And Joab and all the host that was with him came; and they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has sent him away; and he is gone in peace.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came to thee; why is it [that] thou hast sent him away, and he is gone?
Joab comes back from a raid and finds that David has welcomed Abner, Saul's army commander, and let him go unharmed. His blunt question sounds like loyalty, but his real motive lay elsewhere — and a harder question hangs over David: why did he never consult the Lord?
Joab frames his protest as concern for the king's safety. One writer traces the fear behind the protest, and what Joab wanted David to have done:
Joab knew nothing of this until he came back from a raid. He and his men had done well and gained "much spoil." But when he heard how warmly David had received Abner, he sensed danger. It was not danger to David, but danger to his own position in David's government. He would see Abner as a threat to his prominence. At once he went in to David and argued strongly with him (v.24). He made it clear that he thought David should have killed Abner when he had the chance, or at least imprisoned him. He claims that Abner came as a spy, to deceive David and learn what he was doing, so he could take advantage of him. Of course this was not true, but Joab wanted an excuse for getting rid of Abner. Nothing is said of how David responded to Joab's accusation.
Revenge for Asahel's death was real, but it was not the whole story:
Joab commits murder in a time of peace and so avenges himself for Asahel's death. Yet Abner had killed Asahel "in the battle" (v. 30). That is proof that there was nothing blameworthy in Abner's act. This is the personal motive behind this terrible act. But anyone who knows Joab and his ambition to become captain of the army suspects another motive. Joab fears Abner's worth and authority, which at that time stood out far more than his own merits. If Abner should succeed in making an alliance, wouldn't he have the first place? Joab has everything to gain through his revenge.
Joab demands an account from David. Yet David himself had asked nothing of God:
Why doesn't he consult the Lord when Abner proposes this covenant? He had refused the crown from the hand of the Amalekite. He will refuse it from the hand of Ishbosheth's murderers. But will he accept it from Abner's hand? Yes, because he feels free to do so, because he has all sorts of reasons to act this way for the good of his kingdom. This covenant will smooth out difficulties. The war has lasted long enough… All this is very reasonable by man's thinking. But it is not according to the mind of God.
Joab charges Abner with coming to deceive. The same charge soon lands back on Joab himself:
Joab no doubt considered himself "the avenger of blood" for his brother Asahel, and he was able to kill Abner just outside Hebron, the city of refuge (Josh. 20:7-9). Inside the city Abner would have been safe. Asahel had died in battle, but Joab ignored that. He killed Abner while showing himself outwardly friendly toward him. Joab had rebuked David for letting Abner deceive him. Yet Joab used far more cunning deception himself in dealing with Abner.
Abner's offer would have delivered all Israel to David in one stroke. One writer sees God Himself refusing that route to the throne:
"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" (v. 21). But God is opposed to this; He does not wish David to receive the kingdom from any hand other than His own. No one is to boast of having set the Lord's anointed on the throne… God is able to turn man's very worst wrongs to fulfil His purposes. He uses Joab's shameful act to cut off the man in whom David had already placed his confidence.
Others make the same point about the whole episode — that the crown did not finally come through anyone's skill:
And after all, it is not the energy of Joab which puts the kingdom into David's hands, but the wounded pride of Abner, the chief of Ishbosheth's party, who ends by reaping from men what he had sown. But all this is very sad.
Joab could march in and question the king. One writer shows why David could not stop him:
Joab, an ambitious man, seeks to advance in the world and to win the first place in the kingdom… He can tell right from wrong. But he only opposes what is wrong when it cuts across his personal plans. And when something right runs against his interests, he suppresses it. Nothing stops him; he has no scruples in satisfying his ambition… Faced with such cleverness, David himself feels weak (2 Sam. 3:39).
- Unasked. David made a treaty that looked sensible, but he never brought it to the Lord. Man's reasoning is not the mind of God.
- Unmasked. Joab's alarm over Abner was fear for his own place, dressed up as concern for the king.
