2 Samuel 2:12

ABNER BEGAN A CIVIL WAR AGAINST JUDAH AND DAVID

"Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. And Abner said to Joab, "Let the young men arise and play before us." And Joab said, "Let them arise." Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and twelve for the servants of David. And each caught his opponent by the head, and thrust his sword in his opponent's side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkathhazzurim, which is at Gibeon. And the battle was very fierce that day; and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David."

"And Abner ... went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon" (2 Samuel 2:12). "The expression `went out' as used here is a technical phrase for `going out to war.'"[13] This war was of Abner's own choice, giving ample proof of his unscrupulous and ambitious nature; and yet, when he actually confronted the opposing army of David, he did not have the nerve to begin hostilities, correctly guessing that some bloodshed in that so-called `playing' of the young men would precipitate a full-scale encounter.

"Joab and the servants of David met them at the pool of Gibeon" (2 Samuel 2:13). "Gibeon is now known as El Jib; and in the excavations there since 1956 by Pritchard have uncovered and measured this ancient pool which existed as early as 1200 B.C. It measured 11.3 meters in diameter and was 10.8 meters deep."[14] Judged by the size of this pool and the fact of Abner and Joab's conversation with each other, and also by the number of casualties on each side, it would seem that very large military forces were not involved in this battle.

"Let the young men rise and play before us" (2 Samuel 2:14). This brutal and unfeeling suggestion of bloody hand-to-hand combat unto death which Abner here proposed as "the young men playing" is an adequate measure of his wicked, bloody character. As Henry suggested, "Abner was apparently accustomed to using his men in such barbarous pastimes and had learned to make a jest of the wounds and death which went along with such scenes of blood. He is unworthy of the name of a man who can be thus prodigal of human blood."[15]

The great pity is that Joab did not have the good sense to prevent such a needless waste of life. This brutal game, as Abner called it, was nothing more than a mass suicide on the part of the contestants. They had not even shields with which to defend themselves. Otherwise they could not each one of them have taken his opponent by the head.