Synopsis of the Chapter
Six wives of David and as many sons born in Hebron are listed. Ishbosheth accuses Abner of fornication; Abner defects to David, makes a treaty with him, and subjects all Israel to him. Then, verse 23, Joab accuses Abner of treachery before David, and kills him treacherously, but David bitterly mourns him.
Verse 3: Absalom, Son of Maacah of Geshur ¶
3. AND THE THIRD WAS ABSALOM, THE SON OF MAACAH, DAUGHTER OF TALMAI KING OF GESHUR. — God had forbidden the Hebrews from marrying Canaanites, lest they follow their idolatry: yet David here married Maacah, the daughter of the Canaanite king of Geshur, because she became a proselyte and converted to Judaism, as the Hebrews report according to St. Jerome in the Traditions. So Salmon married Rahab the Canaanite, and Boaz married Ruth the Moabite, Matthew 1. Some think that Maacah had been carried off by David in a raid from Geshur, and then taken as a wife, according to the rite prescribed by God in Deuteronomy chapter 21, verse 10; although Abulensis denies this, who with Cajetan, Salianus, and others excuses David differently, saying that God had not forbidden the Jews from marrying all nations, but only those that inhabited the Promised Land; and that Geshur was outside it: therefore this Geshur is different from the Geshur that Joshua assigned to the tribe of Manasseh, chapter 13, verses 11 and 13.
Verse 5: Ithream, by Eglah David's Wife ¶
5. AND THE SIXTH ITHREAM, BY EGLAH, DAVID'S WIFE — that is, his principal and first and most beloved wife. For the others already listed were also David's wives; hence Sanchez by zeugma refers "wife" to all the preceding wives of David. From this the Rabbis, Angelomus, Lyranus, Cajetan, and Dionysius think Eglah was Michal, whom David greatly loved: and therefore she was called Eglah, that is, "heifer," because she was young and beautiful: but they err: for Eglah was fertile, while Michal was barren, chapter 6, verse 23, so much so that even those adopted by her were killed, II Samuel 21, and the return of Michal is discussed below in verse 14. So say Josephus, Abulensis, Vatablus, Serarius, Sanchez, and others.
Verse 8: Why Have You Gone In to My Father's Concubine ¶
8. WHY HAVE YOU GONE IN TO MY FATHER'S CONCUBINE? — either for lust, or to take her as a wife, and thus aspire to the kingdom and seize it from me? That this was a calumny, and that Abner was innocent of it, is the report of Josephus in the Greek text, and of Vatablus.
AM I A DOG'S HEAD AGAINST JUDAH TODAY? — Some explain "dog's head" in such a way that Abner is calling not himself but Ishbosheth a dog, as if saying: Am I the head and leader of a vile and abject person, who is like a dog? namely Ishbosheth, who with his vile followers, like dogs, barks at David and his kingdom of Judah, and impudently, like a dog, charges me, an innocent man, with such infamous fornication.
But others more correctly think Abner is speaking of himself, and calling himself a dog's head (for the head cannot be separated from the dog), and that on account of the lust and shamelessness that dogs chiefly display with their heads, as if saying: Am I so lustful and shameless that I would violate the wife of the king and my cousin Saul, when I strive with all my strength to defend his and your honor and kingdom? Again, as if saying: Am I so base and quarrelsome that I am like your dog, who by constantly fighting to defend your kingdom, barks at David and the Jews? So say St. Jerome in the Traditions, Angelomus, Abulensis, and Vatablus. Hear St. Jerome: "On account of you and the house of your father, I am called a dog's head against Judah, because I do not bring back the house of Israel to David, whom I know to be anointed king and destined to reign over all Israel." He calls himself a "dog's head," that is, vile, because by the house of Judah he was regarded as such, like the barking of a dog, because he was the chief of dogs, that is, of foolish men.
Verse 14: Restore My Wife Michal ¶
14. RESTORE MY WIFE MICHAL, WHOM I BETROTHED TO MYSELF FOR A HUNDRED FORESKINS. — David reclaimed Michal, both because he loved her, and because she had been unjustly taken from him by Saul, and also because she was the daughter of King Saul, whom he had bought from him at the cost of slaying a hundred enemies, so that by this means, through her as the king's daughter — purchased dearly by him — he might be elevated to the kingdom by the Israelites, and more willingly accepted as king; inasmuch as he was already grafted into the royal stock.
Verse 18: The Lord Has Spoken to David ¶
18. FOR THE LORD HAS SPOKEN TO DAVID (concerning David) SAYING: BY THE HAND OF MY SERVANT DAVID I WILL SAVE MY PEOPLE ISRAEL. — It is likely that God said this through Samuel, when by God's command he anointed him king, even though these words were not expressly stated above in the account of his anointing. Nevertheless, Abner knew that God had said this, from common report and the word that gradually reached his ears, especially when he saw God everywhere prospering David, and adorning him with victories against himself and Ishbosheth: therefore, on the occasion of this insult received from Ishbosheth, he resolved to obey God, and to transfer the kingdom from Ishbosheth to David.
Verse 27: In Vengeance for the Blood of Asahel ¶
27. IN VENGEANCE FOR THE BLOOD OF ASAHEL HIS BROTHER. — This was the true reason why Joab killed Abner: namely, because Abner had killed Asahel, Joab's brother, chapter 2, verse 23. Another reason is added by Josephus, Theodoret, and Procopius, Dionysius, Lyranus, Serarius, and Salianus, namely, that Joab feared that David, once Joab was removed, would put the reconciled Abner, as a distinguished military commander, in charge of his forces, as Saul had done: so that by this means he would more closely bind to himself all the soldiers and Israelites, to whom Abner was dear; for he knew, says Theodoret, that the man who was bringing all Israel to the king would be placed in command of the army; for this same reason Joab killed Amasa in chapter 20.
