Joab was a nephew of David and had been a helper for David. He was a commander in the army and someone David depended on for advice. Joab knew that David missed his son named Absalom who had been banished from Jerusalem to a place called Geshur to the north so as explained in 2 Samuel 14, Joab initiates a plan.

The plan was to convince David to unify the broken relationship with his son Absalom. Joab convinces a woman to act like a widow who had two sons that got in a fight, and one killed the other. Remember, this is what had happened to David with his son named Absalom killing his other son named Amnon.

Once the woman told David her story, it made David think of his own situation and that perhaps he had done wrong. The story helped to convince David to bring his own son named Absalom back to Jerusalem. David eventually found out that it was Joab who had put the woman up to telling the story so he talked to Joab.

Joab was thankful for David’s change of mind and brought Absalom home but David still would not see Absalom face to face. Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing David but then insisted that Joab talk to David about a face to face meeting. After Joab would not respond, Joab had his field of barley set on fire (v. 30). This got Joab’s attention so Joab went to David and David agreed to reunite with Absalom.

Throughout this passage, we see the lesson of what it takes to make things happen. In the plan of Joab and also the attention getter that Absalom used, we learn that there is a need to be persistent in creating new plans and maybe even go to extreme measures to get things going. Success is obtainable for the person that is persistent and keeps on asking for help until attainment.

This day, we seek wisdom from the Word. The wise counsel from the Holy Spirit, and the help from the plan given to us in making things happen. Help us to reunite more and more people to King Jesus. Amen.