There he proclaimed Ishbosheth king over Gilead, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, the land of the Ashurites, and all the rest of Israel.
Parallel translations
- WEB and he made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel.
- KJV And made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel.
- BSB and made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin—over all Israel.
- NKJV and he made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and over all Israel.
- NASB And he made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, even over all Israel.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Abner makes Ishbosheth king over the northern and eastern tribes. The nation is now split between two rival claimants.
Overview
Ishbosheth's rule over Gilead, Israel, and the other regions sets up a rival kingdom against David's reign in Judah. The arrangement is largely Abner's doing, revealing where the real power lay. This fractured kingship over Israel foreshadows the later permanent division and highlights the need for the one true King whom God would establish.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Judg 1:32but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.
- Num 32:1–42Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock. When they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that behold, the place was a place for livestock;
- Josh 19:18Their border was to Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem,
- Gen 30:13Leah said, “Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy.” She named him Asher.
- Josh 13:8–11With him the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, even as Moses the servant of Yahweh gave them:
- Ps 108:8Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is my helmet. Judah is my scepter.
- Num 1:40Of the children of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
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Christ at the center
God's covenant with David — a son whose throne and kingdom would last forever (7:12–16) — finds its yes in Jesus, the Son of David who reigns without end.
How 2 Samuel 2:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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