2 Samuel 3

The war “lasted a long time” and David grew stronger while the House of Saul became weaker. (v. 1)

At Hebron, David was very busy with other matters. He marries 4 more women and has a male chill with each one of his 6 wives.

Meanwhile, Abner sleeps with one of the concubines of the late king Saul. Later on, during Absalom’s rebellion, this is explained to be a method of asserting control over the throne itself. So, this may have been a power play by Abner. Or, maybe Abner is functionally king of the north.

Ish-Bosheth asks Abner why he did it. Abner responds with a raving tirade about his loyalty to the house of Saul that leaves Ish-Bosheth speechless and afraid of Abner.

Well, Abner’s loyalty is not worth all that much because he starts trying to make peace with David. David agrees but he wants his first wife Michal (Saul’s daughter) back. David even bypasses Abner and makes this demand directly to Ish-Bosheth. Ish-Beshoth orders Michal (his half-sister?) to be taken from her current husband (Paltiel) and sent back to David. Paltiel follows her and weeps until Abner tells him to go back home.

Sweet. David now has 7 wives. When does that officially become a “harem”?

Meanwhile, Abner goes around the rest of Israel, including to the Benjamites (Saul’s tribe), and encourages loyalty to David. He goes back to David and told him that the country is ready to pay homage to David. David has a feast and Abner leaves to arrange the peace.

Joab hears that Abner was at Hebron and David let him go. Joab tracks Abner down and murders him to avenge the death of his brother Asihai from their first battle of Gibeon.

Poor David. David’s underlings are screwing up what may have been a conclusion of the civil war and a peaceful political transition.

David has a long lament for Abner and even curses the family of Joab for this murder. That seems a little over-the-top to me. If anything, it reminds me of David’s lament for when Jonathon died. I think the political situation (i.e., Abner was securing a peace-deal when he was killed) might explain the long lament for Abner. Plus, the lament concludes that no one suspected that David was responsible for Abner’s death. If these are genuine emotions on the part of David, I think it is because of his love for country and/or war exhaustion as opposed to a fondness for Abner personally. David and Abner did not appear to be close friends, but David knows that Joab’s action could mean prolonged warfare.