2 Samuel 3:24

Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came unto thee; why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) What hast thou done?—Joab’s somewhat rough remonstrance with David may have been supported by an honest suspicion of Abner, for which there was some ground in Abner’s long opposition to the known Divine will and his present revolt from Ish-bosheth; but there was also a personal enmity, due partly to the fear of being himself supplanted by an older and famous warrior, and partly to the desire to revenge the death of his brother Asahel. Joab seeks to poison David’s mind against Abner, that he may better carry out his revenge.

Benson Commentary

2 Samuel 3:24. Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? — Upon hearing what had passed, he immediately went to David, in the pride of his success, and of the great spoil he had taken, to expostulate with him upon the folly of receiving Abner in the manner he had done, and placing any confidence in a man who, he signified, had come thither only to betray him. This presumption and insolence David was constrained to endure, because of Joab’s great power with the army and military men.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:22-39 Judgments are prepared for such scorners as Abner; but Joab, in what he did, acted wickedly. David laid Abner's murder deeply to heart, and in many ways expressed his detestation of it. The guilt of blood brings a curse upon families: if men do not avenge it, God will. It is a sad thing to die like a fool, as they do that any way shorten their own days, and those who make no provision for another world. Who would be fond of power, when a man may have the name of it, and must be accountable for it, yet is hampered in the use of it? David ought to have done his duty, and then trusted God with the issue. Carnal policy spared Joab. The Son of David may long delay, but never fails to punish impenitent sinners. He who now reigns upon the throne of David, has a kingdom of a nobler kind. Whatever He doeth, is noticed by all his willing people, and is pleasing to them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Joab saw that if Abner was reconciled to David, his own post as second in the state would be forfeited; and then with characteristic unscrupulosity he proceeded to take Abner's life.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24-27. Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done?—Joab's knowledge of Abner's wily character might have led him to doubt the sincerity of that person's proposals and to disapprove the policy of relying on his fidelity. But undoubtedly there were other reasons of a private and personal nature which made Joab displeased and alarmed by the reception given to Abner. The military talents of that general, his popularity with the army, his influence throughout the nation, rendered him a formidable rival. In the event of his overtures being carried out, the important service of bringing over all the other tribes to the king of Judah would establish so strong a claim on the gratitude of David, that his accession would inevitably raise a serious obstacle to the ambition of Joab. To these considerations was added the remembrance of the blood feud that existed between them since the death of his brother Asahel (2Sa 2:23). Determined, therefore, to get Abner out of the way, Joab feigned some reason, probably in the king's name, for recalling him, and, going out to meet him, stabbed him unawares; not within Hebron, for it was a city of refuge, but at a noted well in the neighborhood.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

What hast thou done? thou hast committed a great oversight, to dismiss so dangerous and mischievous a person when he was in thy hands.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then Joab came to the king,.... To the apartment where he was; perhaps he was told the above at his first entering into the king's palace, by some in waiting, before he came to the king, which filled him with wrath, so that he came to him in a passion:

and said to him, what hast thou done? which was very insolent in a subject to say to his prince:

behold, Abner came unto thee; I have been credibly informed of it, and am assured it is a fact which cannot be denied; he represents it as if he had done a wrong thing to admit him to come to him; but perhaps the great fault was that he had let him go:

why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone? or "going, is gone" (e); is clean gone off, when he ought to have been laid hold on as a traitor, and put in irons.

(e) "et abiit eundo", Pagninus, Montanus.

Geneva Study Bible

Then Joab came to the king, and said, {i} What hast thou done? behold, Abner came unto thee; why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?

(i) Here appears the malicious mind of Joab, who would have had the king slay Abner for his private grudge.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. he is quite gone] The Sept. reads “and he is gone in peace? Dost thou not know the wickedness of Abner,” &c.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 24, 25. - What hast thou done? David's secret dealing makes Joab see a personal wrong to himself in the negotiation with Abner. There could be no room, he feels, for both of them in David's army, and David meant, he supposes, to sacrifice himself. In hot haste, therefore, he rushes into the king's presence, and reproaches him for what he has done, but covers his personal feelings with professed zeal for his master's interests. Abner is a mere spy, who has come on a false pretext, and with the real intention of learning David's going out and coming in, that is, his present manner of life and undertakings. All that thou doest; literally, all that thou art doing; all that is now going on, and thy plans and purposes. Abner would not only judge by what he saw, but in his interview with David would lead him on to talk of his hopes and prospects. David had little time to explain the real object of Abner's coming, nor was Joab in a mood to listen to anything he said. He had detected his master in secret negotiations, and would regard his excuses as tainted with deceit. And after giving vent to his auger in reproaches, he hurried away to thwart David's plans by a deed of most base villainy. Had David acted openly, all would have been done with Joab's consent and approval. 2 Samuel 3:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When Joab learned. Lit. they told him) that Abner had been with David, and he had sent him away again, he went to David to reproach him for having done so. "What hast thou done? Behold, Abner came to thee; why then hast thou sent him away, and he is gone quite away?" i.e., so that he could go away again without being detained (for this meaning of the inf. abs., see Ewald, 280, b.). "Thou knowest (or more correctly as a question, Dost thou know?) Abner, the son of Ner, that he came to persuade thee (i.e., to make thee certain of his intentions), and to learn thy going out and in (i.e., all thine undertakings), and to learn all that thou wilt do" (i.e., all thy plans). Joab hoped in this way to prejudice David against Abner, to make him suspected as a traitor, that he might then be able to gratify his own private revenge with perfect impunity.