The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 122: Abner Is Killed (2026)

Episode Date: May 2, 2026

In today's readings, we hear about the death of Abner, and Fr. Mike points out how David publicly mourns Abner, and instructs his people to do the same. The readings are 2 Samuel 3, 1 Chronicles 3-4, and Psalm 25. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a year podcast is brought to ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 122. Gosh, well done. You guys, so good. We were reading from 2 Samuel chapter 3, 1st Chronicles, chapter three and four, two chapters of names. It's going to be great. You're going to love it. I tell you. And we're also going to be praying Psalm 25. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the revised standard version, second Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure

Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast in your podcast app by clicking subscribe, and that would make you subscribed. It'll be great. As I said, today is 100 Day 122, and we are reading today from 2 Samuel chapter 3, 1st Chronicles, chapter 3 and 4, and praying Psalm 25. 2. 2nd Book of Samuel chapter 3. Abner defects to David. There was a long war between the House of Saul and the House of David, and David grew stronger and stronger, while the House of Saul became weaker and weaker, and sons were born to David at Hebron. His first born was Amnon of Ahinawam of Jesreal, and his second Chiliab of Abigail, the widow of Nibal of Carmel,

and the third, Absalom, the son of Maaka, the daughter of Talmay, king of Gesher, and the fourth Adonijah, the son of Haggith, and the fifth, Shevatiah, the son of Abital, and the sixth, Ethriam of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron. While there was a war between the House of Saul and the House of David, Abner was making himself strong in the House of Saul. Now, Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Ayah. And Ashibesheth said to Abner, why have you gone into my father's concubine? Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ashibishath and said, Am I a dog's head of Judah? This day I keep showing loyalty

to the House of Saul, your father, to his brothers and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David. And yet you charge me today with a fault concerning a woman. God do so to Abner, and more also, if I do not accomplish for David what the Lord has sworn to him, to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan to Birshiba. And Ashibesheth could not answer Abner another word because he feared him. And Abner set messengers to David at Hebron, saying, To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring over all Israel to you. And he said, good, I will make a covenant with you, but one thing I require of you, that is, you shall not see my face unless you first

bring Mikal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face. Then David sent messengers to Ashibesheth Saul's son, saying, give me my wife Mikhail, whom I betrothed at the price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. And Ashibishath sent and took her from her husband, Paltiel, the son of Laish. But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, Go, return. And he returned. And Abner conferred with the elders of Israel, saying, For some time past, you have been seeking David as king over you. Now then, bring it about. For the Lord has promised David, saying, by the hand of my servant David, I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies. Abner also spoke to

Benjamin, and then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin thought good to do. When Abner came with 20 men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. And Abner said to David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel to my Lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires. So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace. Abner is killed by Joseph. Abner is killed by Joab. Just then, the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. And Joab and all the army that was with him came. It was told Joab, Abner, the son of Nur, came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace.

And Joab went to the king and said, What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you sent him away so that he is gone? You know that Abner, the son of Nur, came to deceive you, and to know you're going out and you're coming in, and to know all that you are doing. When Joab came out from David's presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sarah, but David did not know about it. And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the belly so that he died, for the blood of Asahel, his brother.

afterward when David heard of it he said I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner the son of Nur may it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father's house and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who is slain by the sword or who lacks bread so Joab and Abashah his brother slew Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibbon Then David said to Joab, and to all the people who were with him, tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner. And David followed the beer. They buried Abner at Hebron, and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.

And the king lamented for Abner saying, Should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands were not bound, your feet were not fettered. As one falls before the wicked, you have fallen. And all the people wept again over. him. Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day, but David swore, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down. And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased

all the people. So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king's will to slay Abner, the son of Nur. And the king said to his servants, do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel. And I am this day weak, though anointed king, these men, the sons of Zeroi, are too hard for me. The Lord repay the evil-doer according to his wickedness. The verse book of Chronicles, chapter 3. Descendants of David and Solomon

