What Does II Samuel 20:11 Mean?

One of Joab's men stands over Amasa's body and issues a rallying cry: "And one of Joab's men stood by him, and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab." The statement is a masterful act of political framing: it yokes loyalty to Joab with loyalty to David, making it impossible to follow the king without also following the general who just murdered the king's appointee. The soldier's cry forces the army to choose between Joab and inaction, and the equation of Joab's cause with David's cause leaves no room for a third option.

The linkage of Joab and David in the rallying cry is manipulative but effective. The soldiers who witnessed Amasa's murder must now march on under the command of the murderer, because the alternative, abandoning the pursuit of Sheba, would constitute disloyalty to the king. Joab has created a situation in which his personal violence serves the national interest, and the army that follows him does so not because they approve of the killing but because they have no other vehicle through which to serve the king.

The Lord Jesus does not coerce His followers into loyalty through political manipulation but draws them through the revelation of His love. "If ye love me, keep my commandments." The obedience that Christ commands is not the grudging compliance of soldiers who have no alternative but the willing devotion of hearts that have been transformed by grace. The rallying cry of the gospel is not "He that favoureth the pastor" but "He that loveth Christ," and the loyalty that the cross inspires is the loyalty of gratitude, not the loyalty of political entrapment.