Troublesome Topic: ABNER VS ASAHEL

II Samuel chapter 2

Another example that proves there were some rules that governed ancient combat is the way that Abner killed Asahel in II Samuel chapter 2. Asahel was one of David’s mighty men, and brother of Joab, both of whom performed exploits. This story happened right after David had been named king over the southern tribes, but he was not yet king over all the Israelite tribes. The army of former King Saul and the Army of David engaged in battle several times during this short period.

Abner and his army were fleeing from David’s army, being led by Joab. Abner was being chased by Joab’s brother, Asahel, who was younger and faster than Abner. But Abner was more experienced and considered himself stronger than Asahel. Abner could not outrun Asahel. He called back to him and told him it would be better for him to call off his pursuit. He even indicated that he, Abner, would have to kill the young warrior if he did not stop chasing him. But Asahel would not stop.

Before I studied this topic carefully, I thought that Asahel wanted to catch up with Abner and strike him in the back. I thought that Abner killed Asahel as the younger man caught up with him from behind. But now I see it differently.

As I now understand ancient culture, it should have happened like this – Asahel would catch up and pass Abner, then stop and turn around and challenge him to a one-on-one combat. If they agreed, they might both take several deep breaths before engaging in the fight. Asahel would not want Abner to fully recover from his run, but a few deep breaths were probably allowed. Then everything would be according to the standard “rules” that governed these conflicts. But things did not happen as they should have.

Abner killed Asahel by unexpectedly thrusting the butt of his spear into Asahel’s stomach. It went all the way through him and came out his back. The story is told in such a way as to indicate that Abner used deceit to kill Asahel. Instead of stopping and engaging in one-on-one combat, he used trickery. I now envision it this way – Asahel passed Abner, stopped and challenged him to a fight, and both of them breathed for a few moments. When Asahel said they had rested long enough and it was time to get the fight started, Abner asked for just a moment more and turned to face the other way, showing Asahel his back. He knew that Asahel was an honorable warrior and would not strike him while his back was turned. Then Asahel stepped closer, either because Abner said he was almost ready, or to once again state that enough time had passed. Regardless of why, when Asahel stepped closer Abner shoved his spear backwards butt-first into Asahel’s stomach. He thrust it with such force that it came out his back. Asahel never saw it coming because the spear tip was pointing the other direction. This was not the way to correctly engage in one-on-one combat. It was trickery, deceit, and a small-scale ambush.

The Biblical text tells us that everyone that came along during the pursuit, each of them stopped and contemplated the scene. This was because it was obvious that this had been done incorrectly. It was a disgrace! It was infuriating. They looked at that and were filled with fury. In fact, they were so intent on avenging the death of Asahel that they were willing to follow Joab in setting aside another rule about warfare, the one about not fighting after dark.

The way that Abner killed Asahel made Joab so angry that he vowed to pay Abner back for what he had done. How he fulfilled his vow is explained in the next lesson.