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. 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.
The verse stands in the books of Samuel, whose great event is the establishment of a monarchy through three leading characters, Samuel, Saul, and David. The books open with the aged priest Eli as priest, judge, and leader, continue with Samuel born in answer to prayer taking Eli's place, then tell of the people asking for a king with Saul given, Saul proving unworthy and being deposed and David taking his place, and close with the end of David's reign. Within that history the verse belongs in 2 Samuel 1 to 4 to the record of internal troubles and internecine strife connected with the establishment of David's reign.
It belongs to the time when David reigns at Hebron but does not hold the kingdom peaceably, because Saul's son and army still attempt to hold the kingdom by force. It records Joab returning from pursuing Abner with the loss of only nineteen men and Asahel, proving David victorious in the lingering warfare between Judah and Israel. That victory belongs among the causes set forth in 2 Samuel 2-4 that led to making David king over all Israel, behind which was the purpose of God to bring David to the throne.