What was the purpose of the competition between 12 of Abner's and Joab's men (2 Sam. 2:14-6)?

Question

In the Book of Second Samuel we read of a curious competition between 12 young soldiers of both Abner and of Joab:

2 Samuel 2:14-16: "Then Abner said to Joab, 'Now let the young men arise and hold a contest before us.' And Joab said, 'Let them arise.' ¹⁵So they arose and went over by count, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. ¹⁶Each one of them seized his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together."

What purpose could such a "competition" possibly serve, since the full battle appears to have commenced anyway?

2 Samuel 2:17: "That day the battle was very severe, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David."

Answer 1

The contest was meant to prevent an all out war, but failed because all the men died, and there was no victor.

To avoid a bloody civil war and perhaps also to escape personal conflict with his near friend (ver. 22) Joab, Abner proposes to Joab to decide the contest by a duel between individual warriors (“young men,” נְעָרִום, comp. ver. 21) put up on both sides. This word “play” (שִׁחֵק) is used of children in the street (Zech. 8:5), of beasts in the sea (Ps. 104:26), and so here of warlike play, = to wrestle, but not to denote a game of arms for entertainment (Ew.), but a serious battle-play to decide the matter for both armies (comp. 1 Sam. 17) as the result (ver. 16) shows.—Joab accepts the proposal immediately, a sign that it was agreeable to him. -- Lange, J. P., Schaff, P., Erdmann, D., Toy, C. H., & Broadus, J. A. (2008). A commentary on the Holy Scriptures: 1 & 2 Samuel (p. 376). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

And they fell together.—This result shows the embittered feeling of the young men, but also their military skill and training.—[Bp. Patrick understands that only the twelve Benjaminites were slain; but it was clearly a mutual slaughter, the twenty-four fell dead. -- Lange, J. P., Schaff, P., Erdmann, D., Toy, C. H., & Broadus, J. A. (2008