Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. – 2 Samuel 19:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 18, 2019): 2 Samuel 19

The presence of propaganda in our society is the norm and not the exception. Almost sixty years ago, John F. Kennedy argued against the Republican Party’s propaganda laced campaign saying that “they follow the Hitler line - no matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth.” But there is a good reason for the lie, even if it is not a moral one. Fear seems to motivate us more than anything else in our lives. If I can make you afraid of something, I have a decent chance of getting you to do, or vote, what I want you to do. If we're going to wage war against someone, even on a spiritual basis, first we have to make the people afraid of them. They have to be a threat. And they are always the liars, not us; even though propaganda is used by every side of a conflict.

But the truth is that the enemy is probably not a bunch of demons, just as we are not gathering of the angels. We are a mixture of the good and the bad. And this was true in the relationship of David and Absalom. There is no doubt that Absalom had been provoked by David’s inaction into his rebellion. David knew that. The seeds of the uprising lay with David, and so it was David who was ultimately to blame for Absalom’s death. There were things that David could have done differently, especially with regard Amnon’s, Absalom’s brother, rape of Tamar, Absalom’s sister. But because David refused to act, Absalom killed Amnon and then was forced into exile. And it was in exile that the rebellion began to take root. David could have done things differently, but he didn’t.

And all of this was on David’s mind and heart as he mourned the death of his son. David knew that all of the tragedy should be placed on his shoulders. But the problem with David’s mourning is that the soldiers needed to believe that Absalom was a demon who needed to be killed. And Joab needed his soldiers to believe that the next conflict was also against a band of demons. Propaganda was essential to the military campaigns of Israel. David was humanizing the enemy, and Joab could not let his soldiers believe that the enemy was made up of humans.

But there is probably also an element of Joab’s guilt at play here. He had killed Absalom, even though that was against the King’s orders. His action probably made him feel the emotions suffered by the king in a genuine way. He had acted as he believed was best for Israel, but what is best is often divorced from our emotions. There are always times when we must do things that we do not want to do.

Some commentators who seem to argue in favor of Joab saying that “Joab gave David a stern wake-up call. ‘David, your excessive mourning is selfish. It isn’t all about you. These loyal, sacrificial supporters of yours deserve to feel good about their victory, and you are making them feel terrible. Snap out of it’” (David Guzik). But the situation was much more complicated than that kind of propaganda. And much more human.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 20