Shalom U'Bracha!
In my Criminal Law class this morning the Professor used the story of Dovid and Bas Sheva to try to get the class to argue who was responsible for Uriah's death.
In the course of the class, he mentioned that Yoav could have not listened to Dovid and not gone ahead with the order (in the letter). After class, I told him that under Jewish law (which was in effect at that time) Yoav was compelled to listen to Dovid, as he was king. If he would not listen to the order, he would be liable to death.
The Professor argued that he understands the law being if Dovid would tell Yoav "This is how you should be fighting the war" and Yoav says "I don't care, I'm doing it my way" then Yoav is liable for death. But, since this was a personal matter (non-military) the Professor believes that Jewish law does not say Yoav is liable for death, but he is permitted to defy Dovid.
He asked me to show him where in Jewish law it says that if you defy the king (Mored b'Malchus) you are subject to death (no matter what, even on non-military matters.) Any ideas of what would be a good source to show him.
Thank you,
Yosef
Yosef Zoimen, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
1. A source is Rambam Hilchot Melachim 3:8 - Maimonides Laws of Kingship 3:8 - which states that even if the king decrees that one of the people should go to such-and-such a place and he did not go, or that he should not go out of his house but he did go out, this person is liable to the death penalty.
2. However, I think there may still be a drawback with your argument, Yosef. This is because the source of the above statement of Rambam is from Talmud Sanhedrin 49a which also states that if the king commands his subject to transgress the law of the Torah then one must not listen to the king. Now the question we have to consider is whether Dovid transgressed the Torah with his command to Yoav. If one looks at Talmud Kidushin 43a one sees that according to some opinions there he did, because this was tantamount to murder. According to this, even if Dovid was going to kill Yoav for not complying with his order nevertheless Yoav must give up his life in order not to commit the crime of causing Uriah's death.
3. In other words, while I agree with you that one is subject to death even for defying the king on non-military matters, on the other hand I suggest that according to some opinions in the Talmud, Yoav should not have complied with the king because he was ordering him to transgress the prohibition of murder.
Kol Tuv
Dovid Bloom