ABNER (Hebrew: “the father is light”). — Abner was Saul’s paternal cousin (1 Samuel 14:50–51; according to 1 Chronicles 9:39 he was Saul’s uncle) and commander of his army; the king held him in high esteem and kept him at his right hand (1 Samuel 20:25).
After Saul’s death, the ambitious Abner had Saul’s fourth son, Ish-bosheth—a feeble man destined to serve merely as his puppet—proclaimed king at Mahanaim in Transjordan. Having recovered the regions of Issachar, Ephraim, and Benjamin, he then sought to bring Judah under his control as well, since that territory was subject to David. At Gibeon Abner’s forces met those of David under Joab’s command. After the mutual slaughter of the twenty-four champions who had fought in single combat, the battle flared into a furious engagement and ended in Abner’s defeat. To avoid personal enmity with the fierce enemy commander, Abner twice tried in vain to persuade Asahel, Joab’s younger brother, to abandon the pursuit; finally, weary of the chase, Abner killed him with a butt-stroke of his spear, almost simulating an accidental mishap (2 Samuel 2:12–32). Eager to secure some claim to succession, Abner took to wife Rizpah, Saul’s concubine; but when Ish-bosheth reproached him, he deserted to David and offered to deliver the entire tribe of Benjamin into his power. He was slain—mourned by David (2 Samuel 3:33–34)—in an ambush set for him at Hebron by Joab, who thereby avenged Asahel’s death.