David is anointed King over Judah
1 After this, David consulted Yahweh, ¡°Shall I go up to one of the cities of
Judah?¡± Yahweh an swered him, ¡°Go!¡± Then D avid ask ed, ¡°Where shall I go?¡±
He answered, ¡°To Hebron.¡±
2 So Da vid went up to Hebron with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and
Abigail the widow of Nabal of Car mel.
3 David also brought up his men with their families and they settled in the
towns of Hebron.
4 Then the men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the
nation of Judah.
David learned that the men of Jab esh-gilead had buried Saul,
5 so he sent messengers to them with these words, ¡°May Yahweh bless you for
you have dealt kindly with Saul, your master, and have buried him.
6 May Yahweh show his love and fidelity to you! I, in turn, will be kind to
you for having done this.
7 Now be brave and strong for although your master Saul is dead, the people
of Judah have anointed me their king.¡±
8 Now Abner, son of Ner, Saul¡¯s general, had taken Ishbaal, son of Saul, and
brought him over to Ma hanaim
9 where he made him king over Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim,
Benjamin and the rest of Israel.
10 Ishbaal, Saul¡¯s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over
Israel, and he reigned for two years. Only the people of Judah followed
David.
11 David was their king in Hebron and he ruled over them for seven years and
six months.
Civil war
12 Abner, son of Ner, and the menservants of Ishbaal, Saul¡¯s son, left Maha
naim for Gibeon
13 where Joab, son of Zeruiah and the men of David met them at the pool of
Gibeon. There they sat, one group on one side of the pool, the other on the
opposite side. £Û
14 Abner told Joab, ¡°Let the young men rise and perform for us.¡± Joab
replied, ¡°Let them rise!¡±
15 So they rose and were counted off: twelve of the Benja mi nites of
Ishbaal, Saul¡¯s son, and twelve of David¡¯s men.
16 Each one caught his opponent¡¯s head and thrust his sword in his
opponent¡¯s side, and all fell down together. There fore, that place in
Gibeon was called field of the fighting.
17 After a very fierce battle that day, Abner and the men of Israel were
defeated by David¡¯s troops.
18 The three sons of Zeruiah ¨C Joab, Abishai and Asahel ¨C were there.
19 Asahel, who ran as fast as a wild gazelle, pursued Abner, turning neither
to the right nor to the left.
20 Abner turned around and asked, ¡°Is that you, Asahel?¡± He replied, ¡°Yes,
it is I.¡±
21 Abner said to him, ¡°Turn right or left, go after one of the young men and
take his spoil.¡± But Asahel refused to desist from following him,
22 so Abner again said, ¡°Stop following me! I will surely strike you down
and then, how could I face your brother Joab?¡±
23 But Asahel would not heed, and Abner, without turning back, struck him in
the belly with his spear which ran through him and came out his back. He
fell and died on the spot and all who came to the place where Asahel fell
dead, stopped there.
24 Joab and Abishai, however, pursued Abner and, by sunset, arrived at the
hill of Ammah which lies near Giah toward the desert of Gibeon.
25 The Benjaminites then rallied around Abner, forming one band, and took
their position on the hilltop.
26 Then Abner called to Joab, ¡°When will the sword rest? Do you not realize
that this will bring you more bitterness? When will you order your men to
stop pursuing their brothers?¡±
27 Joab replied, ¡°As God lives, if you had not spoken, my men would have
continued pursuing their brothers until morning.¡±
28 So Joab blew the trumpet and the men desisted from pursuing the
Israelites and fighting them.
29 Abner and his men marched all night through the lowland, crossed the
Jordan, and marched the whole morning until they reached Maha naim.
30 As for Joab, he stopped pursuing Abner and gathered all his men. Besides
Asa hel, nineteen of David¡¯s servants were missing.
31 But David¡¯s men had killed three hundred and sixty of Abner¡¯s men from
among the Benjaminites.
32 Asahel was taken and buried in his father¡¯s tomb at Bethlehem. Then Joab
and his men marched all night and reached Hebron at daybreak.
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Comments 2 Samuel, Chapter 2
• 2.1 Saul¡¯s death seems to undermine the recently acquired and still
fragile unity of the twelve tribes.
David is proclaimed king by the people of his own tribe of Judah. The north
remains faithful to Saul¡¯s son. With the aim of uniting them, David seeks
the sympathy of Saul¡¯s allies, and praises the peo ple from the north who
gave Saul burial.
According to the custom of the time, the size of the royal harem was
according to the importance of the king. David still has only two wives but
before leaving for Jerusalem he will have six (3:2-5).