Bible Strands
2 Samuel 2:23
But Asahel refused to turn away. So Abner thrust the butt of his spear into his stomach, and it came out his back, and he fell dead on the spot. And every man paused when he came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Abner acts during a nighttime skirmish after Asahel ignores his warning to stop the pursuit.
The words — וַ/יְמָאֵ֣ן (va/y.ma.'En) records Asahel’s refusal to turn aside, and בְּ/אַחֲרֵ֨י הַ/חֲנִ֜ית (be./'a.cha.Rei ha./cha.Nit) specifies the butt of the spear Abner used to strike him.
The thread — The fatal spear thrust into the belly parallels later stomach stabbings recorded at 2 Samuel 3:27 and 2 Samuel 4:6.
Why it lands — The text documents a warned pursuit ending in sudden death, requiring the reader to note the immediate physical consequence of ignoring a commander’s explicit warning.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Howbeit he refused to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place: and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 3:27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside into the gateway, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died on account of the blood of Joab’s brother Asahel.
- 2 Samuel 4:6 They entered the interior of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped away.
- 2 Samuel 5:6 Now the king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. The Jebusites said to David: “You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you.” For they thought, “David cannot get in here.”
- 2 Samuel 20:10 Amasa was not on guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach and spilled out his intestines on the ground. And Joab did not need to strike him again, for Amasa was dead. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.
- 2 Samuel 20:12 But Amasa wallowed in his blood in the middle of the road, and when the man saw that all the troops were stopping there, he dragged the body off the road into a field and threw a garment over it.