Afterward, when David heard it, he said, “I and my kingdom are guiltless 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. Let there not fail from the house of Joab one who has a discharge, or who is a leper, or who leans on a staff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.” So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had killed their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle. David said to Joab, and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, and clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn in front of Abner.” King David followed the bier. They buried Abner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at Abner’s grave; and all the people wept. The king lamented for Abner, and said, “Should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands weren’t bound, and your feet weren’t put into fetters. As a man falls before the children of iniquity, so you fell.” All the people wept again over him.
All the people came to urge David to eat bread while it was yet day; but David swore, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or anything else, until the sun goes down.”
All the people took notice of it, and it pleased them; as whatever the king did pleased all the people. So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to kill Abner the son of Ner.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv28, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36 The Lord knoweth that I did not consent to…
The Lord knoweth that I did not consent to his death.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv28–37 2Sa 3:28 And afterward when David heard [it], he…
2Sa 3:28 And afterward when David heard [it], he said, I and my kingdom [are] guiltless before the LORD for ever from the blood of Abner the son of Ner:
Ver. 28. From the blood of Abner.] Heb., Bloods: from every drop of his blood shed when he was slain. David cleareth himself and his kingdom of this crying crime. But what a deal hath France to answer for the Parisian massacre, whereby a hundred thousand, some say more, innocents perished in one year in various parts of the realm! besides the many civil dissensions there, to the effusion of much Christian blood, and six thousand gentlemen slain in private quarrels within the space of ten years! as it appears by the king’s pardons. {a}
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{a} See "Les Ombres des Defunts Seiures de Vilemor et de Fountains," p. 46.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 David said publicly, before his courtiers and people; and…
David said publicly, before his courtiers and people; and seriously, as in God’s presence; I call the Lord to witness, that this was not done by my instigation or authority, or by any public counsel, but only by Joab’s malice; and therefore I trust that God will not punish me nor my kingdom, but Joab only.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv28–37 And afterward, when David heard it,.... That Joab had…
And afterward, when David heard it,.... That Joab had sent to fetch Abner back, and that he had stabbed him in the gate of the city, and he was dead; it was some time after it was done that the news of it was brought to David; this circumstance is observed, the more to clear the king from any concern in this affair:
he said; in a public manner, in open court, before all his princes; he called God to witness, and, as Josephus (i) says, stretching out his right hand to God, he cried aloud:
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I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord for ever from the blood of Abner the son of Ner; he was sensible it would be known that Abner had been with him, and that Joab his general had killed him; and therefore it might be suspected that he had an hand in it, and that it was done by his order, with his privy council; and therefore, to purge him and them from it, he made this public declaration, that neither he nor his council knew anything of it; and that it was not done with their knowledge and consent, and by their order, but through the resentment of a single person; and therefore hoped that no man would impute the shedding of this blood unto them, or that God would punish them for it; and he was the rather led to make this public declaration, because he knew that the death of Abner in this way would be resented by the friends of Saul's family, and be an obstruction to the union of the two kingdoms, which it was known Abner was endeavouring to bring about.
(i) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 1. sect. 6.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36 Let it, &c. - But would not a resolute…
Let it, &c. - But would not a resolute punishment of the murderer himself have become David better, than this passionate imprecation on his posterity?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv29, 31, 33, 36 Verse 29. Let it rest on the head] All…
Verse 29. Let it rest on the head] All these verbs may be rendered in the future tense: it will rest on the head of Joab, &c. This was a prophetic declaration, which sufficiently showed the displeasure of God against this execrable man.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv28, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36 2Sa 3:28-29. When David heard it, he said, I…
2Sa 3:28-29. When David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless — Josephus says, he lifted up his hands to God, and, with a loud voice, cried out publicly that God knew he was innocent in this matter; and therefore he trusted God would not let him and his kingdom suffer for it. And on all his father’s house — David’s indignation at the fact transported him much too far in making him wish that all Joab’s family might suffer for it, which was contrary to the law of God. See Deu 24:16. “Methinks,” says Henry, “a resolute punishment of the murderer himself would better have become David than this passionate imprecation of God’s judgments upon his posterity.” But, perhaps, the words are to be considered as a prediction rather than as an imprecation. Accordingly, Houbigant renders them, but it shall or will rest upon the head of Joab, and on all his father’s house, and there will not fail, &c.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv29, 33, 34, 35 The curse of David proves that Joab was not…
The curse of David proves that Joab was not justified as blood-revenger or Goel 2Sa 3:27 in taking away Abner’s life.
