And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise, and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise.
The meeting took place at Gibeon, where Abner had come with his forces in the effort to make Ish-bosheth son of Saul king, and where Joab met him. There Abner proposed that the young men should rise and engage in combat before the two commanders, and Joab agreed that they should arise. The fighting between the two sides was opened by twelve chosen young men from each side. The word play in the proposal refers to a contest that becomes a deadly fight.
This combat was part of the lingering warfare between Judah and Israel in which David always proved victorious. That warfare was among the causes that led to David being made king over all Israel. Behind all these political changes was God's purpose to bring David to the throne, working through that victory together with Ish-bosheth's inability to unite the fragments of the kingdom and the low state of religion. The same purpose worked through Abner's turning against Ish-bosheth after being accused of treachery and making overtures to David, and through David's regaining of Michal daughter of Saul as his wife and thereby gaining a hold on the northern people as an heir of Saul. It also worked through the foul murders of Abner and Ish-bosheth, which David did not wish or connive at but openly and indignantly repudiated, and these events left only Jonathan's lame son, whom David afterward cared for.
The meeting took place at Gibeon, where Abner had come with his forces in the effort to make Ish-bosheth son of Saul king, and where Joab met him. There Abner proposed that the young men should rise and engage in combat before the two commanders, and Joab agreed that they should arise. The fighting between the two sides was opened by twelve chosen young men from each side. The word play in the proposal refers to a contest that becomes a deadly fight.
This combat was part of the lingering warfare between Judah and Israel in which David always proved victorious. That warfare was among the causes that led to David being made king over all Israel. Behind all these political changes was God's purpose to bring David to the throne, working through that victory together with Ish-bosheth's inability to unite the fragments of the kingdom and the low state of religion. The same purpose worked through Abner's turning against Ish-bosheth after being accused of treachery and making overtures to David, and through David's regaining of Michal daughter of Saul as his wife and thereby gaining a hold on the northern people as an heir of Saul. It also worked through the foul murders of Abner and Ish-bosheth, which David did not wish or connive at but openly and indignantly repudiated, and these events left only Jonathan's lame son, whom David afterward cared for.