Sermon for Sunday Evening, August 3rd, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Sermon Text:
[2Sa 2:12-32 ESV] 12 Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13 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. 14 And Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men arise and compete before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.” 15 Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. 16 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 Helkath-hazzurim, which is at Gibeon. 17 And the battle was very fierce that day. And Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David. 18 And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle. 19 And Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. 20 Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is it you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.” 21 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. 22 And Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?” 23 But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach 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. 24 But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill. 26 Then Abner called to Joab, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers?” 27 And Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning.” 28 So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore. 29 And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Mahanaim. 30 Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David’s servants nineteen men besides Asahel. 31 But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner’s men. 32 And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.
Introduction
In the book of 2nd Samuel, we had first “The Lying Amalekite and the Just David.”
Then “A King in Judah, a King in Israel” (David and Ishbosheth, respectively)
Now there is war between the supporters of these two kings in the divided land of God’s people.
It is called The Battle of Gibeon.
I. The Characters
It is beneficial to look at the characters in this section.
1. David we know well, as the anointed king of Judah, chosen of the Lord.
2. Ishbosheth, you will remember, is the 4th son of King Saul; Saul and his other three sons now being dead.
Now we have some other characters entering the story.
Most prominently Abner and Joab.
3. Abner. He is on the side of Ishbosheth.
4. Joab. He is on the side of David. Joab has two brothers involved in this account as well. They are Abishai and Asahel.
So Abner is the enemy, Joab and his brothers Abishai and Asahel are on the side of God’s chosen king David.
II. Confrontation at the Pool of Gibeon (2:12-17)
Abner, leading Ish-Bosheth’s forces, meets Joab, leading David’s forces, at the pool of Gibeon.
It is said in each case that these men are the SERVANTS of Ishbosheth and of David, respectively. But there is no note of the Kings sending them out to fight. So it is not clear if they are making their own decisions or are under the authority of their respective kings. It seems to me, that despite being “servants” they are acting on their own, and getting into trouble.
It seems to me that they are “cruising for a bruising.”
When these two groups of men meet at the Pool of Gibeon, a contest is entered in to. Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men arise and COMPETE before us.”
This is important to remember; Abner here is starting the misadventure. Even if he is proposing a competition and not a battle, it will be this action that leads to death and begins the fighting between the forces of David and the forces of Ishbosheth. Matthew Henry says outright: “In this battle Abner was the aggressor.”
Joab, for his part, agrees, saying “Let them arise.”
The competition is then 12 against 12. That’s the usual number of players on a basketball team. The number 12 often has connotations in the Bible relating back to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps these sides are saying “Let’s see who is the real Israel.”
It is not clear if they meant only to have a relatively friendly competition or something more. Perhaps “compete” means “fight to the death” for that’s what quickly ensues. Verse 16: “And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponents’s side so they fell down together.” Does this (“they fell down together”) mean they each died? Each of the 12 on either side?
Yes, according to Matthew Henry: “all the twenty-four were slain, such an equal match were they for one another, and so resolute, that neither side would either beg or give quarter.”
So this is like a double-knockout in boxing. Have you ever heard of that? A perfect punch is landed in each direction at the same time, and both competitors go down! Well, if they only go down that’s a double-knockDOWN, but if neither gets up, it is a double-knockOUT. The olympic rules say that both fighters would be giving a loss! Though in professional boxing it would be called a draw.
But when you’re “competing” with swords, it is definitely a loss for both sides!
We really see here the foolishness of it all. Joab could have said “no” to the contest, but perhaps pride goat the better of him, not wanting to back down.
Even though both sides lost the 12 men of the competition, it is said that “Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David” in the ensuing battle that quickly expanded beyond the 24 competitors.
That might also tell us something about war: it expands. A King or a Country sets out with some small objective, but soon gets embroiled in a long war. History is full of such accounts. This should teach us to avoid such wars. In fact, if you remember my lesson a while back on “Just War Theory” and if we take that historic Christian view of things, we should not go to war but in the most dire situations, essentially in defensive actions.
Well the sight of the battle is named Helkath-hazzurim, which means “field of sword edges.” That reminds me of Akeldama, the field of blood in the New Testament where the traitor Judas died. These are notorious names for places; warnings really for others to remember the stories.
