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2 Samuel 3 Bible study: He went in peace
Three verses in a row say Abner "went in peace" (3:21-23), the same two Hebrew words each time, just before Joab brought him back. And David's lament asks whether Abner should die as a fool dies (3:33) with the word naval, spelled exactly like the name of Abigail's first husband, Nabal (3:3).
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“Now there was a long war between Saul’s house and David’s house. David grew stronger and stronger, but Saul’s house grew weaker and weaker.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“Before Joab brought him back, the chapter says three times that Abner had gone in peace.”
Is that in 2 Samuel 3, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Stronger and stronger, weaker and weaker
The chapter opens with the whole war in one verse: "Now there was a long war between Saul’s house and David’s house. David grew stronger and stronger, but Saul’s house grew weaker and weaker" (3:1) (tap weaker). Then it lists what grew in Hebron: "Sons were born to David in Hebron" (3:2), six of them, each with a different mother: Amnon, of Ahinoam; Chileab, of Abigail; Absalom, the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; Adonijah, the son of Haggith; Shephatiah, the son of Abital; and Ithream, of Eglah (3:2-5). Three of those names come back in the story. Amnon and Absalom return in chapter 13 (13:1), and in 1 Kings, "Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself" (1 Kings 1:5). Then the chapter turns back to the war: "Abner made himself strong in Saul’s house" (3:6). In Hebrew, stronger in 3:1 and made himself strong in 3:6 are from one root: Strong's gives the word in 3:1 as "from 2388", the verb in 3:6.
Where it leads to Jesus
A house divided
2 Samuel 3:10leads toMark 3:24-25
The chapter opens on "a long war between Saul’s house and David’s house" (3:1). Then Saul's house turns against itself. Abner, who "made himself strong in Saul’s house" (3:6), falls out with Ishbosheth, the king he had made (2:8-9, 3:7-8), and swears "to transfer the kingdom from Saul’s house, and to set up David’s throne over Israel and over Judah" (3:10), and Ishbosheth "could not answer Abner another word, because he was afraid of him" (3:11). In Jesus' words: "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand" (Mark 3:24-25). No New Testament passage cites 2 Samuel 3, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Some hear in Jesus' words a truth this chapter shows: a royal house turned against itself, and its captain setting out to carry the kingdom to David (3:10, 3:12). Others read Jesus' words in their own setting: he is answering the scribes who said, "By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons" (Mark 3:22), and asks, "How can Satan cast out Satan?" (Mark 3:23); he speaks of Satan's kingdom, not of Saul's house.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 2 Samuel 3
That was a taste
The rest of 2 Samuel 3 is waiting in Favor
- Abner turns
- He went in peace
- The king wept
- "As the LORD has sworn to David"
- The blood on Joab's head
- David's two laments
- 11 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
שָׁלוֹםshalomsay sha-LOHM
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "completeness, soundness, welfare, peace". Three verses in a row end with it. "David sent Abner away; and he went in peace" (3:21). Then, "he had gone in peace" (3:22), and "he has gone in peace" (3:23). In Hebrew all three are the same two words, vayyelekh beshalom, he went in peace. Jonathan had parted from David with this word: "Go in peace" (1 Samuel 20:42). In 1 Kings David says that Joab killed Abner and Amasa "and shed the blood of war in peace" (1 Kings 2:5), with beshalom again, and he tells Solomon, "don’t let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace" (1 Kings 2:6).
For your group
2 Samuel 3 Bible study questions
- 1Abner had made a covenant with David and "went in peace" (3:21), and Joab killed him for his brother's blood (3:27, 3:30). When has an old hurt made it hard for you to accept peace someone else had made?
- 2David said, "I am weak today, though anointed king" (3:39). What helps you say out loud where you are weak, instead of hiding it?
- 3David wept at the grave of a man who had led the other side of the war (3:32). How do you honour someone you once stood against?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 2 Samuel 3 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home