Avner ben Ner Righteous Scholar and Mighty General

Parsha Halacha | December 10, 2025

In the Torah portion of Tetzaveh we learn about the special clothing of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest). The names of the 12 tribes were inscribed twice on the clothing, once on the Shoham stones on the Kohen Gadol’s shoulders and once on the 12 precious stones of the Choshen Mishpat which the Kohen Gadol wore on his chest.

Order of the Names on the Shoham Stones

It is interesting to note that although the Torah specifies that the names on the Shoham stones should be “כְּתוֹלְּדֹת ָֽם ” as they were born, there are many different opinions as to the order of these names.

Rashi says that the order of the names on the first stone was Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, Dan, and Naftali, while the order on the second stone was Gad, Asher, Yissachar, Zevulun, Yosef, and Binyamin. This is the order in which they were born. (The first stone was on the Kohen Gadol’s right shoulder and the second on his left shoulder.)
The Rambam says that the order on the first stone was Reuven, Levi, Yissachar, Naftali, Gad, and Yehosef while that of the second stone was Shimon, Yehudah, Zevulun, Dan, Asher, and Binyamin. The names should be read horizontally (i.e., starting with one name on one stone and then one name on the second stone etc.) and are grouped according to the brothers of the same mothers in the order in which the various wives gave birth.
One opinion in the Talmud says that the order of the first stone was Yehudah, Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Dan, and Naftali while that of the second was Gad, Asher, Yissachar, Zevulun, Yosef, and Binyamin. According to this opinion, only the names on the second stone needed to be in the order of birth as the word כְּתוֹלְּדֹת ָֽם is only referring to the latter six names.
Rabbi Chaninah ben Gamliel says that the order on the first stone was Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, Yissachar, and Zevulun while the order of the second was Binyamin, Dan, Naftali, Gad, Asher, and Yosef. According to Rabbi Chaninah, the word כְּתוֹלְּדֹת ָֽם isn’t referring to the order of the names but rather to how they should be spelled, i.e., the spelling was as the names are spelled at the time of their birth rather than how the names are spelled later elsewhere. The order of the names follows the way they are listed in the beginning of the book of Exodus.
According to the Jerusalem Talmud, the order on the first stone was Yehudah, Shimon, Levi, Yissachar, Yosef, and Binyamin while the order on the second was Reuven, Dan, Naftali, Gad, Asher, and Zevulun. The Talmud adds that, in order for there to be 25 letters on each stone, Binyamin’s name was divided so that the letters בִּן were on the second stone while the letters י מִּין were on the first stone. The word כְּתוֹלְּדֹת ָֽם teaches us that the names should be spelled as when they were born. The names of the tribes who stood on Mount Gerizim were on the first stone while those who stood on Mount Eival were on the second stone.

It thus emerges that the tribe of Binyamin was either the last name on the second stone (according to Rashi, the Rambam, and one opinion in the Talmud), the first one on the second stone (according to Rabbi Chaninah ben Gamliel), and partially on the first and partially on the second (according to the Jerusalem Talmud).

The rest of this article will focus on Avner ben Ner, a famous descendant of the tribe of Binyamin.

Avner ben Ner

Avner ben Ner (son of Ner) was a cousin of King Saul as well as his main general. He was also a righteous Torah scholar who was highly regarded by the Jewish people of that time. After the tragic death of King Saul in the battle against the Philistines, he supported Ish Boshet, son of Saul, to be the next king. Later their relationship soured, and he decided to give his support to King David. Although King David was happy to reconcile with Avner, David’s general Yoav killed him because Avner had previously killed his brother Asa’el during the war games between David’s and Ish Boshet’s armies.

Father

Avner’s father was Ner, who was a brother of Kish, the father of King Saul, making Avner and Saul first cousins. The father of Kish and Ner was Aviel who was also called Ner because he would light lamps on the street so that people would not trip in the darkness on their way home.

