1 And it
came to pass after this, that David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up
into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And David
said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.
2 So
David went up thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and
Abigail Nabal’s wife the Carmelite.
3 And his
men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and
they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.
David inquired of the Lord
if he could move back into Israelite territory once Saul was dead. One might perhaps assume this should be
a no-brainer, but it is admirable of David to go to the Lord about it and even
to inquire about what city he should go to, when the ‘yes’ answer is
given.
Of course, where David goes,
all his followers go too. It must
have been overwhelming to Hebron to receive so many people at once, so David
distributes his people about “in the cities of Hebron.” Happily, they were no longer refugees,
and they undoubtedly had their goods with them, so the only difficulty would
have been finding place for all of them.
(Imagine if two wards worth of people were to move in suddenly.) I don’t doubt that David did his best
to situate his people and negotiate with the Israelites already living
there. His leadership abilities
would have been quite clear.
4 And
the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of
Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men
of Jabesh-gilead were they that buried Saul.
The men of Judah came and
anointed David king over Judah.
His skills in battle were known, his generosity with the spoils of war
were known (he shared with Israelite cities, even though he was living in exile
at the time), his leadership they could see for themselves as well as hear
stories from his men. And they
would not claim him king over more territory than would accept him.
David wasn’t a man to usurp
power. He prefers the common
consent of his people.
5 ¶And
David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said unto them,
Blessed be ye of the Lord, that ye have shewed this kindness unto your lord,
even unto Saul, and have buried him.
6 And now
the Lord shew kindness and truth unto you: and I also will requite you this
kindness, because ye have done this thing.
7 Therefore
now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye valiant: for your master Saul is
dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them.
David sent messengers to
praise Jabesh-gilead for retrieving and burying Saul’s body. This sent a strong signal that he was
not the enemy of those who supported Saul, even though he clearly had reason to
be resentful of how he’d been treated.
Those who supported Saul against David would naturally be afraid of
retribution, but David preferred to extend mercy and goodwill, since he knew
that Saul’s wickedness had forced a lot of people to do what they would rather
not have done to prove their loyalty.
He also encouraged them to
be strengthened and valiant even though Saul was dead and there didn’t seem to
be a clear leader for them to follow.
They could follow him of
course, if they wanted to, since Judah had made him king.
8 ¶But
Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul’s host, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul,
and brought him over to Mahanaim;
9 And
made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over
Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel.
10 Ish-bosheth
Saul’s son was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned
two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
11 And
the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years
and six months.
Abner, who was Saul’s cousin
and captain of Saul’s armies prefers to support Ishbosheth, one of Saul’s
sons. It is interesting that he
does this even though in the following chapter we find him stumping for David
throughout Israel on the grounds the Lord had said David would save them from
the Philistines and that they had previously wanted David to be king.
We can see from the list of
places that Abner makes Ishbosheth king over that this was a progressive
consolidation of power over time.
Evidently after Saul’s death the confederation of Israelite cities fell
apart and had to be gathered up again.
With all this, we can imagine Abner would be thinking about how he might
wrest Judah from David as well.
12 ¶And
Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out
from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
13 And
Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met together
by the pool of Gibeon: and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool,
and the other on the other side of the pool.
14 And
Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise, and play before us. And Joab
said, Let them arise.
It is very interesting that
Abner’s army and David’s army under Joab converges on the pool of Gibeon at the
same day. This looks a lot like it
was planned.
By suggesting the young men
play, Abner means that this is to be a small-scale fight, probably to determine
whether Judah will be under Ishbosheth or not, so that a large-scale battle can
be avoided. Abner suggests it, so
we can probably assume Abner planned this out. To me it seems like he is the aggressor.
So what is the result?
15 Then
there arose and went over by number twelve of Benjamin, which pertained to
Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.
16 And
they caught every one his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow’s
side; so they fell down together: wherefore that place was called
Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon.
So they chose twelve men
from both sides to fight the little battle, and no doubt they chose the best
men they possibly could.
The scriptures say “they
caught every one his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow’s
side; so they fell down together.” In short, they were so strong that they were
equally matched, equally determined to win, and they all used similar fighting
strategy such that they simultaneously grabbed and stabbed each other. And when all the 24 die like this, the
result of the small scale battle is inconclusive.
The field was memorialized
with the name “Helkath-hazzurim.”
Our Bible footnotes say that means “field of foes,” but other
commentaries give a range of other meanings, like “field of sharp swords” or “field
of sharp blades” or “field of rocky men,” which might describe the
determination of those 24 men to prevail at any cost.
17 And
there was a very sore battle that day; and Abner was beaten, and the men of
Israel, before the servants of David.
18 ¶And
there were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and
Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe.
With an inconclusive
small-scale battle, the big one is begun.
I have to wonder who started that. Regardless of who started it, Abner and
Israel were beaten by David’s army.
So even if in a small-scale battle they were even, in a large-scale
battle David’s army was superior.
