Unlike this pool, our church gatherings should be a place of consolation, not confrontation.
“Now Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon” (2 Sam 2:12). According to 1 Chronicles 8:28-33, this was the ancestral home of both Abner and Saul’s families. Gibeon was only five miles northwest of Jerusalem, and could have been considered a launch-point for Abner and his troops to invade Judah. Or so it seemed to Joab, David’s commander. Hearing of Israel’s troop movements from Mahanaim to this border city, Joab took no chances, and “went out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. So they sat down, one on one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool” (2 Sam 2:13). I’ve stood at the edge of this pool. It was unearthed in 1957, and excavated by a team from the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1950s. It’s considered “one of the ancient world’s remarkable engineering achievements,” according to the lead archaeologist, James B. Pritchard. The pool was dug 88 ft (27 m) into solid limestone until it met the water table. A spiral staircase along the wall gave access to the water. Here the two sides met across the pool. Instead of a pitched battle, Abner suggested a contest between some of the young men, and Joab agreed. “So they arose and went over by number, twelve from Benjamin, followers of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David” (v 15). But what was intended to be friendly quickly turned deadly, “And each one grasped his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called the Field of Sharp Swords” (v 16). Note to self: The staff is to be our aid in caring for the sheep; swords are for the enemy, not for use against the Lord’s little flock.