Abner

Abner son of Ner was the commander-in-chief of King Saul's army and Saul's own first cousin — the two men were sons of brothers (1 Samuel 14:50-51) — and one of the most consequential figures of the early monarchy. He served Saul faithfully through forty years of war against the Philistines and was at the king's side until the disaster at Mount Gilboa, where Saul, Jonathan, and three of Saul's sons died and Abner survived.

After Saul's death, Abner refused to acquiesce in David's anointing at Hebron. He took Saul's surviving son Ish-bosheth to Mahanaim east of the Jordan and proclaimed him king over the eleven northern tribes (2 Samuel 2). The civil war that followed pitted Abner's forces against Joab and David's army, and at the pool of Gibeon the long fight broke out. Pursued from that battle by Joab's youngest brother Asahel — light of foot as a wild roe — Abner warned him three times to turn aside, and when Asahel would not, Abner struck him through with the butt-end of his spear (2 Samuel 2:23). The killing was reluctant; the consequence was vengeance.

Abner's break with Ish-bosheth came over Rizpah, Saul's concubine. When Ish-bosheth accused Abner of sleeping with her, Abner — furious at the implied claim on the throne and tired of propping up a weak king — swore to deliver the whole kingdom to David. Within weeks he had brought northern Israel's elders to the table, escorted Saul's daughter Michal back to David, and was negotiating the transfer of the nation (2 Samuel 3:6-21).

It was the negotiation that killed him. Joab, returning to Hebron and learning that David had let Abner go in peace, summoned him back under pretense and stabbed him in the belly at the gate — for the blood of Asahel his brother (2 Samuel 3:27). David's public grief was unmistakable: he walked behind Abner's bier and lifted his voice — Died Abner as a fool dieth? ... Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? (2 Samuel 3:33-38). On his deathbed twenty years later, David named Joab's murder of Abner as a sin Solomon must answer (1 Kings 2:5).

Abner left a son, Jaasiel, who became chief of the Benjamites in David's later administration (1 Chronicles 27:21). His own line continued; his memory persisted; and his death — like Asahel's — remained one of the unsettled debts of the early monarchy until Joab was finally killed at the altar.