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.