Lives of Scripture

Asahel, son of Zeruiah (David's sister or half-sister) and brother of Joab and Abishai, was one of David's chief mighty men, distinguished specifically for speed: "Asahel was as swift-footed as one of the gazelles which is in the field" (2 Samuel 2:18). During the battle between David's forces and Abner's forces at Gibeon, Asahel pursued Abner directly, "without turning to the right or to the left from following Abner" (2:19). Abner, the more experienced commander, repeatedly urged Asahel to turn aside and take an easier opponent, warning him plainly that he did not want to kill him and face Joab's revenge -- "How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?" (2:20-23). Asahel refused to stop, so Abner struck him with the butt end of his spear, driving it through his body; Asahel died on the spot, and his fellow soldiers stopped in their tracks when they reached his body (2:23). His death did not end there: two years later, Joab lured Abner aside at Hebron and killed him in revenge, "because he had put his brother Asahel to death" (2 Samuel 3:27-30), a blood feud David publicly mourned and disavowed even as it stained his own commander. Asahel was buried in his father's tomb in Bethlehem and remained honored among David's thirty mighty men (2 Samuel 23:24; 1 Chronicles 11:26), later remembered as a division commander in David's military organization (1 Chronicles 27:7).