Abner said these things to David in Hebron. And he said these things to the people of the Benjamin family group. The things Abner said sounded good to the Benjamin family group and to all the people of Israel.
From the family group of Benjamin there were 3,000 men. They were Saul’s relatives. Most of those men stayed faithful to Saul’s family until that time.
David told all the people of Israel to meet together at Jerusalem \{while the Levites carried\} the Box of the Agreement {\cf2\super [153]} to the place he had made for it.
The ninth commander was Abiezer. Abiezer was the commander for the ninth month. Abiezer was from the town of Anathoth. Abiezer was from the family group of Benjamin. There were 24,000 men in Abiezer’s group.
The leaders of the nations meet together\par with the people of the God of Abraham.\par All of the leaders of all the nations\par belong to God.\par God is over them all!\par
The Lord says,\par “Family of Jacob, listen to me!\par You people call yourself ‘Israel.’\par You are from Judah’s family.\par You use the Lord’s name to make promises.\par You praise the God of Israel.\par But you are not honest and sincere\par when you do these things.”\par
The Lord used the army of Israel and defeated the army of Benjamin. On that day, the army of Israel killed 25,100 soldiers from Benjamin. All those soldiers had been trained for war.
Saul answered, “But I am a member of the family group of Benjamin. It is the smallest family group in Israel. And my family is the smallest in the family group of Benjamin. Why do you say Israel wants me?”