שמואל ב, פרק ב׳, פסוק כ״ו

In the heat of a tragic civil conflict, a desperate plea is made to halt an endless cycle of violence. A retreating commander attempts to appeal to his pursuer's sense of logic and morality, hoping to end the bloodshed before it consumes them all.

Abner challenges Joab, questioning whether the sword must continue to devour flesh and pit brother against brother forever [רד״ק, מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון]. Beyond the emotional weight of this question lies a practical argument. The primary goal of any battle is to determine a victor. Once that outcome is clear, continuing to fight serves no purpose [מלבי״ם]. Therefore, Abner demands to know exactly how long this unnecessary conflict will be allowed to drag on [מצודת ציון].

He issues a stark warning about the bitter reality of their situation. In typical conflicts, the grim nature of bloodshed is somewhat offset by a final, useful objective. However, in this case, pointless killing will only lead to a bitter conclusion without any meaningful achievement to lessen the sting of death [מלבי״ם]. This bitterness directly threatens the leaders themselves. The relentless appetite for war [רד״ק] guarantees that eventually, either Joab or Abner will meet a tragic end [מצודת דוד]. Interestingly, this warning carries a deeper layer of self-fulfilling prophecy regarding Abner's own fate. His caution about a bitter end ultimately materialized in his own life. He was later killed, serving as a punishment for being the one who originally sparked the violence by suggesting that their young men engage in deadly combat [חומת אנך].

Concluding his appeal, Abner insists that Joab order his men to abandon the pursuit of their brothers. He stresses that there is absolutely no justification for continuing the attack on the men of Benjamin [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. While the total destruction of an opposing army might be an accepted practice when fighting foreign enemies, it is entirely wrong and inappropriate in the context of a civil war among brothers [מלבי״ם].