2 Samuel 3 Introduction

Structure and Formatting

This chapter continues the story of how David became king of Israel. It first lists briefly the sons who were born to David in Hebron while he was still the king only of the tribe of Judah. It then describes how Abner, who had been Saul’s general, turned against Ishbosheth and offered to make David the king of all the Israelite tribes. Abner fulfilled David’s condition of returning his wife Michal to him. But when Abner came to meet with David, David’s general Joab treacherously murdered him. The chapter concludes by describing how David cursed Joab for doing this, how he gave Abner an honorable burial, and how he composed a song to grieve Abner’s death.Some translations set each line of poetry farther to the right than the rest of the text to make it easier to read. The ULT does this with the poetic song in [3:33–34](../03/33.md).You may choose to present the list of David’s sons in [3:2–5](../03/02.md) the way a list would appear in your culture. For example, you might put the title and concluding summary on separate lines and the names of each son on a separate line, like this:Now sons were born to David in Hebron.And his firstborn was Amnon, to Ahinoam the Jezreelite.And his second was Kileab, to Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.And the third was Absalom, the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, the king of Geshur.And the fourth was Adonijah, the son of Haggith.And the fifth was Shephatiah, the son of Abital.And the sixth was Ithream, to Eglah, the wife of David.These were born to David in Hebron.There are many similar lists later in the historical books of the Bible. Decide as a team how you will present them.

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Did Abner have sexual relations with Rizpah?

In [3:7](../03/07.md), Ishbosheth accuses Abner of having sexual relations with Rizpah, who had been the concubine of his father Saul. In this culture, it was the duty of a son who succeeded his father as king to protect and care for the women who had been his father’s wives and concubines. If someone else married or had sexual relations with one of these women, that was an implicit assertion of a claim to the throne, as [1 Kings 2:22](../../1ki/02/22.md) illustrates. Since the author says in the previous verse that Abner “was strengthening himself” (becoming powerful) within Ishbosheth’s kingdom, it is possible that he was taking royal prerogatives for himself. However, it is not entirely clear from the text whether Abner actually did have sexual relations with Rizpah or whether Ishbosheth only suspected him of this. When Abner replies in [3:8](../03/08.md), “Yet today you charge against me the iniquity of a woman!” he could either be insisting that he had not done this or that Ishbosheth should not consider that he had done anything disloyal even though he had done this. The author may mean to leave this uncertain, and so we recommend that you do the same in your translation.

Translation Issues in This Chapter

“cut” a covenant

In [3:12](../03/12.md), Abner sends messengers to David to say on his behalf, “Cut your covenant with me.” The expression “cut” a “covenant” means “make a covenant.” The word “cut” is used because in some covenant ceremonies, the participants would cut up animals and then walk between the pieces. This was to indicate, “If I break this covenant, may I be destroyed in this same way.” It is not necessary to understand this background to covenant ceremonies in order to understand the action in this chapter, so you do not have to use the term “cut” in your translation. You could simply say “make,” or you could use an expression from your own language and culture.

Paltiel

In [3:15](../03/15.md), the author uses the name Paltiel for the man to whom Saul gave Michal as a wife when he took her away from David. In [1 Samuel 25:44](../../1sa/25/44.md), the author calls this man Palti. From ancient times, Jewish interpreters have stated that in [2 Samuel 3:15](../03/15.md), the author adds the term “el,” which means “God,” to the end of Palti’s name to show that he was a godly man who did not have sexual relations with Michal, since he knew that she was actually David’s wife. While the biblical text does not state this explicitly, it is a reasonable explanation of why the author gives this man’s name in two different forms. It receives some support, as Jewish tradition also states, from the fact that the place where Paltiel turned back from following Michal became known as Bahurim. That word means “youths,” suggesting that Paltiel and Michal had been like unmarried youths in their relationship with each other, or in other words, that they had not had sexual relations. Otherwise, according to [Deuteronomy 24:4](../../deu/24/04.md), it would not have been lawful for David to take Michal back as his wife. Whatever the reason, we recommend that you present this man’s name in two different forms in these places in your translation, since that is what the author does.