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contrary, David's first act as king of Judah was to send an embassy to Jabesh-gilead
to express his admiration of their noble loyalty to Saul.^243
Nor does it detract from this mark of his generosity that, now their master was dead,
he intimated his own elevation, to bespeak, if possible, their allegiance. The support
of such men was well worth seeking. Besides, Jabesh-gilead was the capital of the
whole of that district; and already the standard had there been set up of a rival,
whose claims were neither founded on the appointment of God, nor on the choice of
the people.
As we infer from the sacred narrative, there had been among the fugitives from the
battle of Gilboa a son of Saul - whether the youngest or not must remain
undetermined.^244
From the language of the text (2 Samuel 2:8), as well as from his subsequent history,
he seems to have been a weak character -a puppet in the hands of Abner, Saul's
uncle, whom that ambitious and unscrupulous soldier used for his own purposes. His
original name, Esh-Baal, "fire of Baal" (l Chronicles 8:33; 9:39), became in popular
designation Ish-Bosheth, "man of shame," - Baal and Bosheth being frequently
interchanged according to the state of popular religion (Judges 6:32; Jeremiah 11:13;
Hosea 9:10). Even this may be regarded as indicating the popular estimate of the
man. Immediately after the battle of Gilboa, Abner had taken him across the Jordan
to Mahanaim, "the twain camp," where probably the broken remnants of Saul's army
also gathered. The place was well chosen, not only from the historical remembrances
attaching to the spot where angels' hosts had met Jacob on his return to the land of
promise (Genesis 32:2), but also as sufficiently far from the scene of the recent war
to afford safe shelter. Here Abner raised the standard of the Pretender to the throne
of Israel; and, probably in the course of five and a half years,^245 succeeded in
gradually clearing the country from the Philistines, and subjecting it, with the
exception of the territory of Judah, to the nominal rule of the "man of shame."
The first conflict between the armies of the rival kings was undoubtedly provoked by
Abner. With all the forces at his disposal he marched upon Gibeon, primarily with
the view of again establishing the royal residence at "Gibeah of Saul," but with the
ulterior object of placing Ish-bosheth in the room of his father, and gradually
pushing back David. Upon this, Joab advanced with the seasoned troops of David, to
oppose his progress. The town of Gibeon was built on the slope of a hill overlooking
a wide and fertile valley. On the eastern side of the hill deep down in a rock is a
beautiful spring, the waters of which are drained into a large rectangular pool, about
seventy-two feet long and forty-two feet wide (comp. also Jeremiah 41:12). South of
this pool lay the army of Joab, north of it that of Abner. The two generals seem to
have been previously acquainted (ver. 22); and perhaps Abner may from the first
(^)