2 Samuel 3 Murder

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
2 Samuel 3:22 Just then David’s men and Joab returned from a raid and brought with them a great deal of plunder. But Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, because David had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. 23 When Joab and all the soldiers with him arrived, he was told that Abner son of Ner had come to the king and that the king had sent him away and that he had gone in peace.

24 So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Look, Abner came to you. Why did you let him go? Now he is gone! 25 You know Abner son of Ner; he came to deceive you and observe your movements and find out everything you are doing.”

26 Joab then left David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern at Sirah. But David did not know it. 27 Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into an inner chamber, as if to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died.

28 Later, when David heard about this, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. 29 May his blood fall on the head of Joab and on his whole family! May Joab’s family never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy[a] or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food.”

30 (Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.)

OK... I'm in an area where the wifi is iffy and my laptop doesn't offer the best formatting capacity. Screwy keyboard..... anyway.... please go to blueletterbible.org for the commentary this morning.... to check out what I'm saying....

Hebron was a "City of Refuge". I remember reading about these cities of refuge. Since Abner killed Joab's brother.... Joab had every right to revenge.... BUT.... Joab could not kill Abner in the city.... so he was careful to meet him outside the city gates. HOWEVER.... Since Abner killed Joab's brother in self defense, then Abner was innocent.... THAT makes all the difference.

This is an excellent example of the "city of refuge" conditions. As long as Abner stayed within the city gates.... he was safe. ON top of that... Joab has no right to take revenge since his brother was trying to kill Abner when Abner punched him in the gut and he died. So Joab, sadly, didn't have a case for revenge.

now David was King of Judah. This city is in his territory. Joab was David's right hand man. The commentary says that David put the blame on Joab's head for the murder but he didn't jail him, beat him, or kill him. He put God on him. Guess that's better. Imagine.... if Joab killed Abner then David ordered Joab's death, what kind of slant would that put on David's kingdom. David was busy trying to put Israel back under one king. This would really mess things up.

One more little thing.... Abner put Saul's son on the throne while David was king of only Judah. I've heard people on the news talking about "optics" lately. The murder of Saul's general just outside Hebron, the city of Refuge, at the hand of David's general... is not great optics. David has been running from Saul for years.... and now that Saul is gone.... this happens....

:coffee:
 
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