When Saul became king he made his uncle Abner commander in chief of his army (1 Sam. 14:50). Abner was thus, by the ties of blood and of office, strongly attached to the house of Saul. He had been with Saul in the pursuit of David, and was not now willing that the man he had so long hunted should succeed to the kingdom over which Saul had reigned. Abner never forgot the rebuke David gave him for sleeping on guard (1 Sam. 26:7-16). He was proud, vengeful, and ambitious, determined to have his own way rather than to allow David to rule as the anointed of the Lord.
Ish-bosheth.
The youngest of Saul’s four sons. The other sons were slain with Saul at the battle of Mt. Gilboa (1 Sam. 31:2). His name (shortened to Ishui in 1 Sam. 14:49) was probably originally Esh-baal (1 Chron. 8:33; 9:39), meaning “man of Baal,” for no king would name his son “Ish-bosheth,” meaning “man of shame.”
Mahanaim.
Literally, “two camps.” This town was on the east side of the Jordan, but its site has not been identified. One of two suggested sites is east of Jabesh-gilead. Jacob gave the name to the place when the angels of God met him after he had parted from Laban and before he crossed the Jabbok (Gen. 32:1, 2). It was a Levitical city (Joshua 21:38). Located in the eastern section of the country, it was in comparative safety from the attacks of the Philistines and of the forces of David should David choose to suppress his rival. When David later fled from Absalom he made Mahanaim his place of refuge (2 Sam. 17:24). The city is mentioned in Shishak’s victory inscription as Mḥnm, in the Egyptian vowelless hieroglyphic script (see on 1 Kings 14:25).