2 Samuel 3:24

24 Then Joab went to the king and asked, "What have you done? Abner came to see you. Why did you dismiss him and let him get away?

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.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Kwlh Klyw) "et abiit eundo", Pagninus, Montanus.

2 Samuel 3:24 In-Context

22 Just then David's men and Joab were coming home from a raid with a lot of goods. Abner had been dismissed, so he was no longer with David in Hebron.
23 When Joab came back with the whole army, he was told, "Ner's son Abner came to the king, but David dismissed him, and Abner left peacefully."
24 Then Joab went to the king and asked, "What have you done? Abner came to see you. Why did you dismiss him and let him get away?
25 Certainly you must know that Ner's son Abner came to deceive you, to find out about your movements and learn everything you're doing!"
26 After leaving David, Joab sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the cistern of Sirah without David knowing about it.
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