2 Samuel 3:33

_AND THE KING LAMENTED OVER ABNER, AND SAID, DIED ABNER AS A FOOL DIETH?_ The king lamented over Abner. This brief elegy is an effusion of indignation as much as of sorrow. Since Abner had stabbed Asahel in open war, Joab did not hvae the right of the go'el; and besides, had adopted a lawless and execrable method of obtaining satisfaction (see the note at 1 Kings 2:5), not waiting for the legal formalities according to which only satisfaction could be obtained for the relatives of a slain person in the land of Israel. DIED ABNER AS A FOOL DIETH?, х_ HAKªMOWT_ (H4194) _ NAABAAL_ (H5036)] - as Nabal dieth, or as a felon dieth. This deed was an insult to the authority, as well as most damaging to the prospects of the king. But David's feelings and conduct on hearing of

22-39 Judgments are prepared for such scorners as Abner; but Joab, in what he did, acted wickedly. David laid Abner's murder deeply to heart, and in many ways expressed his detestation of it. The guilt of blood brings a curse upon families: if men do not avenge it, God will. It is a sad thing to die like a fool, as they do that any way shorten their own days, and those who make no provision for another world. Who would be fond of power, when a man may have the name of it, and must be accountable for it, yet is hampered in the use of it? David ought to have done his duty, and then trusted God with the issue. Carnal policy spared Joab. The Son of David may long delay, but never fails to punish impenitent sinners. He who now reigns upon the throne of David, has a kingdom of a nobler kind. Whatever He doeth, is noticed by all his willing people, and is pleasing to them....

Verse 2 Samuel 3:33. _THE KING LAMENTED OVER ABNER_] This lamentation, though short, is very pathetic. It is a high strain of poetry; but the _measure_ cannot be easily ascertained. Our own translation may be measured thus: - Died Abner as a fool dieth? Thy hands were not bound, Nor thy feet put into fetters. As a man falleth before the wicked. So hast thou fallen! Or thus: - Shall Abner die A death like to a villain's? Thy hands not bound,...

LAMENTED - i. e. composed and sang the funeral dirge which follows (compare 2 Samuel 1:17). DIED ABNER ... - i. e. The great and noble and valiant Abner had died as ignobly and as helplessly as the meanest churl!...

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 3:1 THERE WAS LONG WAR. As Ishbosheth reigned only two years, and as "the house of Saul" is the phrase used, it seems probable that after Ishbosheth's murder, during the five years before David's election to the throne of all Israel, the house of Saul had some puppet representative at Mahanaim, and some commander in Abner's place. But after the death of this able man matters would go from bad to worse, and, though David probably remained on the defensive, yet the contrast between the peace and good government of Judah and the misery in Israel made all the tribes wish to put an end to a harassing civil war. It is plain, too, that the Philistines, repelled at first by Abner's skill, had again gained the ascendant, and regarded themselves so completely as the rulers of the country, that they resented immediately with summ

AND THE KING LAMENTED OVER ABNER,.... Delivered an elegy or funeral oration, which he had composed on this occasion, as Josephus u suggests: for he had cried and wept before, but now he expressed something as follows: AND SAID, DIED ABNER AS A FOOL DIETH? the meaning of the interrogation is, he did not; the Targum is "did Abner die as wicked men die?'' no, he did not; he did not die for any wickedness he had been guilty of; he did not die as a malefactor, whose crime has been charged and proved in open court, and sentence of condemnation pronounced on him righteously for it; but he died without anything being laid to his charge, and much less proved, and without judge or jury; he was murdered in a clandestine, insidious, and deceitful manner; so the word "fool" is often taken in Scripture for a wicked man, especially in the book of Proverbs; the Septuagint version leaves the word untr...

4. ABNER'S DEEDS AND END CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The long war and its results (2 Samuel 3:1)_ 2. David's family (2 Samuel 3:2) 3. Abner's defiant deed (2 Samuel 3:6) 4. Abner and Ish-bosheth (2 Samuel 3:8) 5. Abner's defection to David (2 Samuel 3:12) 6. David's request (2 Samuel 3:13) 7. Abner with David (2 Samuel 3:17)...

David made it clear that he had nothing to do with the murder. He gave Abner honourable burial, and king and people lamented him. The dirge in 2 Samuel 3:33 f. is generally accepted as the work of David....

DIED... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis.App-6._ A FOOL DIETH: i.e. running into needless danger....

David's lamentation for Abner 31. _gird you with sackcloth_ The practice of wearing garments of the coarse dark hair-cloth used for making sacks as a sign of mourning was very ancient (Genesis 37:34). In cases of extreme grief or humiliation they were worn next the skin, but ordinarily outside the usual tunic. _mourn before Abner_ Preceding the bier in the funeral procession....