2 Samuel 2:8,9

2 SAMUEL—NOTE ON 2 Samuel 2:8 Abner tries to continue Saul’s kingdom, on a reduced scale. From these verses and 2 Samuel 3:9, it appears that Abner, not Ish-bosheth, was actually in charge. Mahanaim, a city on the Jabbok River, was apparently the capital of Gilead. The fact that the capital had to be in Transjordan suggests the weakness of Ish-bosheth’s reign. Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel refers to the northern and Transjordanian part of the country. Ephraim and Benjamin refers to the central and main part. Ish-bosheth did not necessarily have real control over all this area; the Philistines apparently were in the Jezreel Valley (1 Samuel 31:7). All Israel is a summary description of the area just mentioned.