The Hebrews fabricate that Joab asked Abner to teach him the manner in which a man who did not wish to marry his deceased brother's childless wife was accustomed to remove his shoe; and when Abner, complying, bent his head down to his sandal, he was treacherously beheaded by Joab.
Verse 29: May There Never Fail from the House of Joab ¶
29. AND MAY THERE NEVER FAIL FROM THE HOUSE OF JOAB ONE WHO SUFFERS A DISCHARGE, OR WHO IS A LEPER, OR WHO HOLDS A SPINDLE, OR WHO FALLS BY THE SWORD, OR WHO LACKS BREAD. — David seems, as a prophet, to prophetically curse Joab and his posterity, and to predict the vengeance that God would inflict on them for the murder of Abner; unless you prefer, with some, that these words sound not so much like a curse as a statement of what Joab deserves, namely that he deserves to be punished with these penalties: that is, he deserves the disease of discharge and leprosy, likewise disgrace, slaughter, and poverty. Now "one suffering a discharge" is one who suffers from gonorrhea, which is a foul disease, and among the Hebrews infamous, and it made the sufferer legally unclean and irregular in many ways, as is clear from Leviticus 15. Add that one suffering from a discharge is useless for begetting, because he wastes his seed. Joab is therefore punished here with sterility and childlessness, and this fittingly and aptly, so that his children might give life to no sons of their own, just as he himself had taken life from Abner.
AND WHO IS A LEPER. — Leprosy was common among the Jews, and it was a horrible disease that made a person thoroughly unclean and irregular. See the comments on Leviticus 13.
AND WHO HOLDS A SPINDLE. — The Septuagint has σκυτάλην, that is, a whip or lash such as ox-drivers and muleteers carry, or a leather wallet such as beggars carry, or a rod and staff that the blind and those with gout hold, who suffer from a disease of the feet, so as not to stumble against stones and walls in walking: hence Aquila translates: blind. But in Proverbs 31:19, the Hebrew is פלך pelech; the Septuagint, our Translator, Pagninus, Vatablus, Marinus, and others generally translate: spindle, as our Translator renders it here. Now Hugo takes "spindle" to mean a bell or rattle, which a leper frequently rings to keep passersby from contact with him, and to beg for alms. The Master of the Scholastic History takes "spindle" to mean a fan for driving away flies, which infest lepers: for flies flock to diseased and rotting flesh, such as lepers have, to suck the pus. But the spindle is properly a woman's instrument, with which they spin and twist threads, as if saying: Because Joab not as a man in open combat, but secretly and treacherously, like a woman, killed Abner; hence his posterity are condemned by disgrace to the lowly tasks of women, to handle the spindle and distaff, and to serve women in spinning, as did the womanish Sardanapalus, king of the Assyrians, as attested by Justin, book I, and as eunuchs subsequently do, to whom the care of the royal women is entrusted: indeed, as Hercules did, who was so effeminated by the daughter of the king of Aetolia, whom he passionately loved, that at her command he turned the spindle and spun, as the Poets relate or fable. Moreover, David did not kill Joab, as he deserved, because Joab had the army in his hand and could have defended himself and rebelled against David, as Abner had rebelled against Ishbosheth and taken away his kingdom. Therefore he postponed the vengeance, and on his deathbed commanded Solomon to kill Joab, III Kings chapter 2, verse 35. So say Theodoret and Josephus, who states that Joab with his brother had more power in the kingdom than David himself did.
Verse 33: The King Mourned Abner ¶
33. AND THE KING, LAMENTING AND MOURNING ABNER — although previously his adversary and the leader of his enemies. "By which action," says St. Ambrose in the Apology of David, chapter 7, "he taught that faith promised even to adversaries must be kept, and that virtue must be honored even in an enemy."
Verse 35: The Funeral Banquet ¶
35. AND WHEN THE WHOLE MULTITUDE CAME TO TAKE FOOD WITH DAVID. — In Hebrew, to feed David with bread, that is, to compel him to eat. So Vatablus; but our Translator renders it better, to take food with David, because the whole city mourned the death of Abner with David, and therefore he established a funeral banquet, which the Septuagint calls paradeipnein, about which see Pollux, Suidas, and Athenaeus, book VII of the Deipnosophistae: for that the Jews celebrated funeral feasts is clear from Tobit chapter 4, verse 18, and from Josephus, book II On the War; and that the Gentiles did the same is very well known from the histories. For Christians the practice is very clear. So say the Hebrews, Serarius, Sanchez, and others. The same is evident from Jeremiah chapter 16, verse 15, and Ezekiel chapter 24, verse 17. See here in David the antiquity of this rite and of the banquet by which the dead were aided through alms given to the poor. The Parentalia of the Romans are relevant here, through which they honored their deceased parents with offerings.
Verse 39: I Am Still Weak, Though Anointed King ¶
39. AND I AM STILL WEAK, THOUGH ANOINTED KING — that is, I am a tender and newly anointed king, and therefore feeble and weak in the kingdom and in royal power, and not yet established in it, as if saying: You, O Joab, by killing Abner, the commander of Israel's army, have created a danger for me, that all Israel would reject me as king, and on account of this murder would exclude me from the kingdom forever, as though I were secretly complicit in it. Others, with Vatablus, translate: I am gentle and merciful, although I have been anointed and made king; but Joab and Abishai, who are my nephews, are harsher than I. For I had spared Abner, but they killed him; for "merciful" is directly opposed to "harsh" which follows.