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.