2 Samuel 2:12-17

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.). It was in the territory of Benjamin (Joshua 18:25), and specially assigned to the priests (Joshua 21:17). Here Amasa met his death by the treacherous hand of Joab (2 Samuel 20:5-10). It gained its chief importance in the reigns of David and Solomon, as the great centre of worship at which the Tabernacle and the Altar of Burnt-offering were set up before the building of the Temple (2 Chronicles 1:3; 2 Chronicles 1:5), at which Solomon celebrated his accession with solemn sacrifices, and God appeared to him in vision (1 Kings 3:4-15).