2 Samuel 2:32

32 And they lift up Asahel, and bury him in the burying-place of his father, which [is] in Beth-Lehem, and they go all the night -- Joab and his men -- and it is light to them in Hebron.

2 Samuel 2:32 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 2:32

And they took up Asahel
From the place where he fell; that is, Joab and Abishai, his brethren, as Josephus ^F23 relates; after they had buried the dead in the field of battle, they took up him:

and buried him in the sepulchre of his father, which [was in]
Bethlehem:
not in the city of Bethlehem, but without it, on the south side of it; so says Fuller ^F24,

``southward, i.e. of Bethlehem, we find Asahel's sepulchre, who was buried in the grave of his father.''

What was his father's name is not known, only his mother's name, Zeruiah, is mentioned in Scripture, a sister of David, and daughter of Jesse the Bethlehemite. Bethlehem was sixteen miles from Gibeon, according to Bunting ^F25.

And Joab and his men went all night;
not the night following the battle, but the night following the next day, after he had been to Bethlehem, and buried his brother there; wherefore, lest David should think it long before he came, he travelled all night:

and they came to Hebron at break of day;
where David was, which, according to the same writer ^F26, was twenty miles from Bethlehem.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Antiqu. l. 7. c. 1. sect. 3.
F24 Pisgah-Sight of Palestine, B. 2. c. 14. sect. 21. p. 301.
F25 Travels, ut supra. (p. 145, 146.)
F26 Travels, ut supra. (p. 145, 146.)

2 Samuel 2:32 In-Context

30 And Joab hath turned back from after Abner, and gathereth all the people, and there are lacking of the servants of David nineteen men, and Asahel;

31 and the servants of David have smitten of Benjamin, even among the men of Abner, three hundred and sixty men -- they died.

32 And they lift up Asahel, and bury him in the burying-place of his father, which [is] in Beth-Lehem, and they go all the night -- Joab and his men -- and it is light to them in Hebron.