{"id":59646,"date":"2019-07-17T18:06:11","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T15:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=59646"},"modified":"2023-02-07T18:40:25","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T16:40:25","slug":"abner-the-anti-joab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/abner-the-anti-joab\/","title":{"rendered":"Abner, The Anti-Joab"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[900,897,835],"acf":{"old_id":"59646","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34891,"related_cahpter":"265","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Unlike Abner, Joab commands troops for his king\u2019s glory, not his own","content":"

We caught<\/span> our first glimpse of Joab<\/span><\/a> lurking behind his brother in I Sam. 26, but in today\u2019s chapter he emerges as his own formidable character.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before we get to Joab, however, we must meet Abner son of Ner. Abner serves as something of a foil for Joab, and their interactions will haunt Joab for the rest of his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Saul\u2019s death, the people of Judah crown David their king, and David makes overtures to Saul\u2019s loyalists in Jabesh-gilead. Abner, Saul\u2019s general, knows that if the kingdom becomes unified under David, Abner will be out of a job (and possibly his life), so he \u201ctakes\u201d Saul\u2019s son Ish Bosheth and attempts to prop him up as Saul\u2019s successor. Abner is less Ish-boshet\u2019s general than Ish-boshet is Abner\u2019s king.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Abner and Joab and their men meet at the pool of Gibeon – perhaps intentionally, perhaps not, with the incidental nature of the meeting only highlighting how avoidable the tragedies that follow were.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abner suggests that young men from the two sides come forward to \u201csport.\u201d 12 pairs of soldiers step forward to struggle, symbolically, over the right to rule the 12 tribes of Israel. It is unclear if Abner intended some sort of nonlethal jousting match, or a deadly serious symbolic combat (akin to what Goliath proposed back in I Sam. 17) that would ultimately prevent bloodshed by binding both sides to accept the outcome of the small match-up. In either case, the \u201csport\u201d is both deadly and inconclusive. The 24 men all succeed in killing their sparring partners, leading to the outbreak of an outright civil war.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAbner and the men of Israel were routed by David\u2019s soldiers\u201d – While Abner takes center stage throughout the chapter on his side of the battle, the men under Joab\u2019s command are consistently referred to as belonging to David. Unlike Abner, Joab commands troops for his king\u2019s glory, not his own.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through his initial suggestion, Abner implicitly places himself and Joab on a tier above the regular soldiers: two legitimate generals shaking hands, as it were, before their men set about trying to kill each other.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joab\u2019s brother Asahel, however, seems to see it differently. Asahel chases Abner, refusing to be deterred even as Abner begs \u201cStop pursuing me, or I\u2019ll have to strike you down. How will I look your brother Joab in the face?\u201d Asahel rejects Abner\u2019s pretensions to be Joab\u2019s equal, instead hoping to finish off the upstart general, and with him the puppet kingship of Ish-boshet, once and for all.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Abner kills Asahel in self defense, Joab and his remaining brother Abishai give chase, until Abner convinces them that the toll to the Israelites as a whole from this relentless pursuit is simply too great. Joab has not given up his personal desire for revenge, but is convinced to put the needs of the nation ahead of them – for now.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the next chapter, we will see how this uneasy suspension is shattered, changing Joab\u2019s life forever.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Johann Christoph Weigel, Woodcut of the story from 2 Samuel 2, 1695 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":59647,"id":59647,"title":"2sam2-abner","filename":"2sam2-abner.jpeg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam2-abner.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/abner-the-anti-joab\/2sam2-abner\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam2-abner","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":59646,"date":"2019-07-17 15:05:59","modified":"2019-07-17 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