2 Samuel 2:29

29 All that night Abner and his men retreated through the Jordan Valley. They crossed the Jordan River, traveling all through the morning, and didn’t stop until they arrived at Mahanaim.

2 Samuel 2:29 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 2:29

And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain,
&c.] The plain of Jordan. He marched with his men all night, lest Joab should return, and pursue him, and take vengeance on him for the death of his brother:

and passed over Jordan;
at one of the fords of it:

and went through all Bithron;
the name of a province or country, as Jarchi, called so perhaps from its being separated from the rest of the tribes of Israel by the river Jordan; some think the mountains of Bether were in this country, ( Song of Solomon 2:17 ) . From Gibeon, where the battle was fought, to Bithron, according to Bunting ^F15, was twenty eight miles, the which he says was in the tribe of Gad, twenty eight miles from Jerusalem northeastward, lying between Dibon and Jordan:

and they came to Mahanaim:
from whence they came, and where they had left Ishbosheth, ( 2 Samuel 2:8 2 Samuel 2:12 ) . From Bithron to this place, according to the same writer ^F16, was sixteen miles.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Travels p. 145, 146.
F16 Ibid.

2 Samuel 2:29 In-Context

27 Then Joab said, “God only knows what would have happened if you hadn’t spoken, for we would have chased you all night if necessary.”

28 So Joab blew the ram’s horn, and his men stopped chasing the troops of Israel.

29 All that night Abner and his men retreated through the Jordan Valley. They crossed the Jordan River, traveling all through the morning, and didn’t stop until they arrived at Mahanaim.

30 Meanwhile, Joab and his men also returned home. When Joab counted his casualties, he discovered that only 19 men were missing in addition to Asahel.

31 But 360 of Abner’s men had been killed, all from the tribe of Benjamin.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew the Arabah.
• [b]. Or continued on through the Bithron. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.