2 Samuel 3:24

24 So Joab went to the king. He said, "What have you done? Abner came to you. Why did you let him get away? Now he's gone!

2 Samuel 3:24 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 3:24

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" ^F5; is clean gone off, when he ought to have been laid hold on as a traitor, and put in irons.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Kwlh Klyw) "et abiit eundo", Pagninus, Montanus.

2 Samuel 3:24 In-Context

22 Just then David's men and Joab came back from attacking their enemies. They brought with them the large amount of goods they had taken. But Abner wasn't with David in Hebron anymore. That's because David had sent him away, and he had gone in peace.

23 Joab and all of the soldiers who were with him arrived. Then he was told that Abner, the son of Ner, had come to see the king. He was told that the king had sent Abner away. He was also told that Abner had gone in peace.

24 So Joab went to the king. He said, "What have you done? Abner came to you. Why did you let him get away? Now he's gone!

25 You know what Abner, the son of Ner, is like. He came to trick you. He wanted to watch your every move. He came to find out everything you are doing."

26 Then Joab left David. He sent messengers to get Abner. They brought Abner back from the well of Sirah. But David didn't know about it.