These are the sons of David that were born to him in Hebron, the firstborn Abnon by Ahenoam the Jeseraites, the second Daniel by Abigail the Comeraitus, The third Absalom, whose mother was Maaka, the daughter of Talmay, king of Gesher. The fourth, Adonijah, whose mother was Hegeth. The fifth, Shefatia, by Abital. The sixth, Ethriam, by his wife, Eglah. Six were born to him in Hebron, where he reigned for seven years and six months,

and he reigned 33 years in Jerusalem. These were born to him in Jerusalem, Shemiah, Shabab, Nathan, and Solomon. Four by Batth Chua, the daughter of Ami Elifaleth, Elifalet, Nogah, Nefeg, Jafia, Elisima, Eliaa, and Elifalet. Nine. All these were David's sons, besides the sons of the concubines, and Tamar was their sister. The descendants of Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah his son, Asa, his son, Jehochefat, his son, Joram his son Ahaziah his son

Joash his son Amaziah his son Azaraya his son Jotham his son Ahaz his son Hezekiah his son Manasa his son Amnon his son

Josiah his son The sons of Josiah Johanan the first born The second Jehoekim The third Zedekiah The fourth Shalom The descendants of Jehoiakim, Jekunaya, his son, Zedekhaya, his son, and the sons of Jakunaya, the captive, Shialthiel, his son, Malchiram, Padaya, Shana,

Jekamaya, Hoshima, and Nebadaea, and the sons of Pedaia, Zerubabal, and Shamiya, and the sons of Zirubabel, Mesulam, and Hananaya, and Shilameth was their sister, and Hashubah, O'hubah, O'hubah, O'h. B'u'Hel, Berakhaya, Hasadaya, and JeshuBhased, 5. The sons of Hananiah, Pelatia and Jashaya, his son, Rafaya, his son, Arnaan, his son, Obadiah, his son, Jackanaia. The sons of Shackenaya, Shemaya, and the sons of Shemaya,

Hatush, Igal, Baraya, Niaraya, and Shafat, six. The sons of Niraia, Eli Ochanai, His Giyaj and Azrikam, three. The sons of Elionai, Hodavaya, Eliyashib, Pelaya, Akhub, Johan, Delaya, and Anani, seven. Chapter 4. Descendants of Judah The sons of Judah, Perez, Hezran, Karmie, Heur, and Shobal. Ria, the son of Shobal, was the father of Jehath. Ahath was the father of Ahumai and Lahad.

These were the families of the Zorothites. These were the sons of Itam, Jesrael, Ishma, and Idbash. And the name of their sister was Hezal Pony. And Penuel was the father of Gidor, and Ezr, the father of Husha. These were the sons of her, the firstborn of Ephrtha, the father of Bethlehem. Ash Hur, the father of Takoa, had two wives, Hela and Naara. Na'ara bore him Ahuzam, Heifer, Temeni, and Ha'a Hashdari. These were the sons of Na'ara, the sons of Hella, Zareth, Ishar, and Ithnan.

Cause was the father of Anub, Zubaba, and the families of Arhachal, the son of Harum. Jebiz was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jebiz, saying, Because I bore him in pain. Jebiz called on the God of Israel, saying, O that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not hurt me. And God granted what he asked.

Jalub, the brother of Shukha, was the father of Mejir, who was the father of Eshton. Eshton was the father of Betrafat, Pasiya, and Tehina, the father of Irnahash. These are the men of Rakhah, the sons of Kina's, Othniel, and Saraya. The sons of Othneal, Hathath and Mionothai.

Mionathai was the father of Ophra, and Saraya was the father of Joab, the father of Gehaharashim, so called because they were craftsmen. The sons of Caleb, the son of Jepuna, Iru, Ela, and Naam. And the sons of Elah, Kinaz. The sons of Jalal, Zif,

Zipha, Tyria, and Asarel. The sons of Ezra, Jether, Mered, Eifer, and Jalon. These are the sons of Bithi-A, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Meredd married, and she conceived and bore Miriam, Shemai, and Ishba, the father of Eshtimoa, and his Jewish wife bore Jared, the father of Gidor, Heber, the father of Soko, Jequithiel, the father of Zanoa. The sons of the wife of Hodaya, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Kyla, the Garmite, and Eshtimoa, the Makathite. The sons of Shimon, and.

