What Does II Samuel 19:6 Mean?

Joab continues his rebuke with devastating logic: "In that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well." The accusation is exaggerated but not baseless: David's grief for Absalom does communicate the message that the king values the rebel son more than the loyal army. The soldiers who fought and died for David's cause are being told, in effect, that their sacrifice was unwelcome.

The phrase "thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends" anticipates the paradox that the Lord Jesus will articulate as a command: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you." But in David's case, the love for the enemy is not the controlled, deliberate love of obedience; it is the ungovernable, undiscriminating love of a broken father, and it is destroying the political order that the battle was fought to restore. Joab understands that royal love, unlike divine love, must be bounded by the responsibilities of governance.

The Lord Jesus loved His enemies with a love that never compromised His mission or demoralized His followers. His love for the lost did not diminish His love for the disciples; His compassion for sinners did not undermine His care for the saints. The love of Christ is both infinite and ordered, embracing the whole world while maintaining the particular bond with those whom the Father has given Him. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."