Here we are also introduced
to Joab, Abishai, and Asahel, all sons of Zeruiah, who was David’s sister. Asahel is described as a very speedy
fellow, and this becomes very important in the verses that follow.
19 And
Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to
the left from following Abner.
20 Then
Abner looked behind him, and said, Art thou Asahel? And he answered, I am.
21 And
Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay
thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour. But Asahel would
not turn aside from following of him.
22 And
Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should
I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy
brother?
23 Howbeit
he refused to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear
smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell
down there, and died in the same place: and it came to pass, that as many as
came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.
Commentators are full of
praise of Abner here for all the high-sounding arguments he uses to try to
shake Asahel off his tail, and they come down hard on Asahel for foolishly
persisting in hounding such an experienced and clever warrior as Abner. Abner warned him, they say, and then he
killed him like he said he would.
However, they overlook some
very important facts. 1) Abner and
his men were beaten. They had
already lost. Hence, the battle
was in the mop-up stage. 2) Asahel
pursued after Abner. Which meant
Abner was running away from the battle.
The first argument Abner
uses to try to shake Asahel is an invitation to kill someone else and take
their armor. That armor was spoils
of war. This makes it seem like
Asahel’s motive was merely glory and ambition. However, Asahel may have also considered Abner the cause and
perpetuator of the battle and thus a target of premier importance. Remove the leader, remove the problem,
right? Asahel was right to stay
focused on Abner.
The way Abner tells Asahel
to “turn aside to the thy right hand or to thy left” makes me think that Asahel
was chasing Abner right through the middle of Abner’s troops, from front to
back.
Abner’s second argument to
get Asahel off him is “wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? How then should I hold up my face to
Joab thy brother?” This makes
Abner sound like he’s such a superior solder and he doesn’t really want to kill Asahel, but Asahel
is forcing his hand and Abner is so kind and concerned about his relationship
with Asahel’s family….
Bull. Again, if Abner is so superior, why is
he running away? There is no
reason to suggest Abner is superior.
And Abner’s relationship with Joab has been adversarial anyway! What does he care if Joab starts a blood
feud? Abner has chased them from
pillar to post under Saul’s regime.
It is all empty words, until he manages to jab Asahel in the gut with
the back end of his spear. Clear,
but extremely grisly painful death.
24 Joab
also and Abishai pursued after Abner: and the sun went down when they were come
to the hill of Ammah, that lieth before Giah by the way of the wilderness of
Gibeon.
25 ¶And
the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner, and became
one troop, and stood on the top of an hill.
Abner keeps running and
manages to gather together a bunch of Benjamites on high ground to face the
still-pursuing army of David.
26 Then
Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou
not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then,
ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren?
Once again, Abner gives
high-sounding rhetoric to try and make Joab and his army think they are in the
wrong.
“Shall the sword devour
forever” – Remember, Abner was the one who started the whole thing in the first
place and now he tries to spin it as a grudge-battle, meant as a way to get
revenge on Abner and army. It is
clear Abner thinks Joab is getting one back at them for all the times Abner and
army has pursued David. Abner
warns, “it will be bitterness in the latter end,” perhaps thinking of how
bitter Saul became over trying to pursue David. He also asks how long it will be before Joab stops chasing
those who are really his brethren.
They are all Israelites, so why should they fight? Ask Abner; he is the one who started
it. Who is really holding the
grudge?
27 And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then
in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother.
Joab says that even if Abner
hadn’t protested, Joab would have ended the pursuit in the morning. (Of course, Abner will have to take it
on faith that is the case.) The
army of David is not so vindictive as Abner makes them out to be.
28 So
Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel
no more, neither fought they any more.
29 And
Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain, and passed over
Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim.
30 And
Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people
together, there lacked of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel.
31 But
the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner’s men, so that
three hundred and threescore men died.
32 ¶And
they took up Asahel, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father, which was
in Beth-lehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at
break of day.
So Joab takes his people
home and takes Asahel’s body with them, and Abner takes his army back to Mahanaim.
Both of them march all night to their destinations, which gives an idea
of how strong they were. After
their fighting and pursuing and all, they could still march all night. And we get a comparison body
count. 19 of David’s men and 360
of Abner’s men are dead.
However, after all this, 2
Sam 3:1 says there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of
David. Who was continuing
this? Abner was in charge of the
army of Saul, so it seems to me that he spun his defeat as rationale to fight
David, probably making him into a dire threat.
I think it is interesting
how David’s growth continues, even after Saul is dead. He doesn’t automatically become king of
all Israel; he becomes king of a part, and still has to deal with
opposition. All his experience still
works together for his good because of his faithfulness. I think his upward trajectory
gives us an idea of how Heavenly Father can help us too if we’re faithful.
Another thing I think we can
learn from Joab and Asahel’s experience with Abner is how rhetoric is used to
cast aspersions on the enemy. We
see this in moral wars today. The
thing to remember is that no matter what someone says, if you pay attention to
what they are actually doing you
understand what they are really like.
Abner sounded pious and
considerate, but he was cowardly, cruel, manipulative, and rebellious.