Hamnon, reina, Ben Hanan, and Tilon, the sons of Ishi, Zoheth, and Ben Zoheth. The sons of Shila, the son of Judah, Er, the father of Lakha, Laada, the father of Marashah, and the families of the house of linen workers at Bet Ashbya, and Jokim, and the men of Kozaba and Joash, and Seraph, who ruled in Moab and returned to Lechem, now the records are ancient. These were the potters and inhabitants of Netaim and Gidera. They dwelt there with the king for his work. Descendants of Simeon The sons of Simeon, Nimuel, Jamin, Jaribe, Zara, Shaul.

Shalom was his son, Mibsam, his son. Mishma, his son. The sons of Mishma, Hamuel his son, Zakur, his son, Shmia, his son. Shemiyah had 16 sons and six daughters but his brothers did not have many children nor did all their family multiply like the men of Judah they dwelt in Birshiba

Molada, Hazar Shual Bilha, Esem, Tolad, Bethuulh, Horma Ziklegh, Beth Markaboth Hazar Sussim, Beth Birrii and Shaar Arame These were the cities until David reigned and the villages were Etam, Ayn, Rimon, Tochhen, and Ashan, five cities, along with all their villages which were round about

these cities as far as Baal. These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record. Mesobab, Jamlek, Josha, the son of Amazaya, Joel, Jehu, the son of Joshiba, son of Zariah, son of Asi-El, Eli O-N-I, Ja-A-Cobah, Jashahya, Adi-L, Jisimimimil, Ahanaya, Zisa, the son of Shifi, son of Alon, son of Judaya, son of Shemri, son of Shemaya. These mentioned by name were princes in their families, and their father's houses increased greatly. They journeyed to the entrance of Gador to the east side of the valley to seek pasture for their flocks, where they found rich, good pasture, and the land was very broad, quiet, and peaceful, for the former inhabitants there belonged to Ham.

These, registered by name, came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah. and destroyed their tents and the Meunim who were found there, and exterminated them to this day, and settled in their place, because there was pastor there for their flocks. And some of them, 500 men of the Simeonites, went to Mount Sayer,

having as their leaders, Pilataya, Nairai, Raffa, and Usa'uah, the sons of Ishi, and they destroyed the remnant of the Amalekites that had escaped, and they have dwelt there to this day. Psalm 25

Prayer for guidance and for deliverance. A Psalm of David. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Oh, my God, in you I trust. Let me not be put to shame. Let not my enemies exult over me. Yes, let none that wait for you be put to shame.

Let them be ashamed to a wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. For you, I wait all the day long. Be mindful of your compassion, O Lord, and of your merciful love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions.

According to your mercy, remember me for your goodness's sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right. He teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt for it is great. Who is the man that fears the Lord?

Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. He himself shall abide in prosperity, and his children shall possess the land. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me, and be gracious to me, for I am I. I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble and forgive all my sins. Consider how many are my foes and with what violent hatred they hate me. Oh, guard my life and deliver me. Let me not be put to

shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. and heaven. We give you praise. And we thank you. We thank you for the difficulty of these days. Honestly, God, it is difficult to get through these names. And we just have to admit that. Yes, they mean something. Yes, they're powerful. They're meaningful. And they're difficult. And that is worth noting. It's worth noting that, oh, gosh, Lord, thank you. Thank you for your word that is rooted in history and rooted in reality, rooted in people's actual stories. And so all of these names is a marker, all these names,

is a person, all these names is an untold story. So many of the names we have here, Lord, are our names of people that we don't know much about other than their name and other than the fact that they were critical to you. They were loved by you. They were known by you. And they were part of your story to redeem the world. So in the difficulty, Lord,

we ask that you please give us strength and give us patience so that we can hear the words we need to hear and we can become the people you want us to become. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Oh, brother. Yish. Okay, so I don't know if they were difficult for you. We have a couple more chapters with this and it's going to be fine. It's going to be fine, my friends. It's going to be fine. But not only we had First Chronicles with a bunch of names where are so good. In fact, I truly am saying this. It's not just I'm trying to psych myself up for this and getting more into the names,

but it is a grace, complete grace to be able to hear. Here are the stories of, of the people that are going to factor in to the rest of the story. For example, we have the descendants of David and of Solomon. Now, we're gonna, we might, you might not know all of the stories of all these people, but Solomon has a number, or David has a number of sons, obviously, we talked about Amnon and how this crossover,

again, happy God incident, right? The crossover between Second Samuel chapter three and First Chronicles chapter three, because the list of David's children is in Second Samuel chapter three And in First Chronicles chapter three, it is so good because if you struggled with some of those names like Amnon and Ahenoham and Abigail and Daniel and Absalom and Talmi, all of them, these people, these sons of David and one daughter, they're going to talk about Tamar, are going to be very, very important as the story in Second Samuel continues to unfold. And then when we get to Solomon, the story of kings is going to be unfolding. And that's so, so good.

