Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 2:15
Then there arose and went over by number twelve of Benjamin, which [pertained] to Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.
15. there arose and went over by number ] A fixed number from either side met on neutral ground between the two armies.
of Benjamin ] Saul’s own tribe provided the champions for his cause. Cp. 2Sa 2:25.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Abner selected all his combatants out of Benjamin, both because that was a warlike and valiant tribe, and that he might give the more honour to his own tribe.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8-17. Abner the son of Ner, captainof Saul’s host took Ish-boshethHere was the establishment of arival kingdom, which, however, would probably have had no existencebut for Abner.
Ish-boshethor”Esh-baal” (1Ch 8:33;1Ch 9:39). The Hebrews usuallychanged names ending with Baal into Bosheth (“shame”)(compare Jdg 9:53; 2Sa 11:21).This prince was so called from his imbecility.
Abnerwas first cousinof Saul, commander of the forces, and held in high respect throughoutthe country. Loyalty to the house of his late master was mixed upwith opposition to David and views of personal ambition in hisoriginating this factious movement. He, too, was alive to theimportance of securing the eastern tribes; so, taking Ish-boshethacross the Jordan, he proclaimed him king at Mahanaim, a town on thenorth bank of the Jabbok, hallowed in patriarchal times by the divinepresence (Ge 32:2). There herallied the tribes around the standard of the unfortunate son ofSaul.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then there arose and went over by number twelve of Benjamin,…. Whom Abner had picked out of that tribe, being his own, and whom he knew to be stout and courageous men, and closely attached to him. It seems by this as if Abner’s men,
[which pertained to] Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, passed over the pool of Gibeon unto Joab’s men; so forward were they to engage in this duel, and it makes it still more appear that they were the aggressors:
and twelve of the servants of David; of his army under Joab, whom Joab either selected, or they, offered themselves as willing to engage with the twelve that were come over.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2Sa 2:15 Then there arose and went over by number twelve of Benjamin, which [pertained] to Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.
Ver. 15. And twelve of the servants of David. ] So the Romans and Albans tried it out by three of a side – viz., the Horatii and the Curiatii; but this practice is no way warrantable, as being against faith and against charity; a tempting of God, and a trusting to the arm of flesh.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
which pertained. Septuagint and Syriac read “pertaining”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Sa 2:15-17. There went over twelve of Benjamin Ish-bosheths men were still most forward to begin hostilities. They caught, &c. That is, each of the servants of David last mentioned, or every one of both sides caught the man that was his opposite; by the head That is, by the hair of the head, which they wore very long in those days. And thrust his sword into his fellows side Killed his opponent. So they fell down together Either all the twelve men of Benjamin, slain by the servants of David, or else the whole four and twenty fell down dead together. That place was called Hel-kath-hazzurim Or, The field of rocks, that is, of men who stood like rocks, immoveable, each one dying on the spot where he fought. There was a sore battle that day The men of Israel, it seems, enraged at the loss of their valiant men, began a general battle.