2 Samuel 3:12

12 And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, Whose [is] the land? saying [also], Make thy league with me, and behold, my hand [shall be] with thee, to bring about all Israel to thee.

2 Samuel 3:12 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 3:12

And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf
On his own account, and not on the account of Ishbosheth, or the people of Israel; but to obtain terms for himself, or in his own name, as representing him and standing in his stead; or secretly, as Kimchi explains it, unknown to Ishbosheth, or the people of Israel. The Targum is,

``out of his place;''

he sent them from the place where he was, from Mahanaim:

saying, whose [is] the land?
the land of Israel, is it not thine, David? verily it is; to whom does it belong but unto thee, to whom the Lord has given it? not to any of Saul's posterity: this he ordered the messengers to say in the first place, in order to ingratiate himself to David, and gain his messengers an audience. The Targum is,

``I swear by him that made the earth;''

so Jarchi says, it is an oath by him whose the earth is, even by the living God, whose is the earth, and the fulness thereof:

saying [also], make thy league with me;
he desired to enter into a covenant of friendship with him, that everything that had passed might be forgiven and forgotten:

and, behold, my hand [shall be] with thee, to bring about all Israel
unto thee:
he promises on his part to do his utmost to bring all Israel under his government and to obedience to him.

2 Samuel 3:12 In-Context

10 To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba.

11 And he could not answer Abner a word again, because he feared him.

12 And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, Whose [is] the land? saying [also], Make thy league with me, and behold, my hand [shall be] with thee, to bring about all Israel to thee.

13 And he said, Well; I will make a league with thee: but one thing I require of thee, that is, Thou shalt not see my face, except thou shalt first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when thou comest to see my face.

14 And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying, Deliver to [me] my wife Michal, whom I espoused to me for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.