2 Samuel 3:1-25--Abner Joins David

2 Samuel 3:1-25
English Standard Version

Abner Joins David
3 There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.

2 And sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel; 3 and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; 4 and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; 5 and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron.

6 While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul. 7 Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father's concubine?” 8 Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, “Am I a dog's head of Judah? To this day I keep showing steadfast love to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David. And yet you charge me today with a fault concerning a woman. 9 God do so to Abner and more also, if I do not accomplish for David what the LORD has sworn to him, 10 to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.” 11 And Ish-bosheth could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him.

12 And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, “To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring over all Israel to you.” 13 And he said, “Good; I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you; that is, you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face.” 14 Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.” 15 And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish. 16 But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go, return.” And he returned.

17 And Abner conferred with the elders of Israel, saying, “For some time past you have been seeking David as king over you. 18 Now then bring it about, for the LORD has promised David, saying, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hand of all their enemies.’” 19 Abner also spoke to Benjamin. And then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin thought good to do.

20 When Abner came with twenty men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. 21 And Abner said to David, “I will arise and go and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires.” So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.

​22 Just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. 23 When Joab and all the army that was with him came, it was told Joab, “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace.” 24 Then Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone? 25 You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing.”

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After the events that we talked about last chapter with the Battle of Gibeon, there was a long war between the house of Saul (led by Abner and his forces) and the house of David (led by Joab and his forces).  The LORD continued to make the house of Saul weaker and the house of David stronger, probably meaning that the casualties were always larger on Abner's side than on Joab's side, just like we saw with the Battle of Gibeon.  The tribe of Benjamin was already a small tribe to begin with and the fact that they are loosing so many men in their war with the tribe of Judah to try to retain a kingship that never belonged to them in the first place is kind of foolhardy.  In fact, the text then tells us how David's family is growing and he continues to have sons who would be eligible to take the throne after him while it seems like one-by-one the sons of Saul are dying off in this war so that he will soon have no more heirs to the throne.

​However, it seems that the LORD was not blessing either Ish-bosheth or Abner with sons, so Abner went into one of Saul's concubines that was still living to see if he could have a son by her.  This upset Ish-bosheth not only because it was a sin for Abner to do this since he was married, but because it probably looked to Ish-bosheth like Abner was setting himself up to claim the throne or at least put one of his own sons on the throne by having a child with a surviving concubine of Saul.  There is treachery in the heart of Ish-bosheth and so he sees everyone else's heart as treacherous as his own (maybe in this case Abner's heart really was as bad as Ish-bosheth seemed to make it).

Abner does not respond with repentance like he should have when being confronted with his sin.  No, he instead threatens the one that exposing his sin and says that he has no loyalty to Ish-bosheth and that the tribe of Judah would be happy to have him if Ish-bosheth didn't want him.  Furthermore, he acknowledged that he was aware of the promise that the LORD gave to David that he should be king over all of Israel, not just the tribe of Judah and that now he was going to make it his mission to see that promise that the LORD made to David come to pass--he was going to continue to try to play "king maker" and try to oust Ish-bosheth from the throne and install David so that, in his mind, someone would be loyal to him, for he had been making himself rich and strong at the expense of the people of Israel this whole time that he was commander of the armies of Israel.

​Abner seeks a covenant with David, but David insists that one of the terms of the covenant be that his wife Michal be returned to him, even though she had already been given to another husband, even to the point of sending her weeping husband away, for he had followed after her to Bahurim (also known as Nob) which is close to Jerusalem.  Jerusalem is in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin which is why David rules from Hebron (the provincial capital of Judah), until such as time as Judah and Benjamin reconcile and David will rule from Jerusalem when he establishes his throne over all of Israel, and Jerusalem has remained the capital of Israel ever since.

Then Abner went to all the elders of Israel to try to persuade them to also abandon Ish-bosheth and support David's claim to the throne, because it seems that Abner knew that some of them had secretly been trying to support David on an individual basis, but it would make quite the statement if all the elders of Israel as well as the commander of the armies of Israel all switched sides and now gave their support to David as King of Israel.  Then Abner specifically went to the house of Benjamin (which he was from) and tried to at least get that tribe to support David and no longer support Ish-bosheth.  Consider this as him coming with a gift to offer to David when they came to seal the covenant.

Now Abner brought twenty men (probably elders from the tribe of Benjamin) along with him to show that the entire tribe of Benjamin supported David and Abner asked that he be allowed to return to Israel so that he could persuade the rest of the tribes to also support David.  Abner speaks out of both sides of his mouth for on one hand he says that he wants David to have all that the LORD promised to him and on the other hand he tells David that he wants David to have all this his heart desires.  Now for David, these two things were not exclusive, because the LORD put His Spirit into David so that David would desire what the LORD desired for him, but Abner seems to be trying to appeal to David's lust here, and not to the will of the LORD as a reason for why David should be given the Land--Abner has been hanging around King Saul for too long who has a lust for power.

Right after David let Abner go, Joab returns from battle with spoils of war.  It is reported to Joab that Abner was just there and that David let him go, which greatly angers Joab because Joab wants vengeance for the death of his brother still (and the death of all the men that he lost to Abner and his men).  Joab tried to convince David that Abner just came to get close to David as a way to deceive him and to try to gain information and intelligence on David's location and strengths and weaknesses.  Joab is unwilling to listen to anything about a covenant or peace treaty because Joab doesn't want peace--he wants vengeance and war.  In the very next section we'll study we'll see that Joab will not honor David's covenant with Abner and Joab will murder/assassinate Abner in vengeance for killing his brother Asahel in the Battle of Gibeon (which is why I said to not forget the details of that battle).  We'll talk about that as well as David mourning the loss of Abner next time (both are short passages and I want to cover them together so we see David's song in light of what Joab and Abishai would do).