2 Samuel 2:32

32 Joab and his men took Asahel’s body to Bethlehem and buried him there in his father’s tomb. Then they traveled all night and reached Hebron at daybreak.

2 Samuel 2:32 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 2:32

And they took up Asahel
From the place where he fell; that is, Joab and Abishai, his brethren, as Josephus ^F23 relates; after they had buried the dead in the field of battle, they took up him:

and buried him in the sepulchre of his father, which [was in]
Bethlehem:
not in the city of Bethlehem, but without it, on the south side of it; so says Fuller ^F24,

``southward, i.e. of Bethlehem, we find Asahel's sepulchre, who was buried in the grave of his father.''

What was his father's name is not known, only his mother's name, Zeruiah, is mentioned in Scripture, a sister of David, and daughter of Jesse the Bethlehemite. Bethlehem was sixteen miles from Gibeon, according to Bunting ^F25.

And Joab and his men went all night;
not the night following the battle, but the night following the next day, after he had been to Bethlehem, and buried his brother there; wherefore, lest David should think it long before he came, he travelled all night:

and they came to Hebron at break of day;
where David was, which, according to the same writer ^F26, was twenty miles from Bethlehem.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Antiqu. l. 7. c. 1. sect. 3.
F24 Pisgah-Sight of Palestine, B. 2. c. 14. sect. 21. p. 301.
F25 Travels, ut supra. (p. 145, 146.)
F26 Travels, ut supra. (p. 145, 146.)

2 Samuel 2:32 In-Context

30 Meanwhile, Joab and his men also returned home. When Joab counted his casualties, he discovered that only 19 men were missing in addition to Asahel.

31 But 360 of Abner’s men had been killed, all from the tribe of Benjamin.

32 Joab and his men took Asahel’s body to Bethlehem and buried him there in his father’s tomb. Then they traveled all night and reached Hebron at daybreak.