2 Samuel 2:8-11

Ish-bosheth set up by Abner as a rival to David

8. Abner Both by his relationship of first cousin to Saul (1 Samuel 14:50, note), and by his office as commander of the army, Abner was marked out as the natural champion of Saul's house.

took Better, had taken. The historian goes back to relate events immediately succeeding the battle of Gilboa. Abner had escaped from the fatal field and carried Ish-bosheth with him across the Jordan, whither it would seem there was a general retreat, while the country west of the Jordan was abandoned to the Philistines (1 Samuel 31:7).

Ish-bosheth Saul's fourth son, not previously mentioned, was a mere tool in the hands of Abner. His original name, as given in the genealogies in 1 Chronicles 8:33; 1 Chronicles 9:39, was Esh-baal (man of Baal), but this has been changed to Ish-bosheth (man of shame), to avoid the scandal of pronouncing the name of the false god Baal. Compare the substitution of Mephibosheth for Meribbaal (2 Samuel 4:4; 1 Chronicles 8:34), and Jerubbesheth for Jerubbaal (2 Samuel 11:21; Judges 8:35), and see Hosea 9:10; Jeremiah 11:13. There are indications that Esh-baal was the original reading here, and the change may have been made in books commonly read, while the original form was retained in the genealogy.

As regards the origin of the name, it is a question whether it was a relic of the old Baal worship, or whether baal(=lord) was at one time used as a title of Jehovah until discredited by idolatry (Hosea 2:16).

to Mahanaim Mahanaim (two hosts), "the spot consecrated by the presence of God in primeval times, where Jacob had divided his people into -two hosts," and had seen the -two hosts" of the angelic vision" (Genesis 32:2; Genesis 32:10), was chosen by Abner as the capital of Ish-bosheth's kingdom. Afterwards it became the retreat of David when he fled from Absalom (ch. 2 Samuel 17:24), and at that time was a fortified town with walls and gates (ch. 2 Samuel 18:24). It was situated on the frontier between Gad and Manasseh (Joshua 13:26; Joshua 13:30), but its exact position has not been identified with certainty. Canon Tristram places it at Mahneh, a few miles E. of Jabesh-Gilead (Land of Israel, p. 474).