24 Then Joab came to the king, and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, and he is quite gone?
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Joab saw that if Abner was reconciled to David, his own post as second in the state would be forfeited; and then with characteristic unscrupulosity he proceeded to take Abner's life.
Then Joab came to the king, and said, (i) What hast thou done? behold, Abner came unto thee; why [is] it [that] thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?
(i) Here appears the malicious mind of Joab, who would have had the king slay Abner for his private grudge.
Then Joab came to the king,.... To the apartment where he was; perhaps he was told the above at his first entering into the king's palace, by some in waiting, before he came to the king, which filled him with wrath, so that he came to him in a passion:
and said to him, what hast thou done? which was very insolent in a subject to say to his prince:
behold, Abner came unto thee; I have been credibly informed of it, and am assured it is a fact which cannot be denied; he represents it as if he had done a wrong thing to admit him to come to him; but perhaps the great fault was that he had let him go:
why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone? or "going, is gone" (e); is clean gone off, when he ought to have been laid hold on as a traitor, and put in irons.
(e) "et abiit eundo", Pagninus, Montanus.
JOAB KILLS ABNER. (2-Samuel 3:22-30)
Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done?--Joab's knowledge of Abner's wily character might have led him to doubt the sincerity of that person's proposals and to disapprove the policy of relying on his fidelity. But undoubtedly there were other reasons of a private and personal nature which made Joab displeased and alarmed by the reception given to Abner. The military talents of that general, his popularity with the army, his influence throughout the nation, rendered him a formidable rival. In the event of his overtures being carried out, the important service of bringing over all the other tribes to the king of Judah would establish so strong a claim on the gratitude of David, that his accession would inevitably raise a serious obstacle to the ambition of Joab. To these considerations was added the remembrance of the blood feud that existed between them since the death of his brother Asahel (2-Samuel 2:23). Determined, therefore, to get Abner out of the way, Joab feigned some reason, probably in the king's name, for recalling him, and, going out to meet him, stabbed him unawares; not within Hebron, for it was a city of refuge, but at a noted well in the neighborhood.
*More commentary available at chapter level.