Joab said, "As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely then the people would have gone away in the morning, each from following his brother."I'll admit, I'm confused by this. What Abner had said made sense, that this pursuit couldn't end well. The way things were going, Joab's people were going to annihilate Abner's.
But what is Joab saying here? It sounds like he's saying Abner's wasted his breath, that the chase would've ended in the morning anyhow. But he then goes and ends it now, so what's the point?
I only have one guess on the reason here: Joab is actually saying that Abner's force would not have survived the night, and Joab's people would have gone home after a very bloody victory, having killed their kinsmen. By speaking when he did, Abner saved his people.
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