2 Samuel 3:12-21

The facts are:

1 . Abner, disgusted with Ishbosheth's conduct, opens negotiation with David for the transfer of the kingdom to him.

2 . David consents to discuss the question on condition that Abner first of all undertakes to restore unto him Michal, Saul's daughter.

3 . Concurrent with Abner's efforts to bring this to pass, David makes a demand on Ishbosheth for the restoration of Michal.

4 . Abner, taking charge of Michal on her return to David, effects the final separation from her weeping husband.

5 . Reminding Israel and Benjamin of their former preference of David, Abner seeks to bring them over to his cause.

6 . Charged with instructions from the people, he pro-coeds to Hebron as a legate to arrange the business with David.

7 . As a result of the interview, it was left to Abner to complete the formal submission of all the people to the authority of David

Faithfulness in small things.

The passage here in reference to David and Michal brings out a feature in the character of the king which was prominent from first to last. According to the common estimate of things, the a priori belief would be that, when a ruler desires the subjugation of a kingdom, he will readily accept offers of submission and of all powerful aids to bring it to pass. To obtain supremacy over Israel was the one thing above all others on which David's mind was set, and the cooperation of so influential a man as Abner was a virtual realization of the king's purpose. To an astute unprincipled man like Abner it was doubtless a cause of amazement that, when the kingdom was within the king's grasp, he should practically refuse to have it unless a certain private affair was first arranged. The great affairs of the nation were made to wait on the settlement of what seemed to be a mere matter of sentiment and personal interest. Few monarchs in the East would thus have dealt with the chance of gaining the ends of long-cherished political ambition. In David's case the stipulation was consistent with his character, lie was ever generously careful of maintaining the rights of individuals and of sacrificing his own ambition to the justice due to others. He was faithful in that which is least.

I. THE CLAIMS OF THAT WHICH IS LEAST ARE VALID AND ARE SUBSTANTIAL PARTS OF A VAST SYSTEM OF OBLIGATIONS . Michal was David's wife, bound to his heart and life by ties sacred and memorable ( 1 Samuel 18:17-30 ). To political schemers it would seem absurd to set a woman, not seen for many years, and known to be living in forced matrimony with another man, ever against a whole kingdom. But wrong done to her ( 1 Samuel 25:44 ) had not invalidated her claim on David's affection. It was due to her, due to the memory of her father in spite of his follies, due to the force of his Own character on others, and due to the old love ( 1 Samuel 18:20-28 ) which changing fortunes had not changed, that she should have justice done her on the very first opportunity of enforcing it. David's vision was clear enough to see that, if his claim to be king over all Israel was valid because of the appointment of God, so equally the claim of this banished woman on his love and care was also valid, because based on principles which God had ordained for the regulation of domestic life. The same Divine wilt was in both; and, moreover, they were equally parts of the great system of obligations which covers the whole area of human activity, and which is productive of highest good to man when the different parts are equally held as sacred and are rigidly observed. In human affairs there is often an apparent collision of what are called small and great obligations. In reality there is no such thing. There may be a question of order in which actions shall be done; but obligation, in the moral sense, can never clash with obligation. To love the Lord with all the heart is the prime, the chief duty, hut it does not destroy the duty of love to our neighbour. To take part in public affairs may be an obligation, but the care of home is a valid claim which cannot be ignored. There are duties which, entering into the minutiae of life or pertaining to the home rather than to public affairs, may be regarded as relatively small, but inasmuch as they are not the creation of custom but proceed from the will of God and form parts of the great scheme of life, they are to be regarded as sacred and binding as those which figure more largely before the public eye.

II. THE BRINGING ABOUT OF GREAT EVENTS INVOLVES MORE CHANGES THAN LIE WITHIN OUR OWN ACTION , AND PROVIDENCE TAKES CARE OF THEM . The event of all Israel submitting to David would imply manifold influences brought to bear on the elders of the people, and through them on the masses, and in such a process of change there might arise many a circumstance adverse to the desired issue. It was not in David's power to effect this by any personal action. All he could do was to set agencies at work through Abner, and trust in Providence for disposing the hearts of men aright. It was right doubtless for the people to own him as king, but it was not in his power to establish this right. On the other hand, it was in his power to do justice to a banished woman, and demand, as a prior step, that she be restored to his heart and home. There is always an uncertainty attending our efforts to bring about great issues in the world's affairs, even though those issues be predicted and included in the Divine purpose; for our actions are but a few among myriads of forces for and against the end for which we strive, and for ages the goal may not be reached. It is our duty to do what we can, just as it was David's to use means for winning Israel over to the allegiance which had been predicted and was part of the theocratic purpose; but we have to act in faith that an overruling Providence is at work above us and above all forces, and that the great issue will in some unknown way and time be brought to pass. The statesman cannot make the nation great and strong; he can only set in motion social and material forces which in due course may accomplish the purpose in view. The missionary can but contribute an item of force towards rendering the whole earth submissive to Christ. The parent can contribute but some of the elements which in the end will tend to form the final character of his children. The far-reaching aims of life are binding on us, but their realization is not all in our power. It is absolutely within our power to perform single acts of justice and consideration as occasion offers. As the products of will, they may fill but a small place in the world in comparison with the realization of those other wider aims which are products of many wills; yet they afford opportunities for proving our fidelity to truth and righteousness as surely as do the great events to bring about which we can only contribute our part. David's profound regard for what was right shone forth in his care for a single individual, just as truly as his faith in Providence appeared in subordinating the attainment of his political ambition to this act of justice.

III. HUMAN DUTY IS PLEDGED TO THAT WHICH IS KNOWN AND DISTINCT . David knew that Michal was his wife, that she had been forcibly separated from him in the day of adversity, and that as a good man he was bound to amend her wrongs as soon as occasion offered. Though a king, he saw that domestic were prior to political obligations. There may have been, as a matter of fact, policy in showing his regard in this way for the house of Saul, but the evident motive was to do a right deed as soon as it was seen to be right and scope offered for its performance. In morals, prompt action is homage to righteousness. A known duty and scope for its performance should never be deferred. As air, in obedience to the law of its action, rushes in to fill a vacuum, so does a just mind at once seize opportunity for doing what is clearly known to be right. If men linger and hesitate to do specific acts discerned to be just, it is clear evidence that they are defective in righteousness of principle. Their inner life is pro tanto alien to that of God. This explains, in one way at least, how it is that some men do not at once turn from positive sins and surrender themselves to Christ. They see what is the right thing to do, but defer it till some great scheme of their life is completed.

IV. FAITHFULNESS IN THAT WHICH IS LEAST GIVES MORAL POWER FOR OTHER ACTS . Having discharged this more private domestic duty, and so satisfied his conscience in reference to an obvious obligation in which a sufferer was concerned, David was a stronger man for carrying through whatever might be useful for realizing the great purposes of Providence. A good conscience is a moral tonic. The impression produced on Abner and others by this regard for what is right in the more private sphere of life, could not but be favourable to the public interests of the king. Evil men are awed by pronounced goodness, and the halting are won to allegiance. History presents many instances of influence augmented by conscientious attention to duties in private and domestic life. The habit formed by such carefulness to do the right thing in minor matters gives momentum to the action of the will when it is called to act in reference to great questions in the face of strong opposition. Many men become morally enervated by careless inattention to obligations of a private nature, yet lying close at hand and clear as daylight. Their influence on great public questions is weakened by their consciousness of neglect, and by the disgust with which men regard public separated from private righteousness.

Policy without principle.

The Bible narratives do not enter into details concerning the inner motives of those whose actions are recorded; they rather state outward facts, and leave them to produce their natural impressions. The strange and apparently irreconcilable procedures of Abner are no doubt resolvable into some one governing feeling which, with unvarying consistency though in varying form, shaped his entire public actions. The whole facts from first to last reveal the operation at the base of his conduct of one master passion—the love of pre-eminence; and it is in the working out of this powerful feeling that we find a remarkable illustration of a policy in life apart from principle.

I. A LOVE OF PRE - EMINENCE IS OFTEN A CLUE TO MUCH IN LIFE THAT IS OTHERWISE UNACCOUNTABLE . It certainly does seem strange that a man of Abner's abilities, brought up in full knowledge of the special relation of David to Samuel and Jonathan, and therefore fully aware of the reason why, after the exile from Palestine, David should assume royal state at Hebron and claim dominion also over the entire house of Israel, should give up his services in favour of David's rival. In the light of mere custom and regal order it would seem to be patriotic and manly on his part to identify his life with the interests of a son of the reigning house, and probably he flattered himself that ordinary men would put this interpretation on his conduct. But the best solution of all the facts of his life is to be found in the hypothesis of his passionate love of preeminence. With so strong a man as Joab on David's side, and the reputed zeal of the other sons of Zeruiah, there was little chance of his rising to the position of power which alone would satisfy his ambition. Although his ordinary sense must have assured him, to say nothing of the latent truth recognized by the conscience ( 2 Samuel 3:9 , 2 Samuel 3:10 ), that Ishbosheth could never successfully compete with so brave and active a rival as David, yet, on the principle that it is "better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven," he found it more congenial to throw in his lot with a man over whom he could exercise chief influence and in whose cause he would be the principal figure. This policy void of principle ran through, as we shall soon see, the actions of his entire course. There lies, also, at the spring of every man's conduct, be he a public character or only a private individual, some master passion to which all other feelings and aims are subordinate, and it is good for each one, and necessary to the true interpreter of life, to find out what it is. In public affairs there can be no question that in very many instances it is not fear of God, not pure patriotism, not regard for human interests as such, but open or disguised love of pre-eminence which furnishes the main incentive to conduct. The form of conduct may be such as would result from the action of higher and better feelings, but that is simply the result of policy. This feeling, which finds its scope in the rivalry and struggle of individuals, is but the social form of the generic feeling known as selfishness, or, as modern theologians term it, selfism, which in its essence is sin and probably the metaphysical explanation of sin itself, and which, moreover, is the solution of the fact that men do not recognize the eternal King, but prefer to belong to an inferior order of things. To please self, men will even consent to lose moral rank, and become foes rather than friends of the Righteous One.

II. MORAL HUMILIATIONS MAY MODIFY THE FORM OF POLICY , BUT THEY WILL NOT DESTROY THE MASTER PASSION . To an aspiring man, as was Abner, it was intensely mortifying to be charged with wrong doing by one nominally his superior, and the moral sting of the charge probably lay in its truth. This was, on the part of Ishbosheth, a virtual assumption of both moral and legal superiority; and, as such, was a blow at that secret, unexpressed sense of superiority which Abner had all along felt in relation to the weak young man whose cause he had patronizingly advocated. In even bad men the moral sense is strong, if not in leading to right courses, yet in making them wretched for wrong doing, inwardly and morally Abner was now weak in the presence of his royal master. The soul that is humiliated does not like to be reminded of its humiliation, and, if possible, the occasions of such reminders must be avoided and punished. The change wrought in Abner lay in the deep region of unexpressed and inexpressible feelings. The old love of pre-eminence was untouched by the collision with Ishbosheth. The masterful springs of human life are not easily dried up or supplanted. The immediate effect was simply to raise up a minor yet strong personal feeling, which came as a dam between the old love of pre-eminence and the interests of Ishbosheth, and caused it to flow with widened channel in another direction. Emotions stimulate thinkings, and personal feelings arouse ingenuity. Swift as lightning Abner saw that he could be a yet more important personage than ever, and, at the same time qualify his moral humiliation by the sweets of revenge. In spite of Joab and the other son of Zeruiah, he would figure as the means of placing the crown of a united people on David's head. It should be seen that what war could not do Abner had the power to do. The names of David, Israel, and Abner would henceforth be indissolubly associated in the annals of the time. Instead of pre-eminence at the court of Ishbosheth, there would be pre-eminence at the court of David, and in the judgment of a compact nation. There have been other instances of statesmen, under the influence of resentment, changing their course, and apparently, but not in reality) their principles.

The policy in all such cases has been to subordinate public interests to certain cherished feelings. A form of sound principles may be adopted for the very same reason as previously it was rejected. Evil men are prone to do the same in ecclesiastical affairs. In private life men have been known even to assume a form of godliness—to quote the Divine truth ( 2 Samuel 3:9 , 2 Samuel 3:10 )—as a means of better subserving their purpose. It were well if rebuke of sin ( 2 Samuel 3:7 , 2 Samuel 3:8 ) always produced the godly sorrow that leads to genuine repentance, and then the adoption of the true principles of the kingdom would be, not as a policy, but as a matter of conviction. The case of Saul of Tarsus in relation to the spiritual kingdom stands out in sharp contrast to that of Abner in relation to the temporal kingdom (cf. Acts 9:5-20 ).

