Who was Abner in the Bible?

Who was Abner?

Abner was the cousin of King Saul and the commander-in-chief of his army. He was the son of Ner, Saul's uncle.

Abner's role in the Bible

Abner is initially mentioned incidentally in Saul's history and first appears as the commander who introduced David to Saul following David's killing of Goliath. He is not mentioned in the account of the disastrous battle of Gilboa when Saul's power was crushed. After the death of King Saul, Abner took Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth and made him king over the areas of Israel called Gilead, Ashuri and Jezreel, Ephraim, and Manasseh.

Abner's death

Abner died at the hands of Joab, the commander of David’s army. After about two years of Ish-Bosheth being king, he accused Abner of sleeping with Saul’s concubine. Abner became angry at the false accusation and promised to turn over all of Israel to David. Abner met with David and made an agreement to bring the entire nation of Israel under David’s control. After the meeting, Joab tracked down Abner and murdered him at the gateway in Hebron. Joab had been seeking to avenge his brother Asahel’s death at the hands of Abner. David made all of his people mourn and declared that he had nothing to do with Abner’s death.