And Rahboam and all those other names. So they might not mean a ton, a ton to you right now, but they mean a ton in the larger scheme of things. In fact, not only we're going to follow this whole line of David and Solomon and Rehaboam and all the rest of them when it comes to the book of kings, we're also going to find their stories of these guys. The stories of these kings is not necessarily the story of a lot of really, really great kings. And so we're just praise God for the ability to hear their stories, hear their names more than once. But when it comes back to Second Samuel, just one quick note on Second Samuel, chapter three. What do we have? We have this story, this tragic story, really, of how David

recognizes that he can enter into an agreement of sorts, an agreement of sorts with Abner. Now, Abner was accused by Ashibesheth, right, Saul's son, for taking one of Saul's concubines as his own. I've read some commentaries, and they've indicated that there's not necessarily any reason why Abner, who seems like a pretty upstanding guy, he seems like a pretty solid individual, any reason why that would be the truth, but because Ishibiseth would see Abner as a threat that he would have to make up some kind of accusation against him. Now, that may be the case, might not be the case. Either way, what it led to is Abner then going to David and saying, basically, hey, let's make peace. I'll be willing to fight for you and make sure that you are

the king over all of Israel. David says that sounds great. Let's him go in peace. And what happens? Remember, we talked with us yesterday. Ah, violence begets violence. And so Joab finds out that Abner was just there. Remember, from the day before, from the chapter before, remember there's three brothers, Abashai, Asahel, and Joab. And Abner had killed Asahel. Now, he had killed Asahel in self-defense. He killed him in battle. It was straightforward, kind of a real thing here.

There shouldn't be any desire for revenge. And yet Joab takes, gives into his desire for revenge. And he kills Abner, this highly decorated general, this person that many, many, many people in all of Israel would have known him. He would have been a very, very prominent figure and a respected figure. Now, what's it look like? It looks like David had invited Abner to his home and then he called them back and then Joab kills him. So what David does is genius and it just shows again David's character. It's genius because it unites all the people. And it's, it shows David's character because it's the right thing to do where David publicly mourns the death of his

enemy. David publicly mourns the death of Abner and he actually even instructs the murderer, Joab himself and Abashai, his brother. He instructs them both to wear sackcloth and to tear their garments. Everyone, he says, we're all going to do this, including the guys who murdered Abner. And all the people saw this and they recognized, yeah, David, he's a good leader. He's a good leader because he has his character and he's wise. And there's something so good about this. As I said, it pleased all the people and everything that David had done. It pleased the people because David, again, he showed the depth of who he is, the kind of leader he was and the kind of human he was. And that's just such a gift to be able to mourn for one's enemies because it would have been wiser for David to have made that enemy

a friend and that's what he wanted to do in the first place. Anyways, for us, the same thing that the thing is true. It is often more beneficial. It's we're called to let those enemies become friends, not because we need to trust people who aren't trustworthy, but because to have an open door to people who might be able to come back home, might be able to be reconciled, might be able to be forgiven. And to do that, we need wisdom, right? Because we don't want to be taken for a fool. We can't trust people who aren't trustworthy. And yet Abner here seemed like a trustworthy person. So there are people in our lives who I, in my life maybe, that have hurt. And so I need to be careful.

I can't just trust them because they hurt people around them. It hurt me. So I can't just trust them. But there are others that maybe have hurt me, but I can grow in trust again. And the cycle of violence can maybe end with me in my heart. So we pray for each other. So that cycle of violence ends in our hearts and that forgiveness can be offered from our hearts. And reconciliation can be offered from our hearts.

So we need to pray. We need God's grace to do. that. So I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.