We resume the story of civil war in Israel from the previous post. The story in 2nd Samuel chapter 2 is one of a fierce battle between the single tribe, Judah, and the other eleven tribes of Israel. Azahel of Judah is chasing down the top general of the army of Israel, Abner. Abner calls back to Asahel, asking him to stop. Abner doesn’t want to fight Asahel because until recently, before civil war split them on opposite sides, Abner had commanded the military alongside Asahel and Asahel’s brother Joab. But no longer. War has changed everything. Asahel wants to take Abner down. Abner seems to think he has no other choice but to strike Asahel with his spear, and he kills Asahel.
How will Asahel’s brother, Joab, react? Just as you would expect. War can turn friends into enemies so fast. The account tells us that Joab rounds up soldiers to attack Abner.
Surprisingly, even though Ish-Bosheth’s army, the army of the eleven tribes led by Abner, is getting beaten badly by David’s army of Judah, led by Joab, Abner is able to broker a cease fire. Though Joab is incensed because Abner killed his brother, Joab calls off the fight? Why? Probably because Abner got to high ground first. In warfare, the high ground is where you want to be. Abner gets there first, and Joab likely thinks, “If we try to take Abner out, we are going to face massive losses, because Abner has a significant advantage on the high ground.” Joab wisely doesn’t want to sacrifice his men, so he accepts Abner’s ceasefire proposal.
At the end of day, when the armies retreat, the final tally is that David and Joab’s side have lost 19, while Ish-Bosheth and Abner’s side have lost 360 soldiers. With the cease fire, though, there is peace. For now. This civil war has just begun. As we continue following the story of the civil war into chapter 3, verse 1 tells us, the momentum is going David’s way.
After so many years of frustration and discouragement, after being on the run, hunted by Saul, David is once again seeing his fortunes rise. The narrator of the story gives another indication of David’s growing stature in chapter 3, verses 1-5, where we read that David has six sons, born to him by six different women.
This list is an ancient way of describing David’s strength and power. In that ancient culture, lots of wives and sons was considered to be a clear indication that the man was favored by the gods. But what did YHWH, the one true God of Israel, think about David’s practice of polygamy? We get no comment at this point in 2nd Samuel about God’s opinion. Sometimes silence is consent. But God has not been silent on this matter.
Think back to Genesis chapter 2, where God describes his heart for marriage. One man and one woman become one flesh. That’s God’s vision for human marriage. David is not keeping to God’s heart for marriage. Thus we can make a viable guess that God was not happy about David’s polygamy. Furthermore, David’s immoral approach to women will lead him to make terrible choices in the future, because there will be even more women. For now, let’s keep reading what happens in the civil war.
In 2 Samuel chapter 3, verse 6, King Ish-Bosheth of the eleven tribes of Israel is watching as his general, Abner, is growing in stature and power. We learn that Ish-Bosheth is an apple that didn’t fall far from the tree. He is like his father, Saul. Suspicious. Jealous. So Ish-Bosheth accuses Abner of sleeping with one of Ish-Bosheth’s father, Saul’s, concubines.
What is a concubine? There are differences of opinion among scholars about concubines. Some see the concubines as a second-class wife. Others see concubines as more like sexual slaves. When Saul died, it would have been customary for his concubines to become the property of his next of kin, which was his son Ish-Bosheth. So if Abner, who was not a relative of Saul, slept with one of those concubines, it the same as Abner saying, “I am making a claim to be king. I should be king.”
We don’t know whether Ish-Bosheth’s accusation that Abner slept with Saul’s concubine is true or false. Could be that Ish-Bosheth heard a rumor, could be that he made up a lie. Could be that he saw Abner strengthening his position and feared that Abner wanted to usurp the throne. So Ish-Bosheth came up with a plan to knock Abner down a peg. Perhaps he hoped to throw Abner in prison or kill him.
How will Abner react? This is a super intense moments. You have the king who seems a bit weak and scared. You have a powerful bold general. They are facing off. Staring each other down. Abner was the one who installed Ish-Bosheth as king. Will he respect Ish-Bosheth?
In verse 8, Abner shoots right back at Ish-Bosheth, “So after all I have done for your father and for you, this is how you repay me, with an accusation of impropriety? I’m done with you. Watch. I’m going to hand the kingdom to David, just like God long ago declared was going to happen.” Abner’s response probably just made Ish-Bosheth ten times more nervous than the already was.
If you are Ish-Bosheth, what do you do? You’ve just had your top general and one of your biggest supporters threaten to take you down. To your face. Makes me wonder if anyone else heard Abner’s threat. Or were they in a private meeting? If it was a private meeting, Ish-Bosheth could save face, not tell anyone, and wonder if Abner was just upset. He could think, “Abner won’t really hand over the kingdom to David.”
We read next in verse 11 that, “Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him.” It seems that Ish-Bosheth was like his father in one way, the jealousy, but very different from his father in another way, the viciousness. From what we know of Saul, I suspect Saul would have killed or imprisoned Abner. Ish-Bosheth, however, does nothing.
But what about Abner? Does Abner actually try to hand the kingdom over to David? Here’s the answer in 2 Samuel chapter 3, verse 12,
“Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to say to David, ‘Whose land is it? Make an agreement with me, and I will help you bring all Israel over to you.’”
Abner has been dishonored and shamed by Ish-Bosheth, and he makes good on his threat to reach out to David and organize a massive defection to David.
How will David react? We find out in the next post.
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