2 Samuel 2:27

27 et ait Ioab vivit Dominus si locutus fuisses mane recessisset populus persequens fratrem suum

2 Samuel 2:27 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 2:27

And Joab said, as God liveth
Which was the form of an oath, swearing by the living God:

unless thou hadst spoken;
that is, these words in ( 2 Samuel 2:14 ) ; "let the young men arise and play", that he had not given the challenge to fight:

surely then in the morning the people had gone up everyone from
following his brother;
they would have gone away and never fought at all; they were not desirous of shedding their blood, and following after them to slay them: thus he lays the blame upon Abner, and makes him to be the cause and beginner of the war. Some render the particle by "if", and give the sense, that if he had spoken what he last did sooner, the people would long before this time have desisted from pursuing them; for it was not from a thirst after their blood, and a desire to luke vengeance on them, that they pursued them, but to bring them to submission, and lay down their arms; for they could not in honour retreat until they desired it; but the former sense seems best, and is the general sense of the Jewish commentators.

2 Samuel 2:27 In-Context

25 congregatique sunt filii Beniamin ad Abner et conglobati in unum cuneum steterunt in summitate tumuli unius

26 et exclamavit Abner ad Ioab et ait num usque ad internicionem tuus mucro desaeviet an ignoras quod periculosa sit desperatio usquequo non dicis populo ut omittat persequi fratres suos

27 et ait Ioab vivit Dominus si locutus fuisses mane recessisset populus persequens fratrem suum

28 insonuit ergo Ioab bucina et stetit omnis exercitus nec persecuti sunt ultra Israhel neque iniere certamen

29 Abner autem et viri eius abierunt per campestria tota nocte illa et transierunt Iordanem et lustrata omni Bethoron venerunt ad Castra