III. The Pursuit of Abner and Death of Asahel (2:18-23)
Because Abner’s side has lost the battle, it appears that he flees.
That’s when we then see Asahel, Joab’s brother pursue after him. This was another chance by Joab (and Asahel) to end the fighting by NOT pursuing. But that was not to be.
And we see pride leading to more death. This time is the pride of Asahel that leads to his death. He wants to be known as the one who kills Abner and that leads him on to his own death.
Asahel, known for his swiftness, pursues Abner. And although Abner warns Asahel to stop pursuing him, Asahel refuses. Abner then kills Asahel with a backward thrust of his spear. It is apparent that he was not trying to kill Asahel, but because Asahel was running so fast, even the butt end of the spear went through him and killed him.
Abner now wants peace. He had started it, but now finding himself on the losing side is asking for peace. Even his killing of Asahel has an overture of peace in it, for he could have used the pointed side of the spear. This death is accidental.
But Joab doesn’t want the fight to end.
IV The Aftermath and Conclusion (2 Samuel 2:24-32)
The two remaining brothers, Joab and Abishai continue to pursue Abner. Abner again calls for peace.
Abner called to Joab, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter?” This is the same man who had previous said “let’s have a competition.” Or as some translate it “let’s play.” Well, play led to death, and now death leads to his desire for this to end, so as to save his own life.
Matthew Henry: He that was most forward to fight was the first that had enough of it. He that made a jest of bloodshed (Let the young men arise and play before us, v. 14) is now shocked at it, when he finds himself on the losing side, and the sword he made so light of drawing threatening to touch himself. Observe how his note is changed. Then it was but playing with the sword; now, Shall the sword devour for ever? It had devoured but one day, yet to him it seemed forever, because it went against him; and very willing he is now that the sun should not go down upon the wrath. Now he can appeal to Joab himself concerning the miserable consequences of a civil war: Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? It will be reflected upon with regret when the account comes to be made up; for, whoever gets in a civil war, the community is sure to lose.
Joab then agrees to Abner’s request to stop the pursuit and the fighting ceases.
The aftermath shows a big victory for Joab. Only “nineteen men besides Asahel” dead on their side, but 360 of Abner’s men dead.
But it is all sad in a Civil War; people of the same nation (or who could have been the same nation) fighting against each other. There’s a sense in which nobody really “wins” in war.
This is one of a number of civil wars in Israel. You have to think: isn’t there enough trouble from outside the nation? If they had just agree to have David as king rather than put forward Ishbosheth as a rival, this war would not have started.
Why does Joab agree to ending the battle? It may be that he also sees the futility of further bloodshed. But then again, later in 2nd Samuel he does kill Abner. Why not now?
This account in 2 Samuel is descriptive; it describes what happened, but it doesn’t provide us directly with a judgement or an analysis of that which happened. So it can be difficult to make conclusion.
Application: The Danger of Pride and the sin of blaming others.
We see pride in this account; the pride of the competition soon leading to death, the pride of Asahel leading to his own death, and the continued battle further evidence of a destructive cycle of retaliation.
And who is to blame?
If you ask Joab, it would be Abner. (for Abner killed Joab’s brother Asahel)
If you ask Abner, it would be Joab. (for Joab continued the fight that Abner now says he wanted only to be a competition).
But what if there is a better way?
Blame leads to sin, which leads to blame, which leads to sin …
But the way of the Lord is superior.
Jesus does not sin.
Jesus even takes the blame of our sins.
He came to earth not to pick a fight (like Abner), nor to pursue his enemies (like Asahel), nor to continue fighting (like Joab), but Jesus came to earth to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10) and so that his people “may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10), and to “destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)
In 2 Samuel 2 we really only have counter-examples. There is no hero, not role model for us. We learn what not to do; how not to be.
What we do not see is Joab, or Asahel, or anyone else seeking the Lord’s guidance. All their decisions are made on their own. And that’s never a good way to go.
I pray that this leads us to look to Christ then as the one with true wisdom and who shows the true way. Let us put away pride and repent of our sins, ever trusting in the salvation we know through Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.