Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 153
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S am u el – K I N G S
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David’s troops returned from a raid, bringing much plunder with them.
When Joab arrived, he was told that Abner had just been there visiting the
king and had been sent away in safety.
Joab rushed to the king and demanded, “What have you done? What
do you mean by letting Abner get away? You know perfectly well that he
came to spy on you and find out everything you’re doing!”
Joab then left David and sent messengers to catch up with Abner, asking
him to return. They found him at the well of Sirah and brought him back,
though David knew nothing about it. When Abner arrived back at He
bron, Joab took him aside at the gateway as if to speak with him privately.
But then he stabbed Abner in the stomach and killed him in revenge for
killing his brother Asahel.
When David heard about it, he declared, “I vow by the Lord that I and
my kingdom are forever innocent of this crime against Abner son of Ner.
Joab and his family are the guilty ones. May the family of Joab be cursed in
every generation with a man who has open sores or leprosy or who walks
on crutches or dies by the sword or begs for food!”
So Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner because Abner had killed
their brother Asahel at the battle of Gibeon.
Then David said to Joab and all those who were with him, “Tear your
clothes and put on burlap. Mourn for Abner.” And King David himself
walked behind the procession to the grave. They buried Abner in Hebron,
and the king and all the people wept at his graveside. Then the king sang
this funeral song for Abner:
“Should Abner have died as fools die?
Your hands were not bound;
your feet were not chained.
No, you were murdered—
the victim of a wicked plot.”
All the people wept again for Abner. David had refused to eat anything
on the day of the funeral, and now everyone begged him to eat. But Da
vid had made a vow, saying, “May God strike me and even kill me if I eat
anything before sundown.”
This pleased the people very much. In fact, everything the king did
pleased them! So everyone in Judah and all Israel understood that David
was not responsible for Abner’s murder.
Then King David said to his officials, “Don’t you realize that a great
commander has fallen today in Israel? And even though I am the anointed
king, these two sons of Zeruiah—Joab and Abishai—are too strong for
me to control. So may the Lord repay these evil men for their evil deeds.”