That leaneth on a staff - Rather, a crutch. The phrase denotes one lame or infirm. For similar instances of hereditary disease and poverty as a punishment of great sin, see 1Sa 2:31-33, 1Sa 2:36; 2Ki 5:27; Joh 9:2.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 Innocent. I would not purchase a kingdom at such…
Innocent. I would not purchase a kingdom at such a price. (Calmet) --- I beg that the crime may not be imputed to us, who are innocent. (Haydock) --- God sometimes punishes a whole kingdom for the sins of the rulers. (Menochius) --- Yet not without some fault of the subjects. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv31, 33 David said to Joab, and to all the people…
David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth--David's sorrow was sincere and profound, and he took occasion to give it public expression by the funeral honors he appointed for Abner.
King David himself followed the bier--a sort of wooden frame, partly resembling a coffin, and partly a hand-barrow.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv29, 30, 32, 33, 34 29. Let there not fail from the house of…
29. Let there not fail from the house of Joab — Let that house always be afflicted by having constantly among its members those distressed with an issue, that is, gonorrhea, (Lev_15:2.) or leprosy, or lameness, or poverty, or those that suffer assassination or some similarly violent death.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37 28–30. The Curse of Blood-guiltiness
28–30. The Curse of Blood-guiltiness
28. I and my kingdom are guiltless] With a strong asseveration David asserts his entire innocence of any complicity in this murder. Neither upon himself personally nor upon “his kingdom,” i.e. the royal house, his descendants and successors, could punishment for shedding this innocent blood justly fall. Cp. 1Ki_2:31-33. For the doctrine of a divine judgment which was certain to fall upon the murderer and his posterity, “visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children,” see Gen_4:11; Deu_21:6-9; Mat_23:35. Compare the Greek belief in the avenging Furies who dogged the murderer’s steps.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35 (28) I and my kingdom are guiltless.—This was true.…
(28) I and my kingdom are guiltless.—This was true. Joab’s act was entirely without David’s knowledge, and was not only against his will on moral grounds, but was in danger of proving disastrous to him politically; hence he takes the strongest means of showing his abhorrence of the deed.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 I and my kingdom are guiltless. By this David…
I and my kingdom are guiltless. By this David means, not his royal house, but the people generally, who too often have to pay the penalty for the sins of their rulers. (see 2Sa_21:1) Necessarily this is the case, wherever the crime is a state crime; but David protests that Abner"s murder was a private crime, for which Joab and Abishai alone ought to suffer.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv33, 34, 36 Died Abner as a fool dieth?
2Sa_3:33
Died Abner as a fool dieth?
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The fools death
There are two or three different renderings of our text. Some take it thus--Died Abner as a wicked man? And then the answer is, No, he did not. He fell by the foul hand of deliberate and deceitful murder. Others render the text--Shall Abner die like a fool? That is, Shall he be unpitied? Shall his fall be unsung? Shall his murder be unrevenged? There is a good deal to show for this rendering; because David, directly afterward, pronounces an awful imprecation on the house of Joab. But the third rendering, which we prefer, and which we shall take, is the one which we have here in our text: Died Abner as a fool dieth? That is, Can it be true that such a man as Abner, with all his mental power and all his martial prowess--can it be true that Abner, of all men, died like a fool? The next verse, you will see, explains the reference. His hands free, his feet, unfettered, and yet Abner the warrior falls down before the spear of Joab. Died Abner as a fool dieth? I think we may generally take for granted that in young manhood there is always a love of honest dealing. In fact, if any one who calls himself a man objects to plain, straightforward dealing, the sooner he changes his name the better. Surely no young man in his senses here will differ from us in the statement that no matter how successful a man may be in many aspects, yet his life is an utter failure if at the end he dies a fools death. We recognize the fact that die we must. And I take it that, a true young man would far sooner face a fact like this, and would far sooner hear the preacher boldly deal with it, than attempt the foolish task of escaping an unpleasant subject by not referring to it. What was the mark of folly about Abners death?
