2 Samuel 3:24

24 Then Jo'ab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is 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 the servants of David arrived with Jo'ab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace.

23 When Jo'ab and all the army that was with him came, it was told Jo'ab, "Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace."

24 Then Jo'ab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone?

25 You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you, and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing."

26 When Jo'ab came out from David's presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah; but David did not know about it.