2 Samuel 3:
One way to do it was to have sex with a concubine of the previous king, King Saul.
Ish-bosheth made an accusation. Was the accusation true?
Abner did not admit or deny the accusation.
Did Abner had sex with Rizpah?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown wasn't sure:
Benson's and Matthew Poole's commentaries were similar.
I think Abner had sex with Rizpah. At least Ish-bosheth thought so. Ish-bosheth needed Abner to command the army. If he weren't sure, he probably would not have accused him. Further, If Abner hadn't, he probably would have denied the accusation.
According to the Bible, in 2 Samuel 3:12-16, Abner, who had become the commander of Saul's army after Saul and Jonathan's deaths, made a covenant with David that he would support him as king. In the course of this arrangement, Abner sent Rizpah, Saul's concubine, and her sons to David's house, stating that they would be a guarantee of Abner's loyalty and commitment to the covenant.
There is no explicit mention in the text of a sexual relationship between Abner and Rizpah. However, some interpretations suggest that there might have been an improper relationship between them based on the circumstances surrounding her presence at David's house.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown's Bible Commentary, written in 1871 by Robert Jamieson, Andrew Fausset, and David Brown, offers an opinion on verses 12 & 13, but not on 14-16:
Commentary on 2 Samuel 3:12-13 "Abner sent messengers to David—Though his language implied a secret conviction, that in supporting Ish-bosheth he had been laboring to frustrate the divine purpose of conferring the sovereignty of the kingdom on David, this acknowledgment was no justification either of the measure he was now adopting, or of the motives that prompted it. Nor does it seem possible to uphold the full integrity and honor of David's conduct in entertaining his secret overtures for undermining Ish-bosheth, except we take into account the divine promise of the kingdom, and his belief that the secession of Abner was a means designed by Providence for accomplishing it. The demand for the restoration of his wife Michal was perfectly fair; but David's insisting on it at that particular moment, as an indispensable condition of his entering into any treaty with Abner, seems to have proceeded not so much from a lingering attachment as from an expectation that his possession of her would incline some adherents of the house of Saul to be favorable to his cause."
Source:
2 Samuel 3 Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
There is no commentary from Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, available for 2 Samuel 3:14-16 on Bible Hub, unless the site removed it.
