2 Samuel 2:29

29 Abner and his men traveled all that night through the Arabah; they crossed the Jordan, and, marching the whole forenoon, they came to Mahanaim.

2 Samuel 2:29 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 2:29

And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain,
&c.] The plain of Jordan. He marched with his men all night, lest Joab should return, and pursue him, and take vengeance on him for the death of his brother:

and passed over Jordan;
at one of the fords of it:

and went through all Bithron;
the name of a province or country, as Jarchi, called so perhaps from its being separated from the rest of the tribes of Israel by the river Jordan; some think the mountains of Bether were in this country, ( Song of Solomon 2:17 ) . From Gibeon, where the battle was fought, to Bithron, according to Bunting ^F15, was twenty eight miles, the which he says was in the tribe of Gad, twenty eight miles from Jerusalem northeastward, lying between Dibon and Jordan:

and they came to Mahanaim:
from whence they came, and where they had left Ishbosheth, ( 2 Samuel 2:8 2 Samuel 2:12 ) . From Bithron to this place, according to the same writer ^F16, was sixteen miles.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Travels p. 145, 146.
F16 Ibid.

2 Samuel 2:29 In-Context

27 Joab said, "As God lives, if you had not spoken, the people would have continued to pursue their kinsmen, not stopping until morning."

28 Joab sounded the trumpet and all the people stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or engaged in battle any further.

29 Abner and his men traveled all that night through the Arabah; they crossed the Jordan, and, marching the whole forenoon, they came to Mahanaim.

30 Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner; and when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David's servants nineteen men besides Asahel.

31 But the servants of David had killed of Benjamin three hundred sixty of Abner's men.

Footnotes

• [a]. Meaning of Heb uncertain