Sanhedrin 49a — the Talmud in English

May you be cursed, and not one who curses.

It is preferable to be among the cursed rather than among those who curse, because the end of a gratuitous curse is that it returns upon the one who curses.

And the Gemara continues with regard to Joab, who was killed by Solomon.

They brought Joab. They judged him.

They brought Joab before Solomon, and they judged him.

He said to him

Solomon:

For what reason did you kill Abner?

Why did you kill Abner?

He said to him

Joab:

I was the blood-avenger of Asahel,

I did this as the blood-avenger of my brother Asahel, whom Abner had killed.

Solomon said to him:

Asahel was a pursuer!

He wished to kill Abner, and Abner was legally justified in killing him in order to save himself from him; therefore, it was forbidden for you to kill Abner.

He said to him

Joab:

He should have saved himself through one of his limbs.

Abner could have saved himself from Asahel by striking him in one of his limbs, until he would be unable to kill him. In such a manner, the law is that it is forbidden to kill the pursuer, and one who kills him has the status of a murderer; therefore, it was permitted for me to kill Abner.

He said to him

Solomon:

He was unable to do so.

Abner was unable to aim precisely and strike Asahel in one of his limbs, and he was compelled to kill him.

He said to him

Joab:

Now, he aimed at the fifth side,

for he aimed so precisely to strike him opposite the fifth rib,

as it is written [II Samuel 2:23], “

And Abner struck him with the butt of the spear into the fifth [rib].”

And Rabbi Yohanan said:

He struck him

at the fifth side, the place where the gallbladder and the liver hang.

And if so,

was he unable to do so through one of his limbs!?

He said to him

Solomon:

Let Abner go;

with regard to Abner, that is, you are indeed correct that you are exempt for killing him. But

for what reason did you kill Amasa?

Why did you kill Amasa?

He said to him

Joab:

Amasa was a rebel against the kingship!

As it is written [I Kings 2:34], “

And the king said

to Amasa, summon to me the men of Judah

within three days. And Amasa went to summon Judah, and he delayed,”

that is, he was late beyond the time that had been assigned to him.

And by delaying to fulfill the king’s command, he was a rebel against the kingship.

He said to him

Solomon: Amasa did not rebel against the kingship; and the fact that he delayed gathering the men of Judah was legally justified, because

Amasa

“

only”

and “

except”

expounded

he expounded every “only” and “except” in Scripture.

He found them occupied with a tractate.

Amasa found the men of Judah occupied with studying a tractate, and he did not wish to interrupt them from Torah study.

He said: It is written

concerning Joshua [1:18], “

Any man who rebels against your command and does not heed your words in everything that you command him shall be put to death.”

Could it be even for words of Torah,

so that they must heed the king even when this entails interrupting words of Torah?

The verse states

at the end of the verse, “

Only be strong and courageous.” “Only” comes to exclude this: where there is an interruption of Torah study, one does not heed the king.

And Solomon continued and said to Joab:

Rather,

on the contrary,

that man,

you yourself,

was a rebel against the kingship.

You rebelled against King David and against me.

As it is written [I Kings 2:28], “

And the report came to Joab

that Solomon had been made king, and he feared him,

for Joab inclined after Adonijah

who sought to reign in place of Solomon,

but after Absalom he did not incline,”

when Absalom rebelled against his father.

Thus Joab was a rebel against the kingship,

for he inclined after Adonijah, and by this he also rebelled against King David, because he knew that David wanted Solomon to reign after him.

for Joab had sided with Adonijah

who had sought to reign in place of Solomon,

And Joab’s judgment was thereby concluded, that he was to be put to death.

And the Gemara explains the end of the verse:

What does “ and after Absalom he did not incline” mean? Was Joab therefore supposed to fear Solomon? On the contrary, he had been faithful to King David.

Rav Judah said:

The verse teaches

that he sought

Joab

to incline

also after Absalom,

but

in the end

he did not incline.

And for what reason did he not incline

in the end?

Rabbi Eliezer said: Because

the moisture

of

David’s

might

was still

existing

then, in the days of Absalom, and he feared him; but in the days of Adonijah David was already old, and therefore he did not fear inclining away from him after Adonijah.

Rabbi Yosei bar Rabbi Hanina said: He did not incline after Absalom because then

the astrologers

of

David

were

existing,

and Joab feared them.

He did not side with Absalom because at that time

For Rabbi Judah said in the name of Rav: Four hundred children

young men

belonged to David, all of them sons of “

a beautiful woman,”

whose mothers were gentile women taken captive in war, whom the Torah permitted one to marry;

and they wore long locks of hair

according to the custom of the gentiles, so that they would appear powerful and people would fear them, and they would march at the heads of the military forces, and they were David’s strongmen,

through whom he waged war, and according to whose word he went out and came in.

all of them the sons of “

And all these amoraim who hold that Joab opposed King David

disagree

with

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana.

For according to his words, Joab was at peace with David.

For Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: If not for David,

who occupied himself with Torah,

Joab would not have waged war,

for David’s merit stood by Joab in David’s wars, when he was his army commander.

And if not for Joab,

who waged war for David,

David would not have occupied himself with Torah, for he would have had to cease from Torah study and wage war.

As Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: If not for David,

As it is written [II Samuel 8:15], “

And David performed justice and righteousness for all his people, and Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army.”

What is the reason that David performed justice and righteousness for all his people?

Because Joab was over the army!

And what is the reason that Joab was over the army?

Because David performed justice and righteousness for all his people!