- Unfounded. He accused Abner of coming to deceive, then used far worse deception to kill him.
- Unshared. God would not let David's throne come from Abner's hand, so that no one could boast of having crowned His anointed.
- Unchecked. Nothing stopped Joab's ambition, and David himself felt weak before such cleverness.
Thou knowest Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive thee, to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all that thou doest.
Joab comes back from a raid and hears the news: David has welcomed Abner, the man who had been fighting against him, and let him leave in peace. In verse 25 Joab warns the king that this guest was a spy — and the rest of the chapter shows why he said it.
Joab's charge names three things: deceit, watching David's comings and goings, and learning all he does. One writer reads it as the move of a man guarding his own position, not the king.
When he heard that David had welcomed Abner, he sensed danger. It was not really danger to David, but danger to his own position in David's government. He would see Abner as a threat to his prominence. He went in to David at once and protested strongly (v.24). He made it clear that he thought David should have killed Abner when he had the chance, or at least imprisoned him. He claims that Abner came as a spy, to deceive David and learn what David was doing, so as to take advantage of him. Of course this was not true, but Joab wanted an excuse for getting rid of Abner. We are not told how David responded to Joab's accusation.
Joab was brave, and he was ambitious. One writer shows how the two worked together.
Joab, an ambitious man, seeks to advance in the world and to win the first place in the kingdom. Though he is not named — with just cause — among "David's mighty men," he is a man of courage. He can recognize righteousness and unrighteousness. But he only opposes unrighteousness when it cuts across his own plans. And when something righteous gets in the way of his interests, he suppresses it.
Joab did not stop at words. What he did next turned his own charge back on him.
Asahel had died in battle, but Joab ignored that, and he killed Abner while acting as his friend. Joab had rebuked David for letting Abner deceive him, yet in dealing with Abner he practiced far more cunning deception himself.
The charge against Abner was false. But Abner was still fighting on the wrong side.
Abner is a better man than Joab, yet he fights by merely human principles, as a party man, against the king whom God has chosen. Abner stands to Ishbosheth as Joab stands to David. Once his pride is wounded, he throws himself into David's interests, and Joab kills him as much from jealousy as to avenge his brother's death.
Joab asks David what he has done. One writer asks a sharper question: why did David make this agreement without asking the Lord?
Why doesn't he consult the Lord when Abner proposes this covenant? He had refused the crown from the hand of the Amalekite. He will refuse it from the hand of Ishbosheth's murderers. But will he accept it from Abner's hand? Yes, because he feels free to do so, because he has all sorts of reasons to act this way for the good of his kingdom. The covenant will smooth out difficulties. The war has lasted long enough … All this is very reasonable to man, but it is not according to the mind of God.
Neither Abner's plan nor Joab's knife decided who gave David the kingdom.
But God is against this. He does not want David to receive the kingdom from any hand but His own. No one is to boast that he put the Lord's anointed on the throne. And what is more, how could He allow the pride of man's heart to lay the steps by which David rises to power? Abner is murdered. God is able to turn man's very worst sins to accomplish His purposes.
Joab told David what was going on inside Abner. One writer draws a line here.
While we are to be watchful, we are not to be suspicious. We are not to suspect that evil exists without proper grounds. Even in the friendly dealings among believers described here, we must guard against charging people with wrong motives, or suspecting what has never come to light.
- Motive — Joab's alarm was about his own place in the government, not about any threat to David.
- Pretext — the claim that Abner came as a spy was untrue; Joab needed a reason to remove a rival.
- Mirror — he charged Abner with deceit, then used a show of friendship as cover for murder.
- Silence — David never answered Joab's charge, and he never asked the Lord about Abner's covenant. Sensible reasons took the place of asking God.
- Overruling — God would not let the crown come from any hand but His own. He turned even this murder to His purpose.
