2 Samuel 2:24–32

Joab and Abishai also pursued Abner. And the sun was going down when they came to the hill of Ammah, which is before Giah by the road to the Wilderness of Gibeon. Now the children of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became a unit, and took their stand on top of a hill. Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end? How long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren?”

And Joab said, “As God lives, unless you had spoken, surely then by morning all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren.” So Joab blew a trumpet; and all the people stood still and did not pursue Israel anymore, nor did they fight anymore. Then Abner and his men went on all that night through the plain, crossed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron; and they came to Mahanaim.

So Joab returned from pursuing Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel. But the servants of David had struck down, of Benjamin and Abner’s men, three hundred and sixty men who died. Then they took up Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb, which was in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at daybreak.

So, after setting up a ridiculous puppet king, plus starting a rebellion against the LORD’s clearly chosen one, Abner has finally been chased down by a superior force. Time to get what’s coming to you, Abner.

But he talks his way out of it, saying, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end? How long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren?”

Suddenly it’s, “We’re all brothers here, right?”

Civil wars can lead to incredible bloodshed. So, Joab decides to favor mercy over justice here.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t put an end to this conflict. As we will see, letting Abner off the hook doesn’t change his character. Bloodshed will continue until Abner is no more.

This is a horrible lesson we seem to learn over and over—a cease fire only delays the bloodshed. Ending a civil war in total victory for one side leads to a difficult reunion/reconstruction, but cease fires are worse. They don’t resolve things any better than battle by champion.

A 1991 cease fire in Iraq left Saddam Hussein in power, which just put off the worst conflict.

A 1961 cease fire in Cuba left Castro in power, which led to decades of refugees fleeing and dying.

A 1953 cease fire in Korea left the Kim dynasty in power, which led to them developing nuclear weapons.

Lord have mercy.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday ones are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to the DEEP click here:  https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.