Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 3:7-21
Here, I. Abner breaks with Ish-bosheth, and deserts his interest, upon a little provocation which Ish-bosheth unadvisedly gave him. God can serve his own purposes by the sins and follies of men. 1. Ish-bosheth accused Abner of no less a crime than debauching one of his father's concubines, Sa2 3:7. Whether it was so or no does not appear, nor what ground he had for the suspicion: but, however it was, it would have been Ish-bosheth's prudence to be silent, considering how much it was his interest not to disoblige Abner. If the thing was false, and his jealousy groundless, it was very disingenuous and ungrateful to entertain unjust surmises of one who had ventured his all for him, and was cert…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Samuel 3:6
ABNER REVOLTS TO DAVID. (Sa2 3:6-12)
Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul--In the East, the wives and concubines of a king are the property of his successor to this extent, that for a private person to aspire to marry one of them would be considered a virtual advance of pretensions to the crown (see Kg1 2:17). It is not clear whether the accusation against Abner was well or ill founded. But he resented the charge as an indignity, and, impelled by revenge, determined to transfer all the weight of his influence to the opposite party. He evidently set a full value on his services, and seems to have lorded it over his weak nephew in a haughty, overbearing manner.
Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 3:9
Except, as the Lord hath sworn to David - And why did he not do this before, when he knew that God had given the kingdom to David? Was he not now, according to his own concession, fighting against God?
John Gill on 2 Samuel 3:10
To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul,.... Which was what the Lord had sworn to do, 1 Samuel 15:28; and which Abner now threatens to do, insolently taking that to himself which belonged to the Lord, and as if he could not do it without him:
and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah; over the one as well as over the other; for it was set over Judah already:
from Dan even unto Beersheba; which were the utmost borders of the land of Israel, from north to south, and so includes the whole.
