Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 18:6-11 (day three)
“Why then did you not strike him there to the ground?”
Was Joab loyal to David? Or was he instead opportunistic? Sure seems like the latter. Joab’s cold calculus left no room for the emotional dimension of the human experience. Joab left emotion to David – who was plenty emotive – while he himself had apparently decided a long time ago that the acknowledgement of his own emotions produced a vulnerability that was too risky for him. David, on the other hand, embraced emotion but excluded empathy and curiosity, so others around him – family or not – found themselves on their own without any support. David would feel, and Joab would fix. The arrangement worked very well from a political standpoint. But the price was high for David. David’s fixer broke his heart. This is how it goes when the only pain you feel is your own.