And by virtue of this Joab succeeded in war. It is stated there [II Samuel 3:26], concerning Joab’s killing of Abner: “

And Joab went out from David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of the cistern.”

And the Gemara explains:

What is “

the well of the cistern”?

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: A cistern and thorns caused Abner to be killed. “

A cistern” is the flask of water that David took from beside Saul’s head [together with the spear], when he was sleeping within the encampment and all the people were sleeping around him [I Samuel 26]. Afterwards David called to them from a distance and said: “You are deserving of death, because you did not guard your master,” for they had seen that I was so close to him that I took the spear and the flask from him, and I could have killed him. At that time Abner could have advocated for Saul and said to him: “See how righteous David is, that he did not kill you.” But he did not do so. Rather, he said to him that David had not taken the spear and the flask from beside his head, but perhaps one of the soldiers had given them to him. “

And by this merit, Joab succeeded in war.

Thorns” are brambles. When David cut the corner of Saul’s garment in the cave [there], Abner could have advocated for David and said to Saul: “See how much he spared you and did not kill you while he was together with you in the cave.” But he did not advocate for him; rather, he said to him: Perhaps, when you passed among the thorns, the corner of your garment became entangled in them and was torn, and David found it.

And because he did not cause Saul to reconcile with David, he was punished by being killed.

And later it is stated there: “

And Joab took him aside within the gate to speak with him privately,

and he struck him there in the fifth [rib], and he died, because of the blood of Asahel his brother.”

And because he did not allow Saul to reconcile with David, he was punished by being killed.

Rabbi Yohanan said:

This teaches

that they judged Abner

with the judgment of the Sanhedrin,

for “gate” ordinarily is an expression referring to the Sanhedrin, as it is stated: “to the elders of his city and to the gate of his place,” because the Sanhedrin would judge there.

He said to him

Joab to Abner:

For what reason did you kill

Asahel?

Abner answered him:

Asahel was a pursuer!

For he pursued me in order to kill me.

Joab said to him:

You should have saved him

from killing you by striking him

in one of his limbs,

and not killed him.

Abner answered him:

Abner said to him:

I was unable to do so.

I could not aim and strike him in one of his limbs without killing him.

Joab said to him:

Now, you aimed at the fifth side, and you were unable to do so through one of his limbs!? “

on one of his limbs,

to speak with him privately.”

Rav Judah said in the name of Rav: This teaches that he spoke with him

about the matter of his shoe,

the removal of shoes, from the expression “remove your shoe.”

For Joab asked him deceitfully: How does a [one-armed] yevama remove the shoe of the yavam in order to fulfill the mitzva of halitza? Abner bent down to show him that she removes it with her teeth, and then Joab drew his sword and killed him. “

And he struck him there into the fifth [rib].”

: Now, you aimed at the fifth rib; could you not do so by striking him in one of his limbs!? “

Rabbi Yohanan said:

This teaches that he struck him

at the fifth side, the place where the gallbladder and the liver hang.

It is stated [I Kings 2:32] that Solomon told Benaiah to kill Joab: “

And the Lord shall return the blood upon his head, for he struck two righteous and good men more righteous than he,”

Abner and Asahel.

And the Gemara explains: “

Good” —

for they would expound “

only”

and “

except”

as exclusions, that one does not fulfill the king’s command when it is contrary to the Torah.

Amasa: it was explained above that he did not wish to interrupt the men of Judah from Torah study. And Abner refused to fulfill Saul’s command to kill the priests of Nob.

But he did not expound “only” and “except”; rather, he killed Uriah at the command of King David, despite its being contrary to the Torah. “

The Gemara explains: “

Righteous” —

for they were

commanded

by word of mouth,

Amasa was commanded by David to gather the men of Judah, and Abner was commanded by Saul to kill the priests,

but they did not do so!

Nevertheless, they did not heed him to transgress the words of Torah.

But he,

Joab, was commanded by David only

in a letter

to kill Uriah: he sent him a letter instructing him to place Uriah at the front of the battle so that he would be killed, and nevertheless

he did so!

orally:

It is stated [II Samuel 20:10]: “

And Amasa was not on guard against the sword that was in Joab’s hand.”

Rav said:

This teaches

that Amasa did not suspect

Joab that he would kill him.

to kill Uriah: David sent him a letter instructing him to place Uriah at the front of the battle so that he would be killed, and nevertheless

It is stated [I Kings 2:34] concerning Joab, whom Benaiah killed at Solomon’s command: “

And he was buried in his house in the wilderness.”

It is stated [II Samuel 20:10]: “

And Amasa was not on guard against the sword that was in Joab’s hand.”

Rav said:

This teaches

that Amasa did not suspect

Joab of intending to kill him.

It is stated concerning Joab, whom Benaiah killed at Solomon’s command [I Kings 2:34]: “

And he was buried in his own house, in the wilderness.”

And the Gemara, the Talmudic discussion of the Mishna, explains:

What, was his house a wilderness?

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said:

This teaches that his house was

like a wilderness.

Just as a wilderness is open to everyone, so too Joab’s house

was

open to everyone

so that the poor could support themselves from what was in his house.

Alternatively: Just as a wilderness is free of robbery and forbidden sexual relations

because there are no people there who might sin,

so too Joab’s house was free of robbery and forbidden sexual relations.

It is stated [I Chronicles 11:8]:

“And Joab restored the rest of the city.”

Rav Yehuda said: Even small, tasty fish,

types of small, tasty fish,

were tasty

when he tasted them;

he would portion them out,

and then send them to the poor.

We will return to you, Chapter “When the Judgment Is Concluded.”