What brings the fighting between Abner’s and Joab’s men to a halt?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Abner asks Joab to stop pursuing their brethren and warns against driving people to despair. Joab sounds the trumpet, and his army stops both pursuit and fighting.

Chapter breakdown

David consults the Lord about whether to go up to one of Juda’s cities. The Lord tells him to go. David asks where, and the Lord answers Hebron. David goes with his two wives, Achinoam the Jezrahelitess and Abigail, identified as the wife of Nabal of Carmel. He brings every man with him and each man’s household, and they live in the towns of Hebron. The men of Juda come and anoint him king over the house of Juda. David is told that the men of Jabes Galaad have buried Saul.

David sends messengers to Jabes Galaad and blesses its men in the Lord’s name for showing mercy to their master Saul by burying him. He says the Lord will render them mercy and truth and that he too will repay their good deed. He urges them to strengthen their hands and be men of valour: although their master Saul is dead, the house of Juda has anointed David its king.

Abner, son of Ner and general of Saul’s army, takes Saul’s son Isboseth and leads him about through the camp. He makes him king over Galaad, Gessuri, Jezrahel, Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel. Isboseth is forty when he begins to reign over Israel, and the verse gives his reign as two years. Only the house of Juda follows David.

Challoner’s separate note explains the two years as the time before Isboseth began visibly to decline. It gives his whole reign as seven years and six months, because David reigned that long in Hebron.

David reigns over the house of Juda in Hebron for seven years and six months. Abner, son of Ner, and the servants of Isboseth, son of Saul, go from the camp to Gabaon. Joab, son of Sarvia, and David’s servants meet them at Gabaon’s pool. They sit on opposite sides. Abner proposes that the young men rise and play before them, and Joab agrees. Twelve men of Benjamin on Isboseth’s side and twelve of David’s servants rise and go over. Each catches his opponent by the head and drives his sword into the other’s side, and they fall together. The place in Gabaon is called the field of the valiant. A very fierce battle follows that day, and David’s servants put Abner and Israel’s men to flight.

The three sons of Sarvia—Joab, Abisai and Asael—are there. Asael runs very swiftly, like a roe living in the woods. He pursues Abner without turning right or left. Abner looks behind him and asks whether he is Asael; he answers that he is. Abner tells him to turn right or left, seize one of the young men and take his spoils, but Asael keeps following closely. Abner again tells him to stop following, lest he have to stab him to the ground and be unable to face Joab, Asael’s brother. Asael refuses to listen or turn aside. Abner strikes backward with his spear into Asael’s groin and pierces him through. Asael dies on the spot, and everyone who reaches the place where he fell stands still.

Joab and Abisai pursue Abner as the sun goes down. They reach the hill of the aqueduct, opposite the valley by the wilderness road in Gabaon. The children of Benjamin gather to Abner in one body and stand on a hilltop. Abner calls to Joab, asking whether his sword will rage to utter destruction. He warns that driving people to despair is dangerous and asks how long Joab will wait to tell his men to stop pursuing their brethren. Joab swears by the living Lord that, had Abner spoken sooner, the people would have stopped pursuing their brethren even in the morning. Joab sounds the trumpet. The whole army stands still, pursues Israel no farther and fights no more.

Abner and his men walk all night through the plains, cross the Jordan, pass through all Beth-horon and reach the camp. After leaving Abner, Joab returns and gathers all the people. Nineteen of David’s servants are missing, besides Asael. David’s servants have killed three hundred and sixty of Benjamin’s men and those with Abner, all of whom died. They take Asael and bury him in his father’s tomb in Bethlehem. Joab and the men with him march all night and reach Hebron at daybreak.

The story inside

Asael’s pursuit continues after David’s servants have put Abner’s force to flight. Abner offers him another young man’s spoils and then warns that continuing will force him to strike. The warning also names the relationship at stake: Asael is Joab’s brother, whom Abner says he would then be unable to face. Asael refuses to stop and is killed by Abner’s backward spear stroke. Joab and Abisai keep pursuing until Abner’s men gather on a hill. This time Abner addresses Joab and asks for an end to the pursuit of brethren. Joab sounds the trumpet, ending the fighting, but the chapter’s last movement still records the dead and Asael’s burial. The halt is a recorded end to that pursuit, not a claim that the two houses have become united.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The kings’ stated areas of rule matter. Abner makes Isboseth king over the named regions and all Israel, while only Juda follows David. Keeping that distinction explains why two groups of servants meet at Gabaon without inventing an extra location for Isboseth’s camp.
2
A warning’s consequence is part of the story. Abner tells Asael both what he can do instead and what may happen if he keeps following. Asael refuses, Abner strikes him, and he dies; the text does not need an added ambition or desire for a trophy to explain that sequence.
3
The trumpet stops the fighting but does not remove its losses. After Abner appeals to Joab, the army stops pursuit and combat. The account still counts nineteen missing besides Asael, three hundred and sixty killed on the other side, and the burial in Bethlehem.

