When Joab and all the host that [was] with him were come
To Hebron, or rather to David's court; for their coming to the city is before mentioned; this must be understood not of the whole army, of all the common soldiers, but of the chief officers, who with Joab came to court, to wait upon David, and report their success:
they told Joab, saying, Abner the son, of Ner came to the king;
some of the courtiers informed him of it, who knew it would not be very agreeable to him:
and he hath sent him away, and he is gone in peace:
instead of seizing him, and laying him in a prison as his enemy, he has let him go with all the marks of friendship and good will.