Sanhedrin 49a (מט.) — the Talmud in English

Better to be cursed than to be one who curses.

It is preferable to be among those who are cursed rather than among those who curse, because ultimately a gratuitous curse returns upon the one who uttered it.

The Gemara continues its discussion of Joab, who was killed by Solomon.

They brought Joab; he judged him.

They brought Joab before Solomon, and he judged him.

He said to him

Solomon

: Why did you kill Abner?

Why did you kill Abner?

He said to him

Joab

: I was the blood redeemer of Asahel,

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

Solomon said to him

: Asahel was a pursuer!

He sought to kill Abner, and Abner was legally entitled to kill him in order to save himself from him. Therefore, you were prohibited from killing Abner.

He said to him

Joab

: He could have saved himself by striking him in one of his limbs.

Abner could have saved himself from Asahel by striking him in one of his limbs so that he would be unable to kill him. In such a case, the law is that it is prohibited to kill the pursuer, and one who kills him is judged as a murderer. Therefore, I was permitted to kill Abner.

He said to him

Solomon

: He could not do so.

Abner could not aim precisely and strike Asahel in one of his limbs; he was compelled to kill him.

He said to him

Joab

: Now, he aimed at the fifth rib,

as it is evident that he was so precise in striking him that he struck him opposite the fifth rib,

as it is written [A second book of Samuel 2:23]: “

And Abner struck him with the back end of the spear to the fifth rib.”

And Rabbi Yohanan said:

He struck him

at the fifth rib, where the gallbladder and liver are suspended.

And if so,

could he not do so by striking him in one of his limbs!?

He said to him

He said to him

Solomon

: Let Abner go.

Regarding Abner, you are indeed correct that you are exempt for killing him. But

why did you kill Amasa?

Why did you kill Amasa?

He said to him

Joab

: Amasa was a rebel against the monarchy!

As it is written [ibid. 20:4]: “

And the king

[David]

said to Amasa: Summon to me the men of Judah

[gather all the men of Judah for me by

three days.

And Amasa went to summon Judah, but he tarried

[he was late]

beyond the appointed time.”

By delaying the fulfillment of the king’s command, he was a rebel against the monarchy.

He said to him

Solomon: Amasa did not rebel against the monarchy. His delay in gathering the men of Judah was justified, because

Amasa

“

but”

and “

only”

was expounding; he would expound every “but” and “only” in the Bible.

He found them beginning 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

regarding Joshua [1:18]: “

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

One might have thought that this applies even to matters of Torah,

meaning that one must obey the king even when this entails interrupting Torah study.

The verse states

at the end of the verse: “

Only be strong and courageous.” The word “only” comes to exclude this case: where obeying the king would entail interrupting Torah study, one does not obey the king.

Solomon continued and said to Joab

:

Rather,

on the contrary,

that man,

you yourself,

were a rebel against the monarchy.

You rebelled against King David and against me.

As it is written [First Book of Kings 2:28]: “

And the report came to Joab

[that Solomon had been crowned, and he feared him because

Joab had inclined after Adonijah

[who had sought to reign in Solomon’s place]

and had not inclined after Absalom”

when Absalom rebelled against his father.

Thus, Joab was a rebel against the monarchy,

because he inclined after Adonijah, thereby also rebelling against King David, for he knew that David wanted Solomon to reign after him.

Joab’s sentence was therefore concluded, and he was sentenced to death.

The Gemara explains the end of the verse:

What is the meaning of “

and had not inclined

after Absalom”?

Why should Joab have feared Solomon on account of this? On the contrary, he had been loyal to King David.

Rav Yehuda 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 still-moist strength

[his might]

of David

was

still extant

in those days, during Absalom’s rebellion, and Joab feared him. But in the days of Adonijah, David was already old, and therefore Joab did not fear inclining away from him after Adonijah.

Rabbi Yosei bar Rabbi Hanina said:

He did not incline after Absalom because at that time

the fist-fighters

[the strong men]

of David

were

still extant,

and Joab feared them.

As Rabbi Yehuda said in the name of Rav: David had four hundred children

[young men],

all of them sons of “

a beautiful captive,”

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

And they wore long locks of hair

in the manner of gentiles, so that they would appear mighty and people would fear them,

and they would march at the head of the armies; and they were David’s fist-fighters,

through whom he fought and according to whose command he went out and came in.

All these amoraim who maintain that Joab opposed King David

disagree

with

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana’s

opinion, according to which Joab was at peace with David.

As Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: Had it not been for David,

who occupied himself with Torah,

Joab would not have waged war,

for David’s merit stood by Joab in the wars of David, for whom Joab served as army commander.

And had it not been for Joab,

who fought on David’s behalf,

David would not have occupied himself with Torah,

for he would have had to interrupt his Torah study and fight.

As it is written [Second Book of Samuel 8:15]: “

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

For what reason did David execute justice and charity for all his people?

Because Joab was over the army!

And for what reason was Joab over the army?

Because David executed justice and charity for all his people!

And by virtue of this, Joab succeeded in war.

It is stated there [3:26], regarding Joab’s killing of Abner: “

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

The Gemara explains:

What is the meaning of

“the cistern of the Sira”?

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: A cistern and a thorn caused Abner to be killed. “Cistern” refers to the flask of water that David took from beside Saul’s head [together with the spear] when Saul was sleeping inside the encampment and all the people were sleeping around him [First Book of Samuel 26]. David later called to them from a distance and said: “You are worthy of death, because you did not guard your master; for you saw that I was so close to him that I took his spear and flask, and I could have killed him.” At that point, Abner could have defended David before Saul and said to him: “See how righteous David is, that he did not kill you.” But he did not do so. Rather, he told him that David had not taken the spear and flask from beside his head; perhaps one of the soldiers had given them to him. “Thorn” refers to thorns. When David cut the corner of Saul’s cloak in the cave [ibid. 24], Abner could have defended David and said to Saul: “See how he spared you and did not kill you while you were together with him in the cave.” But he did not defend him. Rather, he told Saul: Perhaps when you passed among the thorns, the corner of your cloak became caught in them and tore, and David found it.

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

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

“A well” refers to the flask of water that David took from beside Saul’s head, together with the spear, when Saul was sleeping inside the camp and all the people were sleeping around him [I Samuel 26]. David later called out to them from a distance and said: “You are worthy 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 defended Saul and said to him: “See how righteous David is, that he did not kill you.” But he did not do so. Rather, he told him that David had not taken the spear and flask from beside his head; perhaps one of the soldiers had given them to him.

It is further stated there: “

And Joab drew him aside inside the gate to speak with him privately,

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

Rabbi Yohanan said:

This teaches

that they judged

Abner

with the judgment of the Sanhedrin,

because the unqualified term “gate” refers to the Sanhedrin, as it is stated: “To the elders of his city and to the gate of his place,” since the Sanhedrin would judge there.

He said to him

Joab to Abner

:

Why did you kill

Asahel?

Abner replied to him

:

Asahel was a pursuer!

He pursued me in order to kill me.

Joab said to him

:

You should have saved him

from being killed by striking him

in one of his limbs

rather than killing him.

Abner said to him

: I could not do so.

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

Joab said to him

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

“

To speak with him privately.”

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav:

This teaches that he spoke with him

about the matter of his shoe,

the removal of a shoe, from the expression “Remove your shoe.”

Joab craftily asked him: How does a mute-footed yevama remove the yavam’s shoe in order to fulfill the mitzva of ḥalitza? Abner bent down to show him that she removes it with her teeth, and Joab then drew his sword and killed him. “

“

And he struck him there in the fifth rib.”

Rabbi Yohanan said:

This teaches that he struck him

at the fifth rib, where the gallbladder and liver are suspended.

It is stated [First Book of Kings 2:32] that Solomon said to Benaiah to kill Joab: “

And the Lord shall return the blood he shed upon his head, because he struck two righteous and good men better than he,”

Abner and Asahel.

The Gemara explains: “

Good”—

because they would expound “

but”

and “

only” to exclude the possibility that one must fulfill the king’s command when it conflicts with the Torah.

As explained above, Amasa 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

“but” and “only”; rather, he killed Uriah at the command of King David, despite its being contrary to the Torah. “

Joab, was commanded by David only

Righteous”—

because they

were commanded

verbally:

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 obey him in transgressing the words of the Torah.

But he,

Joab, was commanded by David only

in a letter

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 he

did so!

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

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

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

And the Gemara explains:

Is his house a desert?

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said:

This teaches that his house was

like a desert.

Just as a desert is open to all, so too Joab’s house

was

open to all

for the poor to sustain themselves from his house.

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

since 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 revived the rest of the city.”

Rav Yehuda said: Even moninei and tzaḥnata,

kinds of small, tasty fish,

were tasty,

which he would taste;

he would distribute them,

sending them afterward to the poor.

We have returned to you, chapter “The Verdict Was Concluded.”