Abner was Saul’s cousin (1 Samuel 14:50) and close confidant (1 Samuel 20:25; 1 Samuel 26:7).1 Previously, David had questioned his loyalty to Saul since he had allowed David to creep into the camp and did not guard the life of his king (see 1 Samuel 26:1–25).2 The fact that he was alive when Saul had perished calls his loyalty into question once again. A general should surely die before his king.
8 But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim,