Abner

Gender: Male

Years: -1087 - -1014

Dictionary Text: Father of light; i.e., “enlightening”, the son of Ner and uncle of Saul. He was commander-in-chief of Saul’s army;;. He first introduced David to the court of Saul after the victory over Goliath. After the death of Saul, David was made king over Judah, and reigned in Hebron. Among the other tribes there was a feeling of hostility to Judah; and Abner, at the head of Ephraim, fostered this hostility in the interest of the house of Saul, whose son Ish-bosheth he caused to be proclaimed king. A state of war existed between these two kings. A battle fatal to Abner, who was the leader of Ish-boseth’s army, was fought with David’s army under Joab at Gibeon. Abner, escaping from the field, was overtaken by Asahel, who was “light of foot as a wild roe,” the brother of Joab and Abishai, whom he thrust through with a back stroke of his spear : 18-32. Being rebuked by Ish-bosheth for the impropriety of taking to wife Rizpah, who had been a concubine of King Saul, he found an excuse for going over to the side of David, whom he now professed to regard as anointed by the Lord to reign over all Israel. David received him favourably, and promised that he would have command of the armies. At this time Joab was absent from Hebron, but on his return he found what had happened. Abner had just left the city; but Joab by a stratagem recalled him, and meeting him at the gate of the city on his return, thrust him through with his sword, -39; 4:12. Comp.,. David lamented in pathetic words the death of Abner, “Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?”.

Family Members

• Father: Ner
• Children:
  • Jaasiel

Verses

• 2 Samuel 3:21: And Abner said unto David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel unto my lord the king, that they may make a league with thee, and that thou mayest reign over all that thine heart desireth. And David sent Abner away; and he went in peace.
• 2 Samuel 2:26: Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren?
• 1 Samuel 14:51: And Kish was the father of Saul; and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.
• 2 Samuel 3:24: Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came unto thee; why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?
• 2 Samuel 2:19: And Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner.
• 2 Samuel 3:16: And her husband went with her along weeping behind her to Bahurim. Then said Abner unto him, Go, return. And he returned.
• 2 Samuel 3:7: And Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and Ishbosheth said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father’s concubine?
• 2 Samuel 2:30: And Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel.
• 2 Samuel 2:14: And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise, and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise.
• 2 Samuel 2:24: Joab also and Abishai pursued after Abner: and the sun went down when they were come to the hill of Ammah, that lieth before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon.
• 1 Samuel 14:50: And the name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz: and the name of the captain of his host was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle.
• 1 Chronicles 26:28: And all that Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, had dedicated; and whosoever had dedicated any thing, it was under the hand of Shelomith, and of his brethren.
• 2 Samuel 4:1: And when Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.
• 2 Samuel 2:31: But the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner’s men, so that three hundred and threescore men died.
• 1 Samuel 20:25: And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall: and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, and David’s place was empty.
• 2 Samuel 2:22: And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?
• 1 Samuel 26:5: And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched: and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him.
• 2 Samuel 3:17: And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, Ye sought for David in times past to be king over you:
• 2 Samuel 2:25: And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner, and became one troop, and stood on the top of an hill.
• 2 Samuel 3:30: So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner, because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle.
• 2 Samuel 3:12: 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 unto thee.
• 2 Samuel 2:29: And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain, and passed over Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim.
• 2 Samuel 3:27: And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
• 2 Samuel 3:26: And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again from the well of Sirah: but David knew it not.
• 1 Samuel 26:7: So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him.
• 1 Chronicles 27:21: Of the half tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo the son of Zechariah: of Benjamin, Jaasiel the son of Abner:
• 1 Samuel 17:55: And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.
• 2 Samuel 3:19: And Abner also spake in the ears of Benjamin: and Abner went also to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel, and that seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin.
• 1 Kings 2:32: And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah.
• 2 Samuel 3:25: Thou knowest Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all that thou doest.
• 1 Kings 2:5: Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
• 2 Samuel 3:22: And, behold, the servants of David and Joab came from pursuing a troop, and brought in a great spoil with them: but Abner was not with David in Hebron; for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace.
• 2 Samuel 3:23: When Joab and all the host that was with him were come, they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he hath sent him away, and he is gone in peace.
• 2 Samuel 2:12: And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
• 2 Samuel 3:28: And afterward when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the LORD for ever from the blood of Abner the son of Ner:
• 1 Samuel 26:14: And David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou that criest to the king?
• 2 Samuel 2:8: But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul’s host, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;
• 2 Samuel 3:31: And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David himself followed the bier.
• 2 Samuel 2:20: Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Art thou Asahel? And he answered, I am.
• 2 Samuel 2:23: Howbeit he refused to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place: and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.
• 2 Samuel 3:32: And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept.
• 2 Samuel 3:9: So do God to Abner, and more also, except, as the LORD hath sworn to David, even so I do to him;
• 1 Samuel 26:15: And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord.
• 2 Samuel 2:21: And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour. But Asahel would not turn aside from following of him.
• 2 Samuel 3:33: And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth?
• 1 Samuel 17:57: And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
• 2 Samuel 3:20: So Abner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with him. And David made Abner and the men that were with him a feast.
• 2 Samuel 3:37: For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner.
• 2 Samuel 3:8: Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ishbosheth, and said, Am I a dog’s head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me to day with a fault concerning this woman?
• 2 Samuel 3:11: And he could not answer Abner a word again, because he feared him.
• 2 Samuel 2:17: And there was a very sore battle that day; and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David.
• 2 Samuel 4:12: And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron.
• 2 Samuel 3:6: And it came to pass, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul.