Why did Joab kill Amasa? (2 Samuel 20:10)
2 Samuel 20:9-10 says, 9 Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” Then Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 Amasa was not on his guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab plunged it into his belly, and his intestines spilled out on the ground. Without being stabbed again, Amasa died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bikri.
2 Samuel 20:1 - 26
ESV - 1 Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said, "We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel! 2 So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
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Asked August 27 2022
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Jack Gutknecht
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Tim Maas
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Joab was fiercely loyal to his uncle David, but he was also very ambitious, causing him to be suspicious of anyone (such as Amasa) who gave Joab reason to view him as a potential rival for David's favor, as shown by Joab's previous involvement in the murder of Abner (2 Samuel 3) and the death of Absalom (2 Samuel 18). (This was aside from the fact -- as noted in the passage cited in the question -- that Amasa, by being slow to mobilize the army to put down the rebellion of Sheba, might have caused Joab to suspect that Amasa was conspiring with Sheba.)
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