November 18, 2012 - 2 Samuel 20   
Joab is involved in everything.  He seems to be such an important actor in every situation, yet I don’t remember ever hearing about him.  It seems like sometimes he is the one running the entire nation.  I guess if you believe anything you see in shows, that is the way kingships work.  You have the king and then you have his right hand man, prime minister, advisor, etc. who really is the one in charge.  From what you hear about David, though, you always imagined that he was the one making his own decisions.  The more you read about Joab, the more you might think David was just another king. 
Wikipedia on Joab explains something that I must have missed.  Joab lost his job as commander to Amasa.  But this wasn’t done by David, it was done by Absalom.  So, it wasn’t any type of military strategy or wrath that caused Amasa’s death, it was just Joab’s revenge.  It makes you wonder why he continued to be in charge or why he wasn’t executed.  In the TV series on David, Joab would be a powerful but vicious character.  If any of you are “Game of Thrones” fans, I think a TV series on David would have the same feel as that series.