A Belated Appeal for Peace

Abner assembled his troops on a hilltop and formed a defensive line. Joab’s forces had Abner’s force surrounded. “The forces of Abner had lost heavily in the struggle, but in their present hilltop position they would have been able to inflict heavy losses upon the troops of Joab if the latter had persisted in the attack. Knowing that he was in no position to win, and knowing also that Joab would be aware of the heavy price he would have to pay if he was determined to rout him from his strong defensive position, Abner now made an appeal to the opposing forces to stop pursuing their fellow Hebrews. Abner had laid down a challenge to war, and he now set forth an appeal for peace. In this appeal Abner was motivated largely by his own defeat and present danger, and not by a sincere desire to terminate the struggle with the house of David. His conciliatory proposal was dictated by a change in circumstances, not by a change of heart.” Joab replied, “As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother” (2 Samuel 2:27).

Joab’s meaning is not clear. Perhaps he wished to make clear that if not for Abner’s challenge that morning, there would not have been civil war, and both sides would have returned home. He might have meant his men were willing to continue the fight until the next morning had Abner not just called for a truce. “On the whole, it seems that Joab was endeavoring to place the blame upon Abner, whose rash challenge at Gibeon had brought on the struggle that day between brother and brother. To engage in civil war was most unfortunate, and Joab sought to clear himself of responsibility for what had occurred.” “It is sometimes difficult to understand the motives that prompt a man to take a certain course of action that seems, in retrospect, to have been ill-advised.”