Mother

According to the Midrash, the mother of Avner was named Tzefanyah and was a sorceress of the occult worship called Ov, in which the dead were summoned to communicate with the living. Before the final battle between King Saul and the Philistines, Avner brought the King to her, and she conjured up Samuel, the prophet, who informed Saul that he was going to be killed in the upcoming battle. The commentaries say that Avner’s mother studied this forbidden practice for her own edification and wasn’t planning to practice it and did so only upon the insistence of King Saul.

Mighty Warrior

The Midrash describes Avner’s strength as follows: Avner would say “[I’m so mighty that] if I had somewhere to stand outside of the earth, I could shake the entire earth.” The entire Jewish [army] camp was in between his knees (i.e., he was superior to them all). (These descriptions might be alluding to his spiritual accomplishments.) Despite this, the Midrash concludes, when his time came to die, he was smitten by Yoav.

Descendants

According to the Midrash, Ben Tziztit HaKesset (a wealthy man at the time of the destruction of the Second Beit HaMikdash) was a descendant of Avner.

Important Events

Avner presented David to King Saul after David killed Goliath.
When David did not come to the feast on Rosh Chodesh, Avner took his place and sat next to King Saul.
Avner refused to kill the Kohanim of Nov when King Saul ordered him to do so.
When David was being chased by King Saul who wanted to kill him (as he considered him to be a mored b’malchus, one who rebels against the king), David had two opportunities to kill Saul. The first opportunity came when Saul was relieving himself in a cave and didn’t realize that David and his men were hiding there. Rather than harm Saul, David simply cut off the corner of his garment while Saul remained oblivious to this. Later he called out to Saul from a distance and asked him to reconcile with him, showing him the piece of garment to prove how he had refrained from killing him when he could have. Avner advised Saul not to reconcile, arguing that the edge of the garment may have been ripped off by thorns and that David had chanced upon it. The second opportunity came when Saul was sleeping with his men, and David tiptoed into the camp and, rather than harming Saul, took his spear and water cruse. Again, David called out to King Saul (from a distance) and asked for reconciliation, showing him the spear and cruse he had taken while Saul slept. This time too, Avner advised against reconciliation, arguing that Saul’s servant may have forgotten them at a water cistern and David found them there.
Avner accompanied King Saul to the Ba’alat Ov (practitioner of the occult Ov practice).
As mentioned above, Avner installed Ish Boshet, son of Saul as king after the death of King Saul. He did so because he interpreted a verse in the Torah to indicate that there would be two kings from the tribe of Benjamin.
When the armies of Ish Boshet and David crossed paths, Avner suggested that the young men have a sword match for sport. Tragically all 24 men involved in the duel were killed, which led to a larger battle culminating with Avner killing Asa-el as mentioned.
Avner sought to come over to King David’s side and was accepted by King David but was killed by Yoav in a cunning manner.
King David attended Avner’s funeral and eulogized him. This was unusual as generally a king did not attend funerals.

Why Was He Punished?

There are many opinions as to why Avner deserved to die such a violent and untimely death:

Some say it was because he didn’t protest when King Saul killed the Kohanim (although he refused to kill them himself as mentioned).
Others say that it was because he didn’t allow King Saul to reconcile with David on the two occasions mentioned.
Another reason given is that, by appointing Ish Boshet as king, Avner delayed the establishment of the kingdom of David by two years
As mentioned, the sword fight suggested by Avner led to many deaths. Because he made sport of the blood (lives) of the young men, Avner deserved to die, says the Talmud.
Another opinion in the Jerusalem Talmud is that the sin of Avner was that in his letter of reconciliation with King David, he wrote his name before the name of King David, which is considered disrespectful.

Burial Site

Avner was buried in Chevron, where he was killed, near the Cave of the Patriarchs. His grave can still be visited today.

May we soon experience peace in the entire world with the coming of Moshiach! Wishing you a Happy Purim Kattan and a Shabbat Shalom Umevorach!