2 Samuel 2:8
ESV
But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul 's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim,
NIV
Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-Bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.
NASB
But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.
CSB
Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth and moved him to Mahanaim.
NLT
But Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had already gone to Mahanaim with Saul’s son Ishbosheth.
KJV
But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;
NKJV
But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim;
What does 2 Samuel 2:8 mean?
Judah is the dominant tribe of Israel's southern region. David has been made their king (2 Samuel 2:4). The rest of Israel, however, has not yet accepted David's rule. Despite David's history as a champion of Israel, he also lost credibility among some in Israel during Saul's campaign to capture and kill him. The people of Saul's tribe of Benjamin have an especially difficult time switching their allegiances (1 Chronicles 12:29). In addition, kingships normally passed from father to son.We now learn that Abner, the commander of Saul's army, survived and escaped the epic defeat to the Philistines at Mount Gilboa (1 Samuel 31). Abner was Saul's cousin (1 Samuel 14:50), and he works to see the kingship continue in Saul's line.
Three of Saul's sons were killed in the battle at Mount Gilboa, including his oldest son Jonathan (1 Samuel 31:2). But Saul has other sons: Ish-bosheth, Armoni, and Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 21:8). The mother of the latter two might be a concubine since they're not mentioned in the genealogies (1 Chronicles 8:33). This Mephibosheth is Jonathan's brother, not his son (2 Samuel 21:7).
It's been five years since Saul died and David became king of Judah, and none of Saul's sons have taken their father's throne. Abner finally acts, making Ish-bosheth king, possibly as a puppet Abner could control (2 Samuel 2:9).
Ish-bosheth literally means "man of shame." It seems his birthname was Eshbaal or Ish-baal which means man of Baal (1 Chronicles 8:33). It's possible that Hebrew scribes replaced Baal, a pagan deity, with bosheth, meaning "shame." Mahanaim was in Gilead in the Transjordan region outside the main territory of the Israelites. It's possible that Abner chose this location for Israel's capital under Ish-bosheth because the Philistines dominated most of northern Israel at this time.
