2 Samuel 2:25 - Meaning and Application

I. Abner, after being defeated, humbly asks for a stop to the fighting. He gathers what is left of his men on the top of a hill (2 Samuel 2:25), as if he might fight again, but then becomes a supplicant to Joab, David’s army commander, and asks for a little breathing room (2 Samuel 2:26). He had been eager to fight, but now he has had enough. The man who once made light of bloodshed, saying, “Let the young men arise and play before us” (2 Samuel 2:14), is now disturbed by it when he is on the losing side and the sword may reach him.

Notice how his words have changed. Then it was only “playing” with the sword; now he asks, “Shall the sword devour forever?” It had only lasted one day, but to him it felt endless because it was hurting his side. He is now very willing that the sun should not go down on their anger.

He can now speak to Joab himself about the sad results of civil war: “Do you not know that it will be bitterness in the end?” The damage will be remembered with regret when the account is settled, because in civil war, even the winner helps ruin the community. He may also be thinking of the bitterness among the tribes of Israel after their war with Benjamin, when they wept deeply over the destruction they had caused themselves (Judges 21:2). Now he asks Joab to call off the pursuit, and he argues that they are brothers and should not attack each other.

This shows how easy it is for people to reason well when it helps them, though they would not reason that way if it hurt their own side. If Abner had won, he would not have spoken about the sword devouring, or about the misery of civil war, or about both sides being brothers. But once he was beaten, all these arguments were ready to use, so he could protect his retreat and save his scattered troops from being destroyed.

It also shows how outcomes change people’s minds. The same thing that seemed pleasant in the morning looked terrible by night. Those who rush into conflict may regret it before they are done, and they would be wise to stop before it starts, as Solomon advises. This is true of every sin, if only people would think about it in time, it will be bitterness in the end. In the end it bites like a serpent those it once seemed to treat kindly.

II. Joab, though he has won, generously agrees and calls off the attack. He knows David’s heart and knows that his master did not want bloodshed. He does rightly rebuke Abner for being eager to start the fight and places the blame on him for the blood that was shed (2 Samuel 2:27). “If you had not spoken,” that is, if you had not given the order to fight and had not said, “Let the young men arise and play before us,” none of us would have lifted a hand or drawn a sword against our brothers.

“You complain that the sword devours,” he says, “but who first drew it? Who began the fight? Now you want the people separated, but remember who set them on to fight. We would have withdrawn in the morning if you had not challenged us.” Those who are quick to make trouble are often the first to complain about it.

Joab could have used this as a reason to press his victory and finish off Abner’s army. But he acted like someone who pitied his opponents’ mistake and did not want an army of Israelites to pay heavily for the folly of their commander. So he honorably ordered the trumpet to be blown and stopped the pursuit (2 Samuel 2:28), allowing Abner to retreat in order.

It is wise to spare blood when possible. The soldiers here obeyed their commander’s orders, and Joab no doubt followed the instruction of his prince, David, who sought the good of all Israel and therefore did not want harm to come to any of them.

III. After the armies separated, both returned to where they had come from. They marched by night, Abner to Mahanaim, east of the Jordan River (2 Samuel 2:29), and Joab to Hebron, where David was (2 Samuel 2:32). The dead on both sides are counted. On David’s side, only nineteen men were missing, besides Asahel, the swift runner (2 Samuel 2:30), who was worth more than all the others. On Abner’s side, 360 men had fallen (2 Samuel 2:31).

In earlier civil wars, far greater slaughter had taken place, as in Judges 12:6 and Judges 20:44. Compared with those, this was small, and we may hope that the people had become wiser and more restrained. Asahel’s burial is mentioned here. The others were buried on the battlefield, but he was taken to Bethlehem and buried in his father’s tomb (2 Samuel 2:32). So even among the dust of the dead, some are given special honor and others are not. But at the resurrection, the only lasting difference will be between the godly and the ungodly, and that difference will remain forever.