III. DURING THE WORKING OUT OF THE MASTER PASSION THE TRUTH OF GOD ABIDES AS A PERMANENT WITNESS . That Abner should have so explicitly referred to the Divine purpose ( 2 Samuel 3:9 ) cannot be ascribed to information recently received, but must be accounted for on the ground that he had all along had the truth suppressed in his own mind. He here unwittingly unveils his own conscience and condemns his past course as a violation of solemn obligations rising far above social considerations and personal preferences. To the people he, perhaps, seemed to be a man upheld by a sense of right, but to himself he was known as a rebel against God. The Divine truth asserted inwardly its own reality. Its light revealed to himself, whenever he calmly reflected on his conduct, the dark and damaging characters of his public career. And though he was now adopting right principles, and so would in future escape the pain of knowing that his actions were not running counter to their direction, yet, being conscious of adopting them for unprincipled reasons, he could not avoid the conviction that he was doing the right thing for David, not because of a love of God, but for personal ends. The sense of right would thus reveal to him the essential crookedness of ways that were ostensibly straight. The man who does right things from bad motives never knows the blessedness of the just. Probably there is no determinate course of wrong doing in which the light of truth does not bear some witness more or less distinct. Even those who, following lower passions, change the glory of the incorruptible God into images after their own likeness ( Romans 1:23 ), at times find within a protest against their conduct ( Romans 2:15 ). No man who has heard the claims of Christ to universal dominion as clearly and authoritatively set forth as ever Abner had heard of the Divine right of David, can live opposed to him, or, as a mere matter of policy, fall in formally with his rights, without being sensible at times of a voice which tells him of his dangerous position and worthless character. Many a converted man has borne testimony that, for years previous to his conversion, the truth of God bore faithful witness as to what was the will of God concerning him in his relation to the Anointed One.

IV. THE WORKING OUT OF A POLICY CHANGED IN OUTWARD FORM BUT NOT IN NATURE NECESSITATES AND ENSURES MUCH ZEAL AND INGENUITY . The change of allegiance was, for Abner, a momentous step. For onlookers it meant on his part a judgment, and self-respect demanded that that judgment should be justified by every possible means. His policy being the same along an altered course, he must so act as to make it appear that he had come into the possession of new and true principles, and so get the credit of acting on principle and not on policy void of principle. Of course, a man who sincerely came to the belief that God had purposed David to be king, and loved the doing of the will of God, would at once go and offer his services to David. Abner did this. Of course, he would be eager to fulfil all conditions that might be specified by David in bringing to pass the will of God ( 2 Samuel 3:13-16 ). This was true of Abner. And as to gaining over others to his new view of things, no pains would be spared to show the reasonableness of the course now to be taken. Abner made out a case before the elders of Israel and the more sturdy Benjamites, and was able to report to David complete success ( 2 Samuel 3:17-21 ). What zeal and ingenuity were implied in all this may be imagined by those only who know how hard it is to justify sudden changes of conduct and get one's followers to entertain new ideas. But Abner's love of pre-eminence in national affairs must perish if these efforts were not forthcoming. The same will apply to any one who changes sides in public affairs, and at the same time desires to attain to the distinction formerly obtained or secretly longed for. In fact, fully to gratify the cravings of selfish ambition means toil upon toil. However gratifying the completion of one's aims may seem, it is a vain and miserable issue when regarded in the clear light of pure principle. In the real moral world—the sphere in which God alone awards the prizes of life—he is not crowned who does not "strive lawfully" ( 2 Timothy 2:5 ), that is, is not observant of all the great and holy principles on which alone God would have men act. It is certain, therefore, that men of the Abner stamp, who are doing the right things, not because they are right and of God, but for personal ends, will one day find that their efforts will, while being used up by God in furtherance of the dominion of Zion's King, bring to themselves none of the glory and honour which alone fall to those who persist in "well doing" ( Romans 2:6 , Romans 2:7 ).

GENERAL LESSONS.

1 . It becomes us now and then to search into the mainsprings of life, to ascertain what really are the principles or feelings which dominate our conduct.

2 . We may rest assured, in our appeals to men on behalf of Christ, that there is in their conscience, confronting their actual life of rebellion, a witness for him the Divine authority of which they must secretly recognize.

