominent figure in the history of the latter days of his reign as found in the so-called Succession Narrative in 2 Sam. ix-1 Kings ii2 is without any doubt his army-commander Joab, the son of Zeruiah, a relative of David. Their relationship is clearly portrayed as being mainly of a 1 There have been two major sources of inspiration for this article, first J. P. Fokkelman's classes about 2 Samuel which I attended when I studied in Leiden, and secondly my own class of Advanced Biblical Hebrew in Amsterdam in 1987/8 and its enthusiastic audience. 2 Of the many publications about the Succession Narrative and the commen- taries on 2 Samuel and 1 Kings I mention only some which are either classic studies in this field or directly relevant for the problems which are treated in this article: C. Conroy, Absalom,Absalom! Narrative and Languagein 2 Sam 13-20 (Rome, 1978); Simon J. De Vries, 1 Kings (Waco, Texas, 1985); J. W. Flanagan, "Court History or Succession Document? A Study of 2 Samuel 9-20 and 1 Kings 1-2", JBL 91 (1972), pp. 172-81; J. P. Fokkelman, King David (Assen, 1981); J. Gray, I & II Kings (London, 1964, 19853); K. R. R. Gros Louis, "The Difficulty of Ru- ling Well: King David of Israel", Semeia8 (1977), pp. 15-33; D. M. Gunn, The Story of King David. Genre and Interpretation(Sheffield, 1978); M. J. Mulder, Ko- ningen. Vertaalden verklaarddoor ... I: I Koningen 1-7 (Kampen, 1987); P. Kyle McCarter, II Samuel(Garden City, 1984); K. K. Sacon, "A Study of the Literary Structure of 'The Succession Narrative' ", in T. Ishida (ed.), Studiesin the Period of David and Solomonand OtherEssays (Tokyo/Winona Lake, 1982), pp. 27-54; H. Tadmor, "Traditional Institutions and the Monarchy: Social and Political Ten- sions in the Time of David and Solomon", in Ishida, pp. 239-57; R. N. Whybray, The SuccessionNarrative (London, 1968); E. Würthwein, Die Erzählungvon der Thron- folge Davids�theologischeoder politische Geschichtsschreibung?(Zürich, 1974). The classical study in this field is, of course, L. Rost, Die Uberlieferungvon der Thron- nachfolgeDavids (Stuttgart, 1962), also in Rost, Das kleineCredo (Wiesbaden, 1965), pp. 119-53; E. tr., The Successionto the Throneof David(Sheffield, 1982). I agree with R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (London, 1981), p. 119, n. 1, that these chapters probably form an organic unity with the remainder of the stories in the books of Samuel, but I think that this does not eliminate the possibility, indeed the necessity, of studying 2 Sam. ix-2 Kings ii independently as a sub-unit of this larger cycle. 337 utilitarian nature.3 Even at the beginning of his ascent to power David stated clearly that he felt more or less powerless against this experienced soldier and his brother Abishai, when they had killed Abner, the son of Ner, the army-commander of Saul's son and suc- cessor, Ishbosheth, supposedly as vengeance for the death of their brother Asahel, whom Abner had killed in battle (2 Sam. iii 39). Through various causes the alienation between David and Joab grew, up to the point where David replaced him as commander (2 Sam. xix 13), but had to take him back when Joab killed his suc- cessor Amasa on more or less doubtful grounds (2 Sam. xx 8-10). David's death proved to be the beginning of Joab's end as well. Before he died, King David had asked his son and successor Solomon to see to it that Joab would not die peacefully, and after David's death Solomon indeed used Joab's previous participation in his brother Adonijah's abortive bid for power as an opportunity for killing him. It is remarkable that David and Solomon gave iden- tical reasons why Joab would have to die. David entrusted this task 4 to Solomon with the following words (1 Kings ii 5-6):4 5 Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he murdered, placing in time of peace blood which had been shed in war, and put- ting blood of war upon the girdle about his loins and upon the sandals on his feet. 6 Act therefore according to thy wisdom, but do not let his grey head go down to Sheol in peace... Some times after David's death, Adonijah, his son by Haggith, who was older than Solomon and was perhaps not unjustified in 3 See for a discussion of their relationship Gunn (n. 2), pp. 39-40. 4 I will not deal with the intricate problems besetting these texts except when they are evidently relevant for the subject of this article. All the translations of biblical passages in this article are those of the RevisedStandard Version. 5 In the Succession Narrative indications of a span of time seem to be invariably present when the reader or hearer is to be informed that one episode is quickly followed by and connected with the next one. Where there is no such indication (e.g. between 2 Sam. xxiv and 1 Kings i) one can safely assume that there is an undetermined, probably quite long, interval between the two. In the case of 1 Kings i and 1 Kings ii the passage of a long period of time between the events of these chapters is also indicated by the fact that King Solomon can speak about his "house" in 1 Kings ii 24, whereas he was apparently still very young in 1 Kings i (though one could hesitate about this, because it is never said explicitly). There is consequently no reason to suspect the originality or correctness of the text of 1 Kings ii 24; cf. Mulder (n. 2), pp. 101-2. .