Test your recall

How does Abner’s appeal to Joab lead to the end of the pursuit, and what losses are recorded afterward?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 31788–31806
2 Kings Chapter 2 David is received and anointed king of Juda. Isboseth the son of Saul reigneth over the rest of Israel. A battle between Abner and Joab. 2:1. And after these things David consulted the Lord, saying: Shall I go up into one of the cities of Juda? And the Lord said to him: Go up. And David said: Whither shall I go up? And he answered him: Into Hebron. 2:2. So David went up, and his two wives Achinoam the Jezrahelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal of Carmel: 2:3. And the men also that were with him, David brought up every man with his household: and they abode in the towns of Hebron. 2:4. And the men of Juda came, and anointed David there, to be king over the house of Juda. And it was told David that the men of Jabes Galaad had buried Saul.
Lines 31808–31818
2:5. David therefore sent messengers to the men of Jabes Galaad, and said to them: Blessed be you to the Lord, who have shewn this mercy to your master Saul, and have buried him. 2:6. And now the Lord surely will render you mercy and truth, and I also will requite you for this good turn, because you have done this thing. 2:7. Let your hands be strengthened, and be ye men of valour: for although your master Saul be dead, yet the house of Juda hath anointed me to be their king.
Lines 31820–31828
2:8. But Abner the son of Ner, general of Saul’s army, took Isboseth the son of Saul, and led him about through the camp, 2:9. And made him king over Galaad, and over Gessuri, and over Jezrahel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. 2:10. Isboseth the son of Saul was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years; and only the house of Juda followed David.
Lines 31830–31832
He reigned two years.... Viz., before he began visibly to decline: but in all he reigned seven years and six months; for so long David reigned in Hebron.
Lines 31834–31857
2:11. And the number of the days that David abode, reigning in Hebron over the house of Juda, was seven years and six months. 2:12. And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Isboseth the son of Saul, went out from the camp to Gabaon. 2:13. And Joab the son of Sarvia, and the servants of David went out, and met them by the pool of Gabaon. And when they were come together, they sat down over against one another: the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side. 2:14. And Abner said to Joab: Let the young men rise, and play before us. And Joab answered: Let them rise. 2:15. Then there arose and went over twelve in number of Benjamin, of the part of Isboseth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. 2:16. And every one catching his fellow by the head, thrust his sword into the side of his adversary, and they fell down together: and the name of the place was called: The field of the valiant, in Gabaon. 2:17. And there was a very fierce battle that day: and Abner was put to flight, with the men of Israel, by the servants of David.
Lines 31859–31880
2:18. And there were the three sons of Sarvia there, Joab, and Abisai, and Asael: now Asael was a most swift runner, like one of the roes that abide in the woods. 2:19. And Asael pursued after Abner, and turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. 2:20. And Abner looked behind him, and said: Art thou Asael? And he answered: I am. 2:21. And Abner said to him: Go to the right hand or to the left, and lay hold on one of the young men and take thee his spoils. But Asael would not leave off following him close. 2:22. And again Abner said to Asael: Go off, and do not follow me, lest I be obliged to stab thee to the ground, and I shall not be able to hold up my face to Joab thy brother. 2:23. But he refused to hearken to him, and would not turn aside: wherefore Abner struck him with his spear with a back stroke in the groin, and thrust him through, and he died upon the spot: and all that came to the place where Asael fell down and died stood still.
Lines 31882–31899
2:24. Now while Joab and Abisai pursued after Abner, the sun went down: and they came as far as the hill of the aqueduct, that lieth over against the valley by the way of the wilderness in Gabaon. 2:25. And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together to Abner: and being joined in one body, they stood on the top of a hill. 2:26. And Abner cried out to Joab, and said: Shall thy sword rage unto utter destruction? knowest thou not that it is dangerous to drive people to despair? how long dost thou defer to bid the people cease from pursuing after their brethren? 2:27. And Joab said: As the Lord liveth, if thou hadst spoke sooner, even in the morning the people should have retired from pursuing after their brethren. 2:28. Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and all the army stood still, and did not pursue after Israel any farther, nor fight any more.
Lines 31901–31916
2:29. And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plains: and they passed the Jordan, and having gone through all Beth-horon, came to the camp. 2:30. And Joab returning, after he had left Abner, assembled all the people: and there were wanting of David’s servants nineteen men, beside Asael. 2:31. But the servants of David had killed of Benjamin, and of the men that were with Abner, three hundred and sixty, who all died. 2:32. And they took Asael, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father in Bethlehem and Joab, and the men that were with him, marched all the night, and they came to Hebron at break of day.