2 Samuel 2:27

27 And Joab saith, `God liveth! for unless thou hadst spoken, surely then from the morning had the people gone up each from after his brother.'

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 And the sons of Benjamin gather themselves together after Abner, and become one troop, and stand on the top of a certain height,

26 and Abner calleth unto Joab, and saith, `For ever doth the sword consume? hast thou not known that it is bitterness in the latter end? and till when dost thou not say to the people to turn back from after their brethren?'

27 And Joab saith, `God liveth! for unless thou hadst spoken, surely then from the morning had the people gone up each from after his brother.'

28 And Joab bloweth with a trumpet, and all the people stand still, and pursue no more after Israel, nor have they added any more to fight.

29 And Abner and his men have gone through the plain all that night, and pass over the Jordan, and go on [through] all Bithron, and come in to Mahanaim.