Abner took Ish-bosheth Abner was not only Saul's general, but his near kinsman also, and in this instance his interest and ambition, and perhaps also envy, strongly influenced him. He knew that Ish-bosheth, if advanced to the sovereignty, would only have the name of a king, while he himself had the power. It appears, however, sufficiently from the sequel of his history, that he was well acquainted with David's divine designation to the throne; but should he now submit to it he must no more hope for the chief command of the army. Joab was in possession of that under David, and well deserved to be so; and it was not probable he would displace him, a tried friend and a near kinsman, (being the son of Zeruiah, David's sister,) to make way for an inveterate enemy newly reconciled. Nor was this all; Ish-bosheth was Abner's near kinsman; whom, if he did not support, the interest of his tribe and of his family must fall with his own. Add to all this, that Abner commanded under Saul in all the expeditions he made against David; and it appears sufficiently from the history that David was greatly an over-match for him in all military conduct. Thus envy, ambition, interest, and personal pique led him to espouse the cause of Ish- bosheth, whom he brought over Jordan with him to Mahanaim, a place in the tribe of Gad, (Joshua 13:26,) which he chose for his residence, the better to gain that part of the country to his interest, to be more out of the reach of David's and the Philistines' incursions, and to have the better opportunity of recruiting his army among a people not only brave and courageous, but well affected to the cause he had espoused. See Delaney.
Related Commentaries of 2 Samuel 2:8
2 Samuel 2:8
8 But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host,a took Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;