2 Samuel · chapter 2 of 24
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2 Samuel 2 tells how David, after asking the Lord, goes up to Hebron and is anointed king over Judah, while Abner, Saul's general, makes Saul's son Ish-bosheth king over the rest of Israel. At the pool of Gibeon the two armies clash, and Joab's brother Asahel is killed by Abner. The chapter shows a divided kingdom and a war between brothers.
After the death of Saul, 2 Samuel 2 describes the start of David's long road to the throne of all Israel. The chapter contrasts two ways of rising to power: David asks the Lord and waits for direction, while Abner, a general loyal to Saul's house, promotes a king who will serve him. Thus begins a civil war that fills several chapters.
David asks the Lord whether he should go up to one of the cities of Judah, and the Lord tells him to go to Hebron. He goes with his two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, and with his men and their families, and the men of Judah anoint him king over their tribe. When David hears that the men of Jabesh-gilead buried Saul, he sends them a blessing and promises them kindness.
Abner, commander of Saul's army, takes Saul's son Ish-bosheth to Mahanaim and makes him king over Gilead, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin and the rest of Israel. The text notes that Ish-bosheth was forty years old and reigned two years, while David reigned in Hebron seven years and six months.
One day Abner's men and the servants of David's commander Joab meet at the pool of Gibeon. Twelve from each side fight until they kill one another, and the battle turns fierce and Abner is defeated. Joab's brother Asahel, swift as a gazelle, chases Abner and ignores warnings to stop. Abner strikes him with the butt of his spear and kills him. Joab and Abishai keep up the pursuit to the hill of Ammah, until Abner calls for an end to the killing among brothers. Joab blows the trumpet and the chase stops. Nineteen of David's men died besides Asahel, and three hundred sixty of Abner's. Asahel is buried in Bethlehem.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
David asks the Lord whether he should go up to a city of Judah, and the Lord answers that he should go to Hebron. Even as God's anointed, David does not act on his own; he seeks direction before taking the first step.
The men of Judah anoint David as king over their house. It is the first public recognition of the calling Samuel had announced years before, though still over only one tribe.
Abner, commander of Saul's army, takes Ish-bosheth and makes him king over Israel. While David waited for the Lord's direction, Abner promotes a human kingdom that suits him, and so the conflict of the chapter is set.
Abner asks Joab whether the sword will devour forever and reminds him that the end will be bitter. It is a painful pause in a war between brothers of the same people, putting the cost of division into words.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: To Hebron, in Judah. — 2 Samuel 2:1
Answer: The men of Judah. — 2 Samuel 2:4
Answer: The men of Jabesh-gilead. — 2 Samuel 2:4-6
Answer: Abner, commander of Saul's army, made him king at Mahanaim. — 2 Samuel 2:8-9
Answer: Seven years and six months. — 2 Samuel 2:11
Answer: Joab's brother, swift as a gazelle; Abner killed him with the butt of his spear as Asahel chased him. — 2 Samuel 2:18-23
This chapter invites us to ask how we make decisions. David, with a promise from God over his life, still asks the Lord before he moves. For a small-group leader or Sunday school teacher that is a practical lesson: pray and wait for direction before moving a single piece, even when the calling is clear.
It also reminds us what divisions between brothers cost. The fight at Gibeon began as a contest and ended with dead men. When a conflict in the church grows, it helps when someone has the courage to say, as Abner finally did, that enough is enough, before the damage gets worse.
2 Samuel 2 leaves Israel split into two houses, David's in Hebron and Saul's in Mahanaim, with open war between them. In 2 Samuel 3, David's house grows stronger while Saul's grows weaker, and rivalries within each camp bring new deaths.
Samuel had anointed him privately, as a young man, as a sign of God's choice. Now the men of Judah anoint him publicly as their king. Later, in 2 Samuel 5, the elders of the other tribes will anoint him over all Israel too.
He was the commander of Saul's army and a close relative of Saul. After Saul's death he kept his power by making Ish-bosheth king, though he would later switch sides. His clash with Joab sets the course for the chapters that follow.
It was a duel or challenge between twelve men of Benjamin and twelve of David's men, and it ended with all of them dead. The place was named Helkath-hazzurim. It grew into a general battle that left Abner's army defeated.