The house of Saul It is not said here that Saul’s immediate family was settled at Gibeon. From 1 Samuel 10:26; 1 Samuel 15:34, and 2 Samuel 21:6, we learn that Gibeah, or “Gibeah of Saul,” was the seat of the king. It is gratuitous to suppose that the chronicler has confounded two different places.
And Ner begat Kish. — 1 Samuel 9:1 gives the following pedigree of Kish: Kish son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Bechorath, son of Aphiah; and 1 Samuel 14:51 states that Kish the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner, were sons of Abiel. The omission of intermediate names is not uncommon in these lists. We may, therefore, suppose that some members of the genealogical series are here omitted between Ner and Kish. The father of Abner was, of course, only a namesake of the present Ner, which is perhaps a clan, not an individual.
Saul begat Jonathan. — So 1 Samuel 14:49; 1 Samuel 31:2; save that the former passage has Ishui for Abinadab. This seems to be a case of double naming. Others identify Ishui with Ishbosheth.
Abinadab. — Comp. Nadab, 1 Chronicles 8:30. Both are probably Divine titles, meaning “the father (i.e., Jehovah) is noble.” Comp. Kammusu Nadbi, “Chemosh is my prince,” the name of a Moabite king, mentioned by Sennacherib. Ner and Kish also both occurred in 1 Chronicles 8:30 as Gibeonite clans. Here they (or at least Kish) may be said to be personal names.
Esh-baal. — 2 Samuel 2:8, Ish-bosheth, David’s rival king. Esh-baal (“man of Baal”) is the true name. Ish-bosheth (“man of shame”) is a sort of euphemism, avoiding the very mention of an idol. So the Merib-baal (“Baal strives;” rather, perhaps, Meri-Baal, “man of Baal”) of 1 Chronicles 8:34 appears in 2 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 9:6, &c, as Mephibosheth, where probably the right reading is Meribbosheth. In like manner, idols are styled “abominations.” 1 Kings 11:5 : “Milcom the abomination (i.e., god) of the sons of Ammon,” and elsewhere. Beth-el, the sanctuary of the golden calf, or rather bullock, is called Beth-aven. The “house of God” is a “house of wickedness” (Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8; Joshua 7:2.) (See Note on 1 Chronicles 8:30.)