Abner

Abner the son of Ner stands at the hinge between the house of Saul and the house of David. He is the captain of Saul's host through the Philistine wars, the kingmaker who lifts Ishbaal to Mahanaim after the king's death, the negotiator who at last carries Israel over to David, and the great man whom Joab cuts down inside the gate of Hebron. The UPDV traces him from his place in the Saulide genealogy through his Gibeon-pool combat with Joab, his Rizpah-quarrel and defection, his Hebron feast with David, and David's lament at his grave.

Son of Ner

Abner is fixed in the Saulide line as the son of Ner: "And Kish was the father of Saul; and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel" (1Sa 14:51). Ner and Kish are paired as brothers under the common ancestor Abiel, and the Benjaminite Kish is identified back at his first introduction as "the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a man [of] Benjamin, a mighty man of valor" (1Sa 9:1), so Abner is shown as Saul's cousin through the shared Abiel-line.

The same notice that names him in the genealogy also marks his office: "the name of the captain of his host was Abner the son of Ner, Saul's uncle" (1Sa 14:50). The captain-of-the-host title and the close kin-relation to the king are joined from the start.

Captain of Saul's Host

Abner appears beside Saul on the day of the Philistine sortie. When David goes out against the giant, Saul turns to his commander with a paternity question: "he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I don't know" (1Sa 17:55). The as-your-soul-lives oath paired with the I-don't-know clause registers the captain's ignorance of David's father-house even at the moment of his triumph.

Abner is again at his post when David and Abishai slip into the Ziph-camp by night. David sees from above "the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul lay inside the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped round about him" (1Sa 26:5), and when the two come down "Saul lay sleeping inside the place of the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people lay round about him" (1Sa 26:7). The captain's ring of sleepers fails to hold; David takes the spear and the cruse of water and calls back across the valley, and his summons goes specifically to Abner: "Don't you answer, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who are you that cried to the king?" (1Sa 26:14). The exchange that follows fixes Abner publicly as the man responsible for the king's body.

Kingmaker at Mahanaim

After Saul falls, Abner refuses to let the Saulide house collapse. He takes the surviving son and sets up a rival kingdom east of the Jordan: "Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, had taken Ishbaal the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim; and he made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel" (2Sa 2:8-9). Ishbaal reigns two years over Israel while "the house of Judah followed David" (2Sa 2:10), and the seven-and-a-half-year Hebron-reign of David runs in parallel (2Sa 2:11).

The Pool of Gibeon

The two houses meet at Gibeon. Abner brings the slaves of Ishbaal out from Mahanaim, Joab brings the slaves of David, "and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool" (2Sa 2:12-13). Abner is the instigator of what follows: "And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men, I pray you, arise and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise" (2Sa 2:14). Twelve from each side rise and slay one another at Helkath-hazzurim (2Sa 2:15-16), and the day's general battle goes against the north: "Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the slaves of David" (2Sa 2:17).

In the rout Asahel, Joab's swift-footed brother, will not be turned aside from following Abner. Abner pleads with him twice—"Turn yourself aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay yourself hold on one of the young men, and take yourself his armor" (2Sa 2:21), then "Turn yourself aside from following me: why should I strike you to the ground? How then should I hold up my face to Joab your brother?" (2Sa 2:22)—and when Asahel still will not turn, "Abner with the hinder 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" (2Sa 2:23). Joab and Abishai pursue Abner to the hill of Ammah at sundown (2Sa 2:24), and the sons of Benjamin rally to him on the hilltop (2Sa 2:25). It is Abner who calls a halt: "Will 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 bid the people return from following their brothers?" (2Sa 2:26). Joab acknowledges that without the call the pursuit would have run till morning (2Sa 2:27), blows the trumpet, and the chase ends (2Sa 2:28). Abner's men march all night through the Arabah, over the Jordan, and back to Mahanaim (2Sa 2:29). David's losses are nineteen and Asahel; of Benjamin and Abner's men, three hundred and threescore are killed (2Sa 2:30-31). Asahel is buried in his father's tomb at Beth-lehem (2Sa 2:32).

Strength in the House of Saul

While the long war between the two houses drags on, Abner consolidates his hold inside the Saulide camp: "Abner made himself strong in the house of Saul" (2Sa 3:6). The reflexive "made himself strong" puts him as the self-acting subject within the weakening northern house, accumulating internal authority before the open break with Ishbosheth.

Quarrel with Ishbosheth

The break comes over Saul's concubine: "Now Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and Ishbosheth son of Saul said to Abner, Why have you entered my father's concubine?" (2Sa 3:7). Abner's reply is furious. He invokes the dog's-head insult, sets out his record of loyalty—"This day I show kindness to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand of David"—and resents the charge as ingratitude (2Sa 3:8). He then swears by what he claims Yahweh has already sworn to David: "God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Yahweh has sworn to David, I do not even do so to him; to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba" (2Sa 3:9-10). Ishbosheth has no answer, "because he feared him" (2Sa 3:11).

Negotiation with David

Abner moves at once. He sends messengers to David: "Whose is the land? Saying [also], Make your league with me, and, look, my hand will be with you, to bring about all Israel to you" (2Sa 3:12). David accepts on a single condition—the return of Michal, Saul's daughter—and the demand goes both to Abner and through Ishbosheth (2Sa 3:13-14), who takes Michal from Paltiel; her husband follows her weeping as far as Bahurim, where Abner sends him back: "Go, return: and he returned" (2Sa 3:15-16).

Abner then works the elders, Benjamin, and David himself. To the elders: "In times past you⁺ sought for David to be king over you⁺: now then do it; for Yahweh has spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my slave David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies" (2Sa 3:17-18). He speaks in the ears of Benjamin, and then comes to David at Hebron with twenty men and is given a feast (2Sa 3:19-20). His parting word commits him to gathering all Israel: "I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your soul desires. And David sent Abner away; and he went in peace" (2Sa 3:21).

Murdered by Joab

Joab brings Abner back from the well of Sirah and kills him under cover of a private word: "And when Abner had returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and struck him there in the body, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother" (2Sa 3:27). David disavows the killing the moment he hears of it: "I and my kingdom are innocent before Yahweh forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner: let it fall on the head of Joab, and on all his father's house" (2Sa 3:28-29). The narrator places the blood-motive squarely on Asahel: "So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner, because he had killed their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle" (2Sa 3:30).

David's Mourning

David binds the killing to public mourning. He commands Joab and the people to rend their clothes, gird with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner, and the king himself follows the bier (2Sa 3:31). At the grave: "they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept" (2Sa 3:32). The royal lament asks the central question: "Should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands were not bound, and your feet were not put into fetters: As a man falls before the sons of iniquity, so did you fall" (2Sa 3:33-34). David fasts till sundown against the people's urging (2Sa 3:35), and the gesture works—"all the people took note of it, and it pleased them; as whatever the king did pleased all the people" (2Sa 3:36)—so that "all the people and all Israel understood that day that it wasn't of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner" (2Sa 3:37). The king's verdict on his fallen rival is final: "Don't you⁺ know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?" (2Sa 3:38), and he closes by complaining of his own weakness against Joab and Abishai: "I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me: Yahweh reward the evildoer according to his wickedness" (2Sa 3:39).

Spoils Dedicated to the Sanctuary

Long after, the chronicler counts Abner among those whose battle-spoil was set aside for the upkeep of the sanctuary. The dedicated portion is for "the house of Yahweh" (1Ch 26:27), and the named donors are listed together: "all that Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, had dedicated, whoever had dedicated anything, it was under the hand of Shelomoth, and of his brothers" (1Ch 26:28). Abner the captain stands here beside Samuel and Saul as a contributor to the treasury that David's house will eventually pour into the temple.