As David lay on his death bed, he gave his son instructions to kill Joab, the commander of the army. The events that made that advisable were set in motion years earlier by the sin of David himself. When David committed adultery with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, he used Joab to cover up the crime by killing Uriah. That led to a sequence of events that almost cost David his throne and did result in the death of two of his sons. God forgave David, but He did not vacate the earthly consequences.