The Pool of Gibeon
12 Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13 Joab the son of Zeruiah and David’s servants went out, and met them by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool. 14 Abner said to Joab, “Please let the young men arise and compete before us!” Joab said, “Let them arise!” 15 Then they arose and went over by number: twelve for Benjamin and for Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of David’s servants. 16 They each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his fellow’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place in Gibeon was called Helkath Hazzurim. 17 The battle was very severe that day; and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before David’s servants. 18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was as light of foot as a wild gazelle. 19 Asahel pursued Abner. He didn’t turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner. 20 Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” He answered, “It is.” 21 Abner said to him, “Turn away to your right hand or to your left, and grab one of the young men, and take his armor.” But Asahel would not turn away from following him. 22 Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn away from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I look Joab your brother in the face?” 23 However, he refused to turn away. Therefore Abner with the back end of the spear struck him in the body, so that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there and died in the same place. As many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still. 24 But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. The sun went down when they had come to the hill of Ammah, that lies before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner and became one band, and stood on the top of a hill. 26 Then Abner called to Joab, and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Don’t you know that it will be bitterness in the latter end? How long will it be then, before you ask the people to return from following their brothers?” 27 Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely then in the morning the people would have gone away, and not each followed his brother.” 28 So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people stood still and pursued Israel no more, and they fought no more. 29 Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah; and they passed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and came to Mahanaim. 30 Joab returned from following Abner; and when he had gathered all the people together, nineteen men of David’s and Asahel were missing. 31 But David’s servants had struck Benjamin and Abner’s men so that three hundred sixty men died. 32 They took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was in Bethlehem. Joab and his men went all night, and the day broke on them at Hebron.
A contest of champions turns into a bloodbath, a fast young man will not stop chasing, and the blood feud that shapes the reign begins.
Abner said to Joab, “Please let the young men arise and compete before us!” Joab said, “Let them arise!”
The two armies meet at a pool and sit down on opposite sides, and the generals propose a contest — twelve against twelve, a limited combat to settle things without a battle. What follows is the chapter's grim joke: they each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his fellow's side; so they fell down together 2 Samuel 2:16. Twenty-four men kill each other simultaneously, the contest settles nothing, and the battle it was meant to prevent begins at once. Civil war has no mechanism for staying small.
Asahel pursued Abner. He didn’t turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner.
Asahel is Joab's youngest brother, as light of foot as a wild gazelle 2 Samuel 2:18, and he has found the one prize worth taking: the enemy commander. Abner warns him twice, and the second warning is the sentence the rest of the book turns on — why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I look Joab your brother in the face? 2 Samuel 2:22. The veteran knows exactly what killing this boy will cost, and tries hard not to do it. Youth, speed, and the certainty of being right carry Asahel onto the spear butt anyway.
However, he refused to turn away. Therefore Abner with the back end of the spear struck him in the body, so that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there and died in the same place. As many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.
Even the weapon is a mercy that failed — a blow with the blunt end, meant to wind him rather than kill. It kills him, and the men who come after stop in their tracks at the sight. From this moment Joab is owed a brother, and the debt will be collected on a man under a flag of truce, at a cost to David that runs through the whole reign 2 Samuel 3:27.
Then Abner called to Joab, and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Don’t you know that it will be bitterness in the latter end? How long will it be then, before you ask the people to return from following their brothers?”
Abner's plea from the hilltop is the truest thing said in the chapter, and it is spoken by the man who started the war by crowning Ishbosheth. People who begin conflicts often discover their wisdom about them somewhere around sundown. Joab's reply is barbed — if you had not spoken, surely then in the morning the people would have gone away 2 Samuel 2:27 — and he blows the trumpet anyway.
The casualty count closes the chapter: nineteen of David's men and Asahel, three hundred sixty of Abner's 2 Samuel 2:30–31. Israelites on both sides of every number. The march home to Hebron takes all night, and the youngest son of Zeruiah is buried at Bethlehem on the way.
settled What this mark means