2 Samuel 2:14

14 And Abner said to Joab, The children rise, and play before us (And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men rise up, and slay, or kill, each other). And Joab answered, Rise they up.

2 Samuel 2:14 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 2:14

And Abner said to Joab
Perceiving he made no motion towards an engagement with him, his orders from David being only to act on the defensive, and avoid as much as possible the effusion of blood:

let the young men now arise, and play before us;
with their swords after the manner of gladiators or duellers; that it might appear who were best skilled in the use of the sword, and who were the bravest, stoutest, and most courageous; and this he proposed in a way of bravado, and in order to bring on a battle, or to decide the quarrel between them; and this bloody barbarous exercise Abner calls play, as if it was a diversion and pastime to see men wounding and killing one another:

and Joab said, let them arise;
he accepted the challenge, not caring to be hectored and bullied by Abner.

2 Samuel 2:14 In-Context

12 And Abner, the son of Ner, went out, and the servants of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, from the castles in[to] Gibeon. (And Abner, the son of Ner, and the men of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.)

13 And Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and they came to them beside the cistern of Gibeon. And when they had come together into one place even against either other, these sat on one part of the cistern, and they on the tother. (And Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and David's men, went out, and they came to them beside the pool of Gibeon. And when they had come together at a place opposite each other, those men sat on one side of the pool, and they sat on the other side.)

14 And Abner said to Joab, The children rise, and play before us (And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men rise up, and slay, or kill, each other). And Joab answered, Rise they up.

15 Then they rose up, and passed forth twelve in number of Benjamin, of the part of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul; and twelve of the servants of David. (Then they rose up, and came forth twelve in number for Benjamin, on the part of Ishbosheth, Saul's son; and twelve of David's men.)

16 And each man, when he had taken his fellow by the head, fixed his sword into the side of his adversary; and they felled down together. And (so) the name of that place was called The Field of Men Slain Together, (which is) in Gibeon.