David’s general, Joab, carefully engineered the revenge killing of Abner so that it took place just outside the city gate of Hebron. Why was it important to be outside the city gate? Because Joab was acting as the “avenger of blood” for his brother Asahel, who had been killed by Abner. Hebron was declared a City of Refuge back in Joshua 20:7, so Joab could not kill Abner inside the city walls without being guilty of murder. Technically he had avenged his younger brother’s death, as required by law; however, this made Joab’s act all the more treacherous because he understood that Abner had a rightful claim of self-defense, and that he probably would have been found not guilty by the elders of the city of Hebron.<\/p>\n
We see that Joab carefully killed Abner in the same manner that Abner had killed his brother, a lethal stomach wound. But we cannot escape the glaring difference between these two killings. Abner struck Asahel in self-defense, whereas Joab murdered Abner for revenge. David was repulsed by the whole matter but was unable to legally do anything to correct the wrong, except call for mourning for the death of this fallen warrior.\u00a0Again the people saw that David was a different sort of king than Saul had been. Here was a man of honor and dignity, a man after God’s own heart. The LORD would have us be men and women of honor in our daily walk before this struggling world.<\/p>\n
“LORD help us to choose the higher good, the better way, the more honorable action today as we walk with You. May others see Your life flowing through us as we serve, choosing to be others-centered this day.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 Samuel 3 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. 2<\/sup> And unto David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;\u00a0\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;\u00a05<\/sup> And the sixth, Ithream, by Eglah David\u2019s wife. These were born to David in Hebron. 6<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul. 7<\/sup>\u00a0And Saul had a concubine, whose name\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and\u00a0Ish-bosheth\u00a0<\/em>said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father\u2019s concubine?\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ish-bosheth, and said,\u00a0Am<\/em>I a dog\u2019s head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me to day with a fault concerning this woman? 9<\/sup>\u00a0So do God to Abner, and more also, except, as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath sworn to David, even so I do to him;\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And he could not answer Abner a word again, because he feared him. 12<\/sup>\u00a0And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, Whose\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>the land? saying\u00a0also\u00a0<\/em>, Make thy league with me, and, behold, my hand\u00a0shall be\u00a0<\/em>with thee, to bring about all Israel unto thee. 13<\/sup>\u00a0And he said, Well; I will make a league with thee: but one thing I require of thee, that is, Thou shalt not see my face, except thou first bring Michal Saul\u2019s daughter, when thou comest to see my face.\u00a0\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth Saul\u2019s son, saying, Deliver\u00a0me\u00a0<\/em>my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And Ish-bosheth sent, and took her from\u00a0her\u00a0<\/em>husband,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>from Phaltiel the son of Laish.\u00a0\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And her husband went with her along weeping behind her to Bahurim. Then said Abner unto him, Go, return. And he returned.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, Ye sought for David in times past\u00a0to be\u00a0<\/em>king over you:\u00a0\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0Now then do\u00a0it:\u00a0<\/em>for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And Abner also spake in the ears of Benjamin: and Abner went also to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel, and that seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0So Abner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with him. And David made Abner and the men that\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>with him a feast.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And Abner said unto David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel unto my lord the king, that they may make a league with thee, and that thou mayest reign over all that thine heart desireth. And David sent Abner away; and he went in peace. 22<\/sup>\u00a0And, behold, the servants of David and Joab came from\u00a0pursuing\u00a0<\/em>a troop, and brought in a great spoil with them: but Abner\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>not with David in Hebron; for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0When Joab and all the host that\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>with him were come, they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he hath sent him away, and he is gone in peace.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came unto thee; why\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>it\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0Thou knowest Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all that thou doest.\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again from the well of Sirah: but David knew\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>not.\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth\u00a0rib\u00a0<\/em>, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0And afterward when David heard\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>, he said, I and my kingdom\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>guiltless before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0for ever from the blood of Abner the son of Ner:\u00a0\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0Let it rest on the head of Joab, and on all his father\u2019s house; and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword, or that lacketh bread.\u00a0\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner, because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle. 31<\/sup>\u00a0And David said to Joab, and to all the people that\u00a0were<\/em>with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David\u00a0himself\u00a0<\/em>followed the bier.\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept.\u00a033<\/sup>\u00a0And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth?\u00a034<\/sup>\u00a0Thy hands\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters: as a man falleth before wicked men,\u00a0so\u00a0<\/em>fellest thou. And all the people wept again over him.\u00a0\u00a035<\/sup>\u00a0And when all the people came to cause David to eat meat while it was yet day, David sware, saying, So do God to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or ought else, till the sun be down.\u00a036<\/sup>\u00a0And all the people took notice\u00a0of it\u00a0<\/em>, and it pleased them: as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people.\u00a037<\/sup>\u00a0For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner.\u00a038<\/sup>\u00a0And the king said unto his servants, Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?\u00a039<\/sup>And I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>too hard for me: the\u00a0LORD\u00a0shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" David’s general, Joab, carefully engineered the revenge killing of Abner so that it took place just outside the city gate of Hebron. Why was it important to be outside the city gate? Because Joab was acting as the “avenger of blood” for his brother Asahel, who had been killed by Abner. Hebron was declared a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6570"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16192,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6570\/revisions\/16192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}