2 Samuel 2:32

32 They took up `Asa'el, and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was in Beit-Lechem. Yo'av and his men went all night, and the day broke on them at Hevron.

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 Yo'av returned from following Aviner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David's servants nineteen men and `Asa'el.

31 But the servants of David had struck of Binyamin, and of Aviner's men, [so that] three hundred sixty men died.

32 They took up `Asa'el, and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was in Beit-Lechem. Yo'av and his men went all night, and the day broke on them at Hevron.