And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, who brought him again from the well of Sirah; but David did not know it.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him secretly, and smote him there in the belly, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
Abner had just made peace with David and left Hebron safely, and hours later Joab called him back to the city gate and killed him. Was this a family avenger acting within the law, or murder dressed up as justice?
Joab had a defence ready. His brother Asahel had died by Abner's hand, and the law let a relative hunt down a killer. The place Joab chose mattered.
Joab no doubt thought he was "the avenger of blood" for his brother Asahel, and he was able to kill Abner just outside Hebron, the city of refuge (Josh. 20:7-9). Inside the city Abner would have been safe. Joab ignored that Asahel had died in battle, and he killed Abner while acting as a friend toward him. Joab had rebuked David for being deceived by Abner, but in his own dealings with Abner he used far more cunning deception.
But the defence does not hold.
Some hint that Joab's deed was justified because he was the avenger. But the law could not support this, for Abner killed Asahel in self-defence. David, however, cleared himself of so hateful a deed.
Under the family grievance lay something colder.
Joab commits murder in a time of peace, and so takes revenge for Asahel's death. Yet Abner had killed him in the battle (v. 30), which proves there was nothing blameworthy in Abner's act. That is the personal motive behind this terrible deed. But anyone who knows Joab and his ambition to command the army suspects another motive. Joab fears Abner's worth and authority, which at that time had been shown far more than his own merits. If Abner managed to make an alliance, wouldn't he take first place? Joab has everything to gain by his revenge.
The way Joab did it is as bad as the killing itself. A quiet word aside gave the blade its cover.
Without David's knowledge, he sent messengers after Abner to bring him back. Abner, fully unsuspecting, came back willingly. Joab was ready to meet him at the gate of the city. There he took him aside as though to speak with him in private, and at once ran him through with his weapon "under the fifth rib," just as Abner had done to Asahel. The blow to the heart killed him on the spot.
The phrase "under the fifth rib" comes from an older translation; the ESV reads "in the stomach." Abner was not the only man Joab killed, and in the end it cost him his own life.
He murdered Abner by treachery to avenge his brother Asahel, whom Abner had killed in self-defence. He also killed Amasa, whom David had promoted to be his commander-in-chief, out of jealousy at having a rival… By righteous judgment he had not been true to David. He "had shed the blood of war in peace," so his grey head was not allowed to go down to the grave in peace.
David had begun to lean on Abner to gain the throne.
But God stands against this. He does not want David to receive the kingdom from any hand but His own. No one is to boast of having put the Lord's anointed on the throne… Abner is assassinated. God can turn man's very worst sins to accomplish His purposes. He uses Joab's shameful act to cut off the man David had already come to trust.
Abner's own part in this was not clean either.
Abner's own motive is not a worthy one, and David is not to win the throne of Israel by such means as this. Still, over all this was a righteousness higher than its human instruments.
David cleared himself of the blood, but he did not act as judge.
Joab was guilty of cold-blooded, premeditated murder, and for this he deserved the death penalty. Soon after, David ordered the death of the two men who murdered Ish-bosheth. The murder of Abner was just as serious. But David seems to have treated it differently because Joab was captain of his army. There is no word of David even speaking directly to Joab about this… Here the weakness of David's kingdom shows from the very beginning.
Commentators differ on how far to excuse David. Some say he judged the sin rightly but had no power to punish it, since "weakness or worse must always be until Jesus takes the throne" (William Kelly). Others call that excuse weak: a good general was too useful to lose (W. W. Fereday).
- Pretext — Joab claimed the avenger's right, but Asahel died in open battle, so the law gave him no such claim.
- Motive — beneath the grievance lay a rival's fear. If Abner's plan worked, Joab would lose first place in the army.
- Method — a friendly word at the gate hid the blade; Joab shed "the blood of war in peace," and it cost him his life.
- Overruling — God used even this crime to remove the man David was leaning on. No human hand could claim to have made David king.
- Consequence — David cleared himself of the blood but never judged Joab. That unpunished murder left his kingdom weak from the start.