2 Samuel 2:18

ABNER KILLED ASAHEL; THE BROTHER OF JOAB

"And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle; and Asahei pursued Abner, and as he went he turned neither to the right hand or to the left from following Abner. Then Abner looked behind him and said, "Is it you Asahel"? And he answered, "It is I" Abner said to him, "Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men, and take his spoil." But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. And Abner said again to Asahel, "Turn aside from following me; why should I smite you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab"? But he refused to turn aside; therefore Abner smote him in the belly with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back; and he fell there, and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still."

This encounter between Abner and Asahel is related here because of its importance, resulting, as it did, in the death of Abner, David's principal opponent, and of David's nephew, Asahel.

"The three sons of Zeruiah were Joab, Abishai and Asahel" (2 Samuel 2: 18). "Zeruiah was a sister of King David; and her three sons, David's nephews, all held important positions of trust in David's army."[16] Joab commanded his army; Abishai was with David when they found Saul asleep and pleaded with David to allow him to kill Saul (1 Samuel 26:6-12); both he and Asahel were reckoned among David's thirty mighty men (2 Samuel 23:8-38; 1 Chronicles 11:26ff). Strangely enough, the father of these mighty men was never mentioned. This was probably due, as Barker thought, "Either to the widowhood of Zeruiah, or that, as David's sister, she was more prominent than her spouse."[17]

"Asahel was as swift as a wild gazelle" (2 Samuel 2:18). Swiftness of foot was one of the most important abilities in ancient warfare. And, significantly, David in his ode to Saul and Jonathan in the previous chapter eulogized them both as "swift as eagles and as strong as lions."

Abner's forces proved to be no match for David's hardened veterans of many conflicts. Perhaps most of Abner's really able soldiers had been killed in the disastrous defeat by the Philistines in the mountains of Gilboa. Only Abner's superior ability prevented him from being numbered among the slain. Asahel isolated the commanding general Abner, intending to take his armour as spoil. "To gain the general's armour was deemed the grandest trophy";[18] and Asahel pursued Abner with the purpose of killing him and taking his armor. After repeated pleas by Abner for Asahel to turn aside, the skilled commander of Ishbosheth's forces stopped suddenly, at the same time making a backward thrust with his spear, the butt of which had been sharpened in order for it to be stuck in the ground at Abner's head at nights (1 Samuel 26:7). That fatal thrust through Asahel's body ended the conflict.

"Why should I smite you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?" (2 Samuel 2:22). Abner's reluctance to slay Asahel was doubtless due to his unwillingness to incur the hatred and certain vengeance of Joab, who, as the avenger of blood, would have the right to kill Abner, unless he remained inside of one of the cities of refuge.

"And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still" (2 Samuel 2:23). We find no agreement possible with the critical nonsense that, "Such a standing still of the people is out of place"[19] We find this remark an indelible identification by an eye-witness of what really happened. This writer was once called to a field where a dear friend had been suddenly killed; and that memory of how his body lay so still, so very still, is yet vivid after seventy five years! Others also stood there; they stood still and silent. That is exactly what happened here. When Asahel's fellow soldiers came upon the slain body of `the Young Gazelle,' how shocked and how conscious they were of our common mortality, because the silence and stillness of eternity had fallen upon one whom they loved. Porter was certainly correct in his comment that, "So tragic was Asahel's fate and so great was the affection of David's men for him, that all further pursuit of Abner's defeated troops ceased; and all they that came up remained standing by his body."[20] After an interval, of course, Joab and Abishai rallied their men to resume the pursuit of Abner.