2 Samuel 2:27

27 And Joab said, The Lord liveth, for if thou haddest spoken thus early, the people pursuing his brother had gone away. (And Joab said, As the Lord liveth, if thou haddest not spoken, the people would have continued pursuing their kinsmen until morning.)

2 Samuel 2:27 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 2:27

And Joab said, as God liveth
Which was the form of an oath, swearing by the living God:

unless thou hadst spoken;
that is, these words in ( 2 Samuel 2:14 ) ; "let the young men arise and play", that he had not given the challenge to fight:

surely then in the morning the people had gone up everyone from
following his brother;
they would have gone away and never fought at all; they were not desirous of shedding their blood, and following after them to slay them: thus he lays the blame upon Abner, and makes him to be the cause and beginner of the war. Some render the particle by "if", and give the sense, that if he had spoken what he last did sooner, the people would long before this time have desisted from pursuing them; for it was not from a thirst after their blood, and a desire to luke vengeance on them, that they pursued them, but to bring them to submission, and lay down their arms; for they could not in honour retreat until they desired it; but the former sense seems best, and is the general sense of the Jewish commentators.

2 Samuel 2:27 In-Context

25 And the sons of Benjamin were gathered to Abner, and they were gathered together into one company, and they stood in the height of an heap of earth (and they stood on the top of a hill).

26 And Abner cried to Joab, and said, Whether thy sword shall be fierce unto slaying? Whether thou knowest not, that despair is perilous? How long sayest thou not to the people, that it cease to pursue his brethren? (How long before thou sayest to thy people, that they should cease pursuing their kinsmen?)

27 And Joab said, The Lord liveth, for if thou haddest spoken thus early, the people pursuing his brother had gone away. (And Joab said, As the Lord liveth, if thou haddest not spoken, the people would have continued pursuing their kinsmen until morning.)

28 And Joab sounded with a clarion, and all the host stood still; and they pursued no further Israel, neither began battle. (And then Joab sounded with a trumpet, and all the army stood in place; and they no longer pursued the men of Israel, and the fighting ceased.)

29 And Abner and his men went (from) thence by the field places of Moab in all that night, and they passed [over] Jordan; and when all Bithron was compassed, they came to the castles. (And Abner and his men went from there through the fields of Moab all that night, and then they crossed over the Jordan River; and when all Bithron had been traversed, they came to Mahanaim.)