3 . Any change from an externally wrong to an externally right course is to be tested by its being or not being the outcome of pure love of what is pleasing to God.

4 . There is a day coming when the actions which seem to lie in the direction of the kingdom of Christ, and, in fact, as right actions, are due to him, will be unveiled so as to be seen in their relation to the actual feelings in which they originated, and then those, who during a part of their life were regarded as good workers, will be known as "workers of iniquity" ( Matthew 7:21-23 ).

5 . In the lives of some men one portion is spent in endeavouring to undo the deeds of former misspent days, and not always with clean hands in the sight of God.

6 . The secret of every life is to be found in the heart, and hence the need constantly of the prayer that God would create within us a clean heart.

7 . It is a right thing for men of influence, when the force of truth is openly admitted by themselves, to do what lies within their power to bring others over to its practical recognition.

8 . The great mass of the people are very much influenced in the course they take in public affairs by the reasonings of able leaders; hence the responsibilities of leaderships in the government of God.

Policy with principle.

A careful examination of facts will show that David's conduct in this narrative, and indeed all through his early career, was the very reverse of Abner's. His entire course, from the day of his call from the sheepfold to the proffered allegiance of Abner, was one of simple honest desire to do the will of God. Again and again had he resisted temptations to grasp at power; and his conduct in the interview with Abner, and use of his services, proceeded from the same principle, that, in its very nature, excluded selfish motive.

I. ACTION GOVERNED BY DIVINE PURPOSE IS THE NORMAL COURSE FOR A RATIONAL CREATURE . In inanimate and irrational things the Divine purpose is so stamped upon their being or wrought into the texture of their nature that as a matter of course they, in their movements, follow in the line appointed. Their action is necessarily normal. In creatures endowed with a rational will there comes in the prerogative of option. The possibility of an abnormal course belongs to such beings as an essential element of their constitution. The angels that have kept their first estate, and fallen angels and man, illustrate the two sides of the case. In the affairs of ancient Israel the revealed purpose of God was that David should be king ( 2 Samuel 3:9 ). This was the will of the Eternal, by which every man, from Samuel and Saul in the highest ranks to the lowliest descendant of Jacob, was to be guided in his political life. How Samuel and Jonathan conformed to this law is beautifully seen in their respective careers. How David was governed by it is to be seen in the strong faith in his own destiny which ran through his patient endurance of exile; in his firm but restrained opposition to Ishbosheth; and also in his negotiations with Abner. It is this conscious conformity of action with the Divine purpose in relation to public affairs that raises the strong assertions of integrity in the Psalms above the suspicion of being the outgoings of a self-righteous spirit that claims perfect internal holiness in the sight of God. As a rule, our private conduct is normal in so far only as it is the carrying out in action of the definite purpose of God that we should govern self for him. Hence sin is properly said to be a fall ( Hosea 14:1 ). Hence our Saviour's was the only true life. He was man as man should be. It was his meat and drink to do his Father's will. The goal of redemption is to raise us to the full stature of men in Christ Jesus. This view of human life, inwrought as a principle into all the operations of heart and mind, will do much to bring about the final harmony of our own lives, and indeed of all things, for discords will cease in proportion as rational created wills move in unison with the Divine.

II. THE PRINCIPLE ON WHICH LIFE SHOULD BE CONDUCTED BEING CLEARLY RECOGNIZED , IT SERVES AS A LIGHT TO THE CHOICE AND REJECTION OF MEANS BY WHICH THE ATTAINMENT OF THE END MAY BE SECURED . Between David's revealed predestination to be king over the chosen race, and the realization of the Divine will in the factual facts of history, many acts on his part had to be performed. It would be perplexing to an ordinary mind to prestate the agencies and methods by which the shepherd boy and exile should at last peacefully ascend the throne and reign over a united people. Had human passion, or bare calculation, or mere politic balancing of advantages been taken as guide and governor of action, there would doubtless have been, in his case, a reproduction of the tragic struggles so often recorded in the history of public affairs. But conformity of self to the holy will of God being the root principle of life, conjoined with the never absent conviction that Providence was sure to be on his side in seeking to conform self to the revealed will, this illumined his pathway even amidst the darkest of earth's shadows, and enabled him to see what courses should be avoided and what pursued. Clearly he must not give scope to mere lust of power; for where the need and what the use of that when the Holy One had sworn that he should reign? Clearly, also, he must not use force and conquer the people over whom as king he is to rule; for had not God chosen him to be king over a chosen race, for the realization of high spiritual issues stretching far into a glorious future? Equally plain was it that there is no need to have recourse to the cunning and craft and falsehoods—the policy void of moral principle—which a godless spirit might suggest; for was he not the chosen servant of the Holy One of Israel, who has no need of low born policies to establish his dominion over men? Hence David's patience in exile, his tender regard for Saul even when others suggested revenge, his merely defensive action at Hebron, and his manifest unwillingness to force Ishbosheth from the throne and to compel Israel to submit to himself. He had faith in God and in God's supremacy over the hearts and destinies of men. In so far as he had a policy it was suggested by his fundamental principle, and embraced three things:

