Commentaria in II Regum (II Samuelis)
Chapter 2. Synopsis of the Chapter
David is anointed king in Hebron over the tribe of Juda, while Abner, verse 8, makes Isboseth, the son of Saul, king over the other eleven tribes. Soon, verse 14, Abner and Joab engage in a duel through twelve soldiers on each side, and from this into war, in which the men of Joab are victorious; Asael, pursuing Abner, verse 19, is pierced by him with a spear. Finally Joab, at Abner’s entreaty that he not drive him and his men to the desperation which is dangerous to the victor, sounds
1. Now after this David consulted the Lord, saying: Shall I go up into any 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. So David went up thither, and his two wives, Achinoam the Jezraelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal of Carmel. 3. And David brought up his men that were with him, every man with his household: and they abode in the towns of Hebron. 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. 5. David therefore sent messengers to the men of Jabes Galaad, and said to them: Blessed be you of the Lord, who have shewn this mercy with your lord Saul, and have buried him. 6. And now the Lord will render you mercy and truth: and I also will requite the kindness, because you have done this thing. 7. Let your hands be strengthened, and be ye men of valour: for though your master Saul be dead, yet the house of Juda hath anointed me to be their king. 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, 9. And made him king over Galaad, and over the Gessuri, and over Jezrael, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. 10. Forty years old was Isboseth the son of Saul when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years: and only the house of Juda followed David. 11. And the number of the days that David abode, ruling in Hebron over the house of Juda, was seven years and six months. 12. And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Isboseth the son of Saul, went out of the camp to Gabaon. 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 on both sides, one part on one side of the pool, and the other on the other. 14. And Abner said to Joab: Let the young men arise, and play before us. And Joab answered: Let them arise. 15. Then there arose, and passed over by number, twelve of Benjamin, of the part of Isboseth the son of Saul: and twelve of the servants of David. 16. And each one taking his fellow by the head, thrust his sword into his fellow’s side, and they fell down together: and the name of that place was called, The Field of the Valiant, in Gabaon. 17. And a very hard battle arose that day: and Abner was put to flight, with the men of Israel, by the servants of David. 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. 19. And Asael pursued after Abner, and turned not to the right hand nor to the left, but followed after Abner. 20. And Abner looked behind him, and said: Art thou Asael? And he answered: I am. 21. And Abner said to him: Go to thy right hand, or to thy left, and lay hold on one of the young men, and take thee his spoils. But Asael would not leave off pressing upon him. 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. 23. But he refused to hearken to him, and would not turn aside: so Abner struck him with the back of his spear in the groin, and thrust him through, and he died in the same place: and all that came to the place where Asael fell down and died, stood still. 24. Now when Joab and Abisai pursued after Abner as he fled, the sun went down: and they came as far as the hill of the aqueduct, that is over against the valley by the way of the wilderness in Gabaon. 25. And the children of Benjamin were gathered together to Abner, and being close joined in one troop, they stood on the top of one hill. 26. And Abner cried to Joab, and said: Shall thy sword rage unto slaughter? Knowest thou not that it is dangerous to drive men to despair? How long wilt thou delay to bid the people cease from pursuing their brethren? 27. And Joab said: As the Lord liveth, if thou hadst spoken in the morning, the people had gone off from pursuing their brethren. 28. So Joab sounded the trumpet, and all the army stood still, and pursued Israel no further, nor did they engage in battle any more. 29. But Abner and his men went through the plains all that night, and passed over the Jordan, and having gone through all Beth-horon, they came to the camp. 30. And Joab returning, left off pursuing Abner, and gathered all the people together: and there were wanting of David’s servants nineteen men, besides Asael. 31. But the servants of David slew of Benjamin, and of the men that were with Abner, three hundred and sixty, who were killed. 32. And they took up Asael, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father in Bethlehem: and Joab and his men marched all night came to Hebron at the very twilight.
1. DAVID CONSULTED THE LORD—by the Urim, namely through the high priest Abiathar, clothed with the Rational, in which were the Urim and Thummim, as I have often said.
INTO HEBRON.—God bids David go to Hebron, because there, says Procopius, the Patriarchs had lived and were buried, and Hebron was then the chief city of the tribe of Juda; that David might there be consecrated king, and, being consecrated there, might easily be accepted as king by the whole tribe thereafter.
the cities near Hebron and dependent on Hebron, which are elsewhere called its daughters.
4. AND THE MEN OF JUDA CAME, AND ANOINTED DAVID THERE—as their fellow-tribesman; for they preferred David, as being of their own tribe, to reign, rather than Isboseth the son of Saul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin. For they knew that the patriarch Jacob had assigned the kingdom to the tribe of Juda, Genesis chap. 49, verse 10. They knew moreover that David had long before been anointed king by Samuel, and had won so many and such great victories over the enemy; for which reason many from the other tribes, deserting Isboseth, went over to David, whose number is recounted in 1 Paralipomenon chap. 12.
6. AND NOW THE LORD WILL RENDER YOU MERCY AND TRUTH.—In Hebrew, piety and fidelity; that is, as you have shown both to Saul your king in taking away and burying his body, so may God repay you with both, and show himself to you as pious and merciful and likewise faithful in rewarding your virtue. Note: Mercy and truth signify every work of virtue, both free (such as mercy is) and due (such as truth is), that is, equity and fidelity and justice.
8. BUT ABNER THE SON OF NER, GENERAL OF SAUL’S ARMY (and his cousin; for Ner, the father of Abner, was the brother of Cis, who was the father of Saul), TOOK ISBOSETH THE SON OF SAUL, AND LED HIM ABOUT THROUGH THE CAMP—In Hebrew it is Machanaim, that is, camp, as our version and the Septuagint render. But the Chaldees, Serarius and Vatablus take Machanaim as the proper name of a place, in which Jacob saw the camps of the Angels defending him against Esau, and therefore called the place Machanaim, that is, “camps,” Genesis chap. 32, verse 2; as though in that same place, being so celebrated and holy, Isboseth was anointed king by Abner, to win for him the favour of the people; hence he also set up his royal seat there, says Josephus.
9. AND MADE HIM KING OVER GALAAD, AND OVER THE GESSURI, &c., AND OVER ALL ISRAEL.—For Gessuri the Hebrew, the Septuagint and the Chaldee read Assuri. “Gessuri” was a region beyond the Jordan within the dominion of the Manassites, but the Manassites could not prevail over the Chanaanites dwelling in Gessuri; hence David, as against an enemy of Israel, made raids from Gessuri, as we heard in book I, chap. 27, verse 8; and from there he carried off the king’s daughter, whom he took to himself as wife, and by her begot Absalom, who, after he had killed his brother Amnon, fleeing the anger of his father David, betook himself to the king of Gessuri as to his maternal grandfather, as we shall hear in chap. 3, verse 3, and chap. 13, verse 37. Wherefore Isboseth was made king of Gessuri in name only, not in fact.
AND OVER ISRAEL—that is, over the other eleven tribes. Thus therefore the division and schism of the kingdom of Israel took place. For David was made king of the tribe of Juda, and Isboseth of the other eleven; hence this schism was afterwards renewed under Roboam, the grandson of David; for only the tribe of Juda adhered to him, while the other tribes chose Jeroboam for their king. The one was called the kingdom of Juda, the other the kingdom of Israel, by a common name appropriated to the greater part of the tribes.