2 Samuel 2:14

_AND ABNER SAID TO JOAB, LET THE YOUNG MEN NOW ARISE, AND PLAY BEFORE US. AND JOAB SAID, LET THEM ARISE._ Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise, and play before us. Some think that the proposal was only for an exhibition of a little tilting match, a skirmishing or mock fight, for diversion. [The Septuagint takes this view, because it has rendered the original word by paixatoosan, let them sport.] Accordingly others suppose that both parties being reluctant to commence a civil war, Abner proposed to leave the contest to the decision of twelve picked men on either side. This fight by championship, instead of terminating the matter, inflamed the fiercest passions of the two rival parties; a general engagement ensued, in which Abner and his forces were defeated and put to flight....

Verse 2 Samuel 2:14. _LET THE YOUNG MEN - PLAY BEFORE US._] This was diabolical play, where each man thrust his sword into the body of the other, so that the twenty-four (twelve on each side) fell down dead together! But this was the signal for that sanguinary skirmish which immediately took place....

PLAY - (Compare Judges 16:25; 1 Samuel 18:7). Here, the word is applied to the serious game of war, to be played by twelve combatants on each side, with the two armies for spectators....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 2:1 UNTO HEBRON. As soon as David had assuaged his grief, his thoughts would naturally turn towards his country. Fuller news would reach him every day respecting the movements of the Philistines, who, after so decisive a victory, would quickly overrun all the central districts of Palestine, where the battle had been fought. And very bitter must David's feelings have been. Had he continued in Israel, he and his six hundred men would now have hastened to the rescue, and all the braver warriors of the land would have gathered round them. As it was, he was too entangled with the Philistines, and too much distrusted by the northern tribes, to be of much use. Still, we learn from 1 Chronicles 12:1; that brave men did continually

AND ABNER SAID TO JOAB,.... Perceiving he made no motion towards an engagement with him, his orders from David being only to act on the defensive, and avoid as much as possible the effusion of blood: LET THE YOUNG MEN NOW ARISE, AND PLAY BEFORE US; with their swords after the manner of gladiators or duellers; that it might appear who were best skilled in the use of the sword, and who were the bravest, stoutest, and most courageous; and this he proposed in a way of bravado, and in order to bring on a battle, or to decide the quarrel between them; and this bloody barbarous exercise Abner calls play, as if it was a diversion and pastime to see men wounding and killing one another: AND JOAB SAID, LET THEM ARISE; he accepted the challenge, not caring to be hectored and bullied by Abner....

3. ABNER'S REVOLT AND THE WAR WHICH FOLLOWED CHAPTER 2:8-32 _ 1. Abner makes Ish-bosheth king over Israel (2 Samuel 2:8)_ 2. The defeat of Abner (2 Samuel 2:12) 3. Abner and Joab and Joab's victory (2 Samuel 2:18) God's king began his reign in quietness, and opposition and open revolt followed at once. Abner, who had been the captain of Saul's host, took a son of Saul by the name of Ish-bosheth and made him king in Gilead. The original name of this son was “Esh-baal,” which means “the fire of Baal” (1 Chronicles 8:33). “Ish-bosheth” was his other name; it means “man of shame.” He seem

2 SAMUEL 2-6. (J). APART FROM MINOR ADDITIONS AND CHANGES, IT IS VERY COMMONLY HELD THAT THESE CHAPTER S FORM A CONTINUOUS NARRATIVE FROM THE SAME SOURCE. 2 Samuel 2:1 to 2 Samuel 3:5. Civil War between David, ruling at Hebron, and Ish-bosheth, ruling at Mahanaim (J). 2 SAMUEL 2:1. David occupies Hebron (Judges 1:10 *, p. 31), and is anointed king by the men of Judah, doubtless with the consent of the Philistines, and as their vassal. He thanks the men of Jabesh-gilead for their loyalty to Saul. 2 SAMUEL 2:8. Abner makes

YOUNG MEN. common soldiers. PLAY. make sport....

War between Ish-bosheth and David. The Combat at Gibeon 12. _went out_ The technical expression for going to war. Cp. 1 Samuel 18:30. After establishing Ish-bosheth's power over all Israel, Abner turned his arms against Judah, and marched with his army from Ish-bosheth's capital, Mahanaim, to Gibeon, where David's army under the command of Joab met him. _to Gibeon_ The site of Gibeon (_belonging to_, or _built on, a hill_) is fixed with certainty on a rounded hill five miles N.W. of Jerusalem, which still bears the name _El-Jib_. Gibeon was the largest of the four cities of the Hivites (Joshua 10:2), famous for the stratagem by which its inhabitants procured a treaty from Joshua (Joshua 9:3 ff.

LET THE YOUNG MEN NOW ARISE, AND PLAY BEFORE US— The word rendered _play_ signifies to _conflict,_ or _contend_ together. See Parkhurst on שׂחק _sachak._ It seems most probable, that Joab was ordered to act only upon the defensive, David having sworn not to destroy the family of Saul. 1 Samuel 24:22. In all likelihood, this was only a scheme of Abner's to pique Joab, and draw on the battle. Josephus understands the proposal as a trial of skill, to shew who had the best disciplined or bravest soldiers. Antiq. lib. vii. c. 1. and see Dr. Shaw's Travels, part ii. p. 250....