Hence:

III. A POLICY THUS FOUNDED ON PRINCIPLE IS SURE IN THE COURSE OF TIME TO ISSUE IN THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE . There is evidence in David's early career that he had to endure the blame of eager and less conscientious men for being so very scrupulous in the use of means. The sons of Zeruiah were, also, not satisfied with what they would call his timorous policy (verses 24, 25, 39). Those years spent in Hebron, merely keeping in check the assaults of Ishbosheth's men (verses 1, 22), seemed to give a doubtful meaning to the Divine promise which had become the property of both David and the true sections of the nation (verses 9, 10, 17, 18). But the man of God held on, and would not swerve from the policy founded on clear principle. Events proved that he was right and the overeager men wrong. In due course, Providence so governed the action of leading forces, that the entire people were brought (verses 17-21) under influences which at last issued in his realizing the end on which his heart had been so long set. In fact, he allowed God to work where man cannot work, i.e. on the spirits of men beyond the reach of our own hand and voice. Once more we see it illustrated that God's time and methods are best. The same peaceful issue is coming on as the result of "the patience of the saints," and their undying faith in the action of the Spirit of God on the spirits of men. It is when professing Christians lose their faith in God, and have recourse to questionable devices, that, in seeking to hasten on, they really retard the progress of that which they have at heart. Taking a wide view of the government of God in the unfolding of the moral order, we see the same attainment of remote ends by means of righteous and quiet acting through long epochs. What is thus true on a large scale will be found true also of the individual life—the effort to realize the holy will of God in our personal experience. In public and private affairs, in working out our lines of policy founded on principle, we should not forget to leave a very broad margin for the action of God beyond anything we can do or attempt. This has ever been the case with the best men. There are springs which God's hand alone can touch. He can govern the free actions of leaders of men, so that the actual course they freely take, though not most pure in motive, shall, in its form, harmonize with the main purpose of the Eternal. Would that man had more faith in God as the living God!

GENERAL LESSONS .

1 . The sincere satisfaction of those who, like David, restrain feeling and bad in, pulse, and wait for God to open the way and change the course of events.

2 . The important contribution to the realizing of the purposes of Christ the Anointed One sometimes made by men whose acts are not pervaded by his Spirit. As Abner's acts accelerated God's purposes, so the gains of commerce, of science and art, though not always made in the name of God, become means of advancing his kingdom.

3 . The survival of sacred feelings amidst and in spite of the turmoil and commotions of life. The old love for Michal was still alive, as many an old affection cherished in early days reappears and asserts itself when occasion offers.

4 . The deep wounds and secret sorrows induced by harsh and arbitrary acts. As the cruel deed of Saul ( 1 Samuel 25:44 ) left its traces in the lives of David, Michal, and Phaltiel (verse 15), so it is with other deeds of the same spirit but different in form.

5 . The apparent subordination of great public interests to private is, in the case of men of principle, only on the surface; the reverse is really the truth. David's promotion of the unification of the nation, on condition of getting back his wife (verse 13), was, as seen above, in the real interests of the unification under himself; and so when the acts of really good men are traced down to their principles, they only, in outward form, appear to be too personal.

6 . The great extent to which the mass of men are biased even against what is plain truth (verses 9, 17, 18) by prejudice, and are swayed by able leadership.

7 . The completeness with which, in the course of providence, influence slowly gathered and widely exercised against the cause of God, may be suddenly turned to work round in promotion of it (cf. Saul of Tarsus and Abner, verses 17-21).