ABNER (Heb.: “the father is light”). - Saul’s cousin on his father’s side (I Sam. 14, 50 f.; according to I Par. 9, 9 he would have been his uncle) and commander of his army, esteemed by the king, who kept him at his right hand (I Sam. 20, 25).
After Saul’s death, the ambitious A. had Saul’s fourth son, Isboseth, an inept man destined to be a mere instrument in his hands, proclaimed king at Mahanaim in Transjordan. Having reconquered the regions of Issachar, Efraim, and Beniamin, he also attempted to occupy Giuda, which was under David’s control. Before Gabaon, A.’s army clashed with David’s force commanded by Joab; after the death of the twenty-four champions of the two armies, who pierced one another in single combat, the battle flared up fiercely and ended in A.’s defeat. In order to avoid personal enmity with the fierce enemy commander, A. vainly tried twice to dissuade Asael, Joab’s younger brother, from pursuing him, until, weary of this, he killed him with the butt of his spear, almost as though to simulate an accidental incident (II Sam. 2, 12-32). Desiring to secure some claim to the succession, he took as his wife Resfa, Saul’s concubine; but, offended by Isboseth’s reproach, he went over to David, attempting to bring him the whole tribe of Beniamin. He perished, mourned by David (ibid. 3, 33 f.), in an ambush laid for him at Hebron by Joab, who thus sought to avenge Asael’s death. Faustino Salvoni