I. His strange simplicity and wonderful credulity. I do marvel at Abner--certainly David did--that he, of all men, should have been so easily gulled, for we know no other word that so exactly conveys the thought of our mind. Abner had been continually by the kings side. He must have known, therefore, that the art of political speaking is to conceal your thoughts, and that nature only gives courtiers tongues to shroud by language the intentions of the heart. Strange that a man like Abner, who had passed through such a school as two courts, should have so readily believed the message which Joab sent him. Now, is it not marvellous how unsuspicious men are of sins designs? They are shrewd enough in other things. I have no doubt that many of you are sharp, keen, acute men of business. Your books will testify that you do not make very many bad debts. You can see through a man as quickly as most; yet how strange it is that often those who are shrewdest in other things are most deluded as to the nature of sins designs! As Homer describes in his Odyssey, there are the sirens on the rocks, who sing so sweetly that, if a Ulysses is to be kept from running his craft right on their rugged brows, the men must lash him to the mast and ply their oars with desperate earnestness, for the music of the sirens makes a deadly calm, and leaves no breath of air to fill the sails and take the vessel from her danger. And so sin seems to sing like an enchantress; and the shrewdest and the cleverest men are irresistibly, almost imperceptibly, drawn toward it; and they who would see through a deception of another sort in a moment seem, like Abner, utterly blinded in this respect, What Satan raves to accomplish is to be revenged on God through Gods creatures. Is it likely, then, that such a Joab as this can have any good intent when he says to thee by some sin, Come, let us talk quietly in the gate? And yet how willingly a man will turn aside with any sin! A man is both ruined and saved through faith. I confess that when first I heard that statement I was rather startled. I did not at first see its force, and I said, Stay! There is a mistake. You mean that a man is saved through faith and is ruined by unbelief. The answer I received was: That is true; so also is it that a man is either saved or lost by faith. If the faith be in God, through Christ, then that faith saves; but, on the other hand, if it is the faith which a man places in the representations made by Satan and sin, that faith damns him. It was our first parents faith in the words of the serpent that spread ruin over Gods new-made world. And so I doubt not that there are many here concerning whom it may be said, as it was of Abner: Shall that man die as the fool dieth? So keen in everything else, shall he be credulous enough to be led by so simple a snare as that set by the enemy? Yet so is it.
II. Now note the next thing in his folly--his unusual advantages. I think David specially thought of these when he burst out into the cry, Died Abner as a fool died? You glean this from the 34th verse, Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters. Abner was a prisoner to nobody but himself. No cord bound those mighty arms of his; no iron fetters were upon his feet; and yet he might us well have been born without hands or feet for all the good they were to him. Hands unused, feet unemployed, he stands still like a fool to be killed. Oh! is it not so with many? I ask you, have not your advantages been unused? Let me ask thee, if thou weft to die and be lost wouldst thou not have to acknowledge that, in this respect, thou hast certainly played the fool, for thy, hands are not bound nor thy feet in fetters? You are not bound with ignorance. It may be that there are some of you here who know the story of the gospel as well as the preacher. It may be that there are others of you here who could stand on this platform and run through all the main doctrines of the Word. What, and will you, with all this knowledge of the truth, yet die as the fool dieth--with unfettered feet and hands at liberty? I know not your history, but it would be a strange thing if there are not hundreds here who have been armed by holy precept. Your Bible may be at the bottom of your box now, just as it was thrown in three years ago, when you left your home in the country. Not a few of you have been armed by noble examples. Have you not had a holy, noble, heavenly example in her who gave you birth, and who, perhaps, is at this moment before the throne? Then let me ask you, why die as a fool? It your hands be not bound, and you know the difference between right and wrong, if you have been armed by holy precept, and if you have been blessed with a heavenly example, why shall it ever be said of you, Died Abner as a fool dieth? As Caesar Borgia lay dying fast he looked up, and, with clenched hands, muttered through his teeth the words, I have provided for everything throughout life except death. And, doubtless, there are many here who can take up Caesar Borgias words as describing their own mad folly. Then, I ask you, if you die without hope, may it not be said as a requiem over you, Died Abner as a fool dieth?
III. Now note, next, that his very position made the folly of his death the greater. Oh, Abner, if you had refused to speak to Joab outside the city gates and insisted on entering them first, even Joab would not have dared to violate the sanctity of that citadel. Thou wouldst have been safe. I may be mistaken, but I think I am not. As far as my own feelings are concerned, the nearer a person is to safety when he dies the sadder is his death. It is sad enough for the sailor to go down in mid-Atlantic, when there are only the winds to howl his requiem, and when no eye looks down upon his struggles but that of the seagull whirling round and round upon the wings of the hurricane. It is sad enough to sink down with only the shriek of the sea-bird in your ear; but, I think, it is sadder far to go down just outside the harbours mouth, with a thousand eyes upon you and a thousand hands ready to help if they can. Sad enough for the traveller in the desert, parched with thirst and pinched with hunger, to lay him down in the burning dust to die, with only the vulture hovering over him in air which quivers with intensity of heat. But when we read some time back of one being literally starved to death in the great metropolis, when there were wealth all round, food in abundance and a thousand persons ready to vie with each other as to who should go to his rescue first, it seemed to me the climax of horror to die in the midst of plenty. Died Abner as a fool dieth--credulous, with advantages unused, and on the very threshold of safety? God save us from such folly. Shall yonder Abner, who has been the child of prayer for thirty years, die a fools death? Said a godly mother to a son who used to worship in this place, and is at the present time at the other end of the world, Ah, my boy, if ever you get into perdition, it will be over ten thousand mothers prayers that she places in front of you as barriers. It may be that there are some here who, though most deeply sunk in sin, yet know full well that there is no night nor morning but the cry goes up to heaven, Lord, save my boy! And shall Abner, the child of so many prayers, die the fools death? (A. G. Brown.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v36 was good in their eyes.
pleased
was good in their eyes.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv28, 31, 33, 35, 37 Ner ... Abishai ... Asahel
Ner ... Abishai ... Asahel
These are the names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)
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the blood of Abner
Here "blood" refers to the death of Abner. See how you translated a similar phrase in 2 Samuel 3:27. AT: "the death of Abner" or "the murder of Abner" (See: Metonymy)
fall on the head of Joab and on all his father's house
This phrase means the results of the guilt will happen to Joab and his family as if something heavy had collapsed on them. AT: "always cause suffering for Joab and for all his father's house" (See: Metaphor)
all his father's house
Here "house" refers to descendants. AT: "all the descendants of Joab's father" (See: Metonymy)
May there never fail to be
This double negative emphasizes that there will always be someone with the problems listed. AT: "May there always be" (See: Metonymy)
is killed by the sword
Here "sword" refers to violent death. AT: "dies violently" (See: Metonymy)
goes without food
"is hungry"
translationWords
David
kingdom
innocent
Yahweh
eternity
blood
Abner
guilt
die
head
Joab
house
staff
sword
Gibeon
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 3:28 David made it clear that he had nothing…
3:28 David made it clear that he had nothing to do with Abner’s death, labeling it as a crime. David knew that because his second-in-command had killed Abner, rumors would circulate among those loyal to Saul’s dynasty that David had ordered the killing. • I vow by the Lord: David called on the Lord to hold him accountable if he were lying.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.