שמואל ב, פרק י״ב, פסוק כ״ח

A commanding general often seeks the ultimate glory of a hard-fought victory, but true loyalty sometimes requires stepping aside at the final moment. After gaining a decisive strategic advantage by capturing the enemy city's water supply, Joab halts his military campaign. Without access to water, the city has no chance of survival and its defeat is absolutely certain.

Rather than claiming the victory for himself, Joab sends for King David. He urges the king to gather the rest of the army and establish a military camp against the city to finalize the conquest [מצודת ציון, מצודת דוד]. Joab recognizes that because the city's fall is already guaranteed, whoever delivers the final strike will be remembered as its conqueror. He knows that taking the city himself will inevitably result in the public attributing the victory to his own name, a consequence he views as an absolute certainty rather than a mere possibility [מצודת דוד].

Out of deep allegiance, Joab actively avoids this personal fame. He wants the honor and glory of the triumph to belong entirely to the king. By inviting David to finish the battle, Joab ensures that the conquest will be credited to the crown, even though the most critical and difficult phases of the military campaign were already successfully completed [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ].