Abner, Asahel and Joab

This battle took place on the same day that David came back to Ziklag after defeating the Amalekites. When he had already been two days at Ziklag — the third day after the battle — the man who had killed Saul came to him. He had escaped from the battle the Israelites fought with the Philistines, with his clothes torn and ashes on his head. When he had bowed down to David, David asked him where he had come from. He replied, from the battle of the Israelites, and told him that it had ended badly: many tens of thousands of the Israelites had been cut down, and Saul had been killed together with his sons. He said he could well give him this news, because he had been present at the victory won over the Hebrews and had been with the king when he fled. Nor did he deny that he had killed the king himself, when he was about to be taken by the enemy, and at the king’s own urging; for when Saul had fallen on his sword, his terrible wounds had left him too weak to kill himself. He also produced proofs that the king was dead: the gold bracelets that had been on the king’s arms, and his crown, which he had taken from Saul’s dead body and brought to David. So David, no longer having any room to doubt what he said, but seeing the plainest signs that Saul was dead, tore his garments and spent the whole of that day with his companions in weeping and lamentation. His grief was made greater by the thought of Jonathan, the son of Saul, who had been his most faithful friend and the means of his own rescue. He also showed such great virtue, and such great kindness toward Saul, that he not only took his death to heart, though he had often been in danger of losing his life through him, but punished the man who killed him. For when David had told him that he had become his own accuser, as the very man who had killed the king, and had learned that he was the son of an Amalekite, he ordered him to be put to death. He also wrote some laments and funeral tributes for Saul and Jonathan, which have survived to my own time. [a]

When David had paid these honors to the king, he put an end to his mourning, and inquired of God through the prophet which of the cities of the tribe of Judah he would give him to live in. God answered that he gave him Hebron. So he left Ziklag and came to Hebron, taking with him his wives, who were two in number, and his armed men; and all the people of that tribe came to him and made him their king. When he heard that the people of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul and his sons, he sent to them and commended them, told them he took what they had done kindly, and promised to repay them for their care of the dead; and at the same time he informed them that the tribe of Judah had chosen him as their king. [c]

But as soon as Abner son of Ner, the general of Saul’s army, a very energetic and good-natured man, learned that the king and Jonathan and his two other sons had fallen in the battle, he hurried into the camp. Taking with him the remaining son of Saul, whose name was Ish-bosheth, he crossed over to the land beyond the Jordan and made him king of the whole people except the tribe of Judah. He set up his royal seat in a place called in our own language Mahanaim, but in the language of the Greeks, The Camps. From there Abner set out in haste with a picked body of soldiers, intending to fight the tribe of Judah, for he was angry that this tribe had set up David as their king. But Joab, whose father was Suri and whose mother was Zeruiah, David’s sister, and who was general of David’s army, met him, as David had arranged. He had with him his brothers Abishai and Asahel, and all David’s armed men. When he met Abner at a spring in the city of Gibeon, he prepared to fight. Abner said to him that he wanted to know which of them had the braver soldiers, and it was agreed between them that twelve soldiers from each side should fight together. So the men chosen by the two generals for this fight came out between the two armies. They threw their lances at one another, then drew their swords, and seizing one another by the head they held each other fast and ran their swords into each other’s sides and groins, until all of them, as if by mutual agreement, died together. When these had fallen dead, the rest of the army joined in a hard battle, and Abner’s men were beaten. [d]

When they were beaten, Joab did not stop pursuing them, but pressed hard on them and urged the soldiers to follow close and not grow tired of killing them. His brothers also pursued them with great eagerness, especially the younger, Asahel, who was the most outstanding of them. He was very famous for his speed of foot: he could not only outrun men, but is reported to have outrun a horse when they raced together. This Asahel ran hard after Abner and would not turn in the least out of the straight path, to one side or the other. Then Abner turned back and tried skillfully to avoid his violence. Sometimes he told him to give up the pursuit and take the armor of one of his soldiers; and sometimes, when he could not persuade him to do this, he urged him to restrain himself and pursue him no further, so as not to force Abner to kill him, after which he would not be able to look Asahel’s brother in the face. But when Asahel would not listen to any persuasion and kept on pursuing him, Abner struck him with the spear he held as he fled, with a backward thrust, and gave him a mortal wound, so that he died at once. Those who were with Asahel in pursuit of Abner stood around the dead body when they came to the place where he lay, and gave up chasing the enemy. But Joab himself and his brother Abishai ran on past the corpse, and making their anger at Asahel’s death a reason for greater zeal against Abner, they went on with incredible speed and eagerness and pursued Abner as far as a place called Ammah. It was about sunset. Then Joab climbed a hill at that place, having the tribe of Benjamin with him, and from there he looked out at them and at Abner too. Abner shouted that it was not right for them to provoke men of the same nation to fight so bitterly against one another; as for Joab’s brother Asahel, he had been in the wrong himself when he would not take Abner’s advice to stop pursuing him, and that was the cause of his wound and his death. Joab agreed with what he said, took his words as an appeal, and called the soldiers back with the sound of the trumpet as the signal for retreat, and so put a stop to any further pursuit. Joab camped there that night; but Abner marched all that night, crossed the river Jordan, and came to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, at Mahanaim. The next day Joab counted the dead and took care of all their funerals. About three hundred and sixty of Abner’s soldiers had been killed, but of David’s, nineteen, and Asahel. Joab and Abishai carried Asahel’s body to Bethlehem, and when they had buried him in the tomb of their fathers, they came to David at Hebron. From that time a civil war began that lasted a long while, in which David’s followers grew stronger through the dangers they went through, while the servants and subjects of Saul’s sons grew weaker almost every day.

By this time David had become the father of six sons, born of as many mothers. The eldest was by Ahinoam, and was called Amnon; the second was Daniel, by his wife Abigail; the third was Absalom, by Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth he named Adonijah, by his wife Haggith; the fifth was Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth he called Ithream, by Eglah. [k]

While this civil war went on, and the subjects of the two kings often came to blows, it was Abner, the general of the army of Saul’s son, who by his prudence and the great influence he had among the people kept them all with Ish-bosheth; and indeed they remained on his side a considerable time. But afterward Abner was blamed, and the charge was brought against him that he had slept with Saul’s concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. When Ish-bosheth complained of him, he was very resentful and angry, because Ish-bosheth, to whom he had shown the greatest kindness, had not done him justice. So he threatened to transfer the kingdom to David, and to show that it was not by his own abilities and wisdom that Ish-bosheth ruled the people beyond the Jordan, but by Abner’s skill in war and his loyalty in leading the army. So he sent envoys to David at Hebron and asked him to give him a sworn guarantee that he would regard him as his companion and friend, on condition that Abner persuaded the people to leave Saul’s son and choose David king of the whole country. David made that agreement with Abner, for he was pleased with his message, and asked him, as the first sign that he would keep the present agreement, to have his wife Michal restored to him, since he had won her at great risk and with those six hundred heads of the Philistines he had brought to Saul her father. So Abner took Michal from Paltiel, who was then her husband, and sent her to David, with Ish-bosheth himself helping him; for David had written to him that by right he ought to have this wife of his restored to him. Abner also called together the elders of the people, the commanders and the captains of thousands, and spoke to them as follows. He had formerly talked them out of their own resolve when they were ready to abandon Ish-bosheth and join David; now, however, he gave them leave to do so if they wished, for they knew that God had appointed David to be king of all the Hebrews through Samuel the prophet, and had foretold that he would punish the Philistines, overcome them and bring them under. When the elders and rulers heard this, and understood that Abner had come round to the views on public affairs that they had held before, they changed course and came over to David. When these men had agreed to Abner’s proposal, he called together the tribe of Benjamin — for all of that tribe were Ish-bosheth’s bodyguards — and spoke to them to the same effect. When he saw that they did not oppose what he said in the least, but gave themselves over to his opinion, he took about twenty of his friends and came to David, to receive the sworn guarantee from him in person; for we may justly consider the things each of us does himself to be firmer than those we do through another. He also gave him an account of what he had said to the rulers and to the whole tribe of Benjamin. David received him courteously and entertained him with great hospitality for many days; and when Abner was sent off, he asked leave to bring the people with him, so that he might hand over the government to David with David himself present and watching what was done.

When David had sent Abner away, Joab, the general of his army, came at once to Hebron. He had learned that Abner had been with David and had left him a little before, with agreements and pledges that the government would be handed over to David. He feared that David would put Abner, who had helped him to the kingdom, in the first rank of honor — especially since Abner was a shrewd man in other respects, in understanding affairs and managing them skillfully as the occasion required — and that he himself would be put lower and stripped of the command of the army. So he took a crooked and wicked course. First he tried to slander Abner to the king, urging him to beware of him and to pay no attention to what he had undertaken to do for him, because all he did aimed at securing the government for Saul’s son; he had come to him deceitfully and with guile, and had gone away hoping to gain his purpose by this scheme. But when he could not persuade David in this way, nor saw him at all provoked, he turned to a bolder plan than the first: he decided to kill Abner. To that end he sent messengers after him, with orders that when they overtook him they should call him back in David’s name and tell him that David had something to say to him about his affairs which he had not remembered to mention when Abner was with him. When Abner heard what the messengers said (they overtook him at a place called Besira, about two and a half miles from Hebron), he suspected nothing of the harm that was coming on him, and came back. Joab met him in the gate and received him most kindly, as if he were Abner’s most well-meaning acquaintance and friend; for those who undertake the vilest deeds, to head off any suspicion of the harm they secretly intend, often make the greatest show of what really good men do sincerely. So he took him aside from his own followers, as if to speak with him in private, and brought him into an empty part of the gate, with no one with him but his brother Abishai. Then he drew his sword and struck him in the groin. So Abner died by this treachery of Joab’s — which, as Joab himself said, was by way of punishment for his brother Asahel, whom Abner had struck and killed as Asahel was pursuing him in the battle of Hebron; but in truth it was out of fear of losing his command of the army and his rank with the king, of being deprived of those advantages while Abner obtained the first rank at David’s court. From examples like these anyone may learn how many and how great are the wicked deeds men will venture on for the sake of getting money and power, so as not to fail of either. When they desire to obtain them, they acquire them by countless evil practices; and when they are afraid of losing them, they make them secure by practices far worse than the first, as if no calamity so terrible could befall them as failing to acquire so exalted a power — or, once they have acquired it and by long habit found its sweetness, losing it again. And since this last would be the heaviest of all afflictions, they all contrive and venture on the most desperate deeds out of fear of losing it. But let these short reflections on that subject be enough. [p]

When David heard that Abner had been killed, it grieved him to the soul. He called all men to witness, stretching out his hands to God and crying out that he had no part in the murder of Abner, and that his death was not brought about by his command or approval. He also prayed that the heaviest curses might fall on the man who killed him and on his whole house, and he devoted those who had helped him in this murder to the same penalties for it; for he took care not to seem to have had any hand in this murder, contrary to the assurances he had given and the oaths he had sworn to Abner. He commanded all the people to weep and lament for this man and to honor his body with the customary rites — that is, by tearing their garments and putting on sackcloth — and that this should be the dress in which they walked before the bier. After that he followed it himself, with the elders and the rulers, lamenting Abner, and by his tears showing his goodwill to him while he lived, his sorrow for him now that he was dead, and that he had not been put out of the way with his consent. So he buried him at Hebron magnificently and composed funeral laments for him. He also stood first over the tomb weeping, and made others do the same. Abner’s death disturbed him so deeply that his companions could by no means make him take any food; he declared with an oath that he would taste nothing until the sun had set. This conduct won him the goodwill of the people. Those who had an affection for Abner were greatly satisfied with the respect he paid him in death, and with the keeping of the faith he had pledged to him, shown in granting him all the usual ceremonies, as if he had been his kinsman and friend, and not letting him be neglected and wronged by a dishonorable burial, as if he had been his enemy. So the whole nation rejoiced at the king’s gentleness and mildness of disposition, every one being ready to suppose that the king would have taken the same care of them in like circumstances as they saw him show in burying the body of Abner. And indeed David chiefly intended to gain a good reputation, and so he took care to do what was proper in this case, so that no one had any suspicion that he was the author of Abner’s death. He also told the people that he was greatly troubled at the death of so good a man, and that the affairs of the Hebrews had suffered great harm by losing him, a man so able to preserve them by his excellent advice and by the strength of his hands in war. But he added, “God, who has regard to all men’s actions, will not leave this man unavenged. But know that I am not able to do anything to these sons of Zeruiah, Joab and Abishai, who have more power than I have; but God will bring their insolent deeds back on their own heads.” And this was the fatal end of Abner’s life. [s]