narrative thus creates a web of allusion that contrasts with the narrative’s content. Moreover, the final phrase stresses that David has done evil in Yahweh’s eyes (v. 27), the very phrase David used to encourage Joab not to be concerned about his losses (v. 25). This irony, with its delayed revelation, is surely intentional. Through it all, David is completely enmeshed in sin: he has become the monarch about whom Samuel warned. The key to the chapter’s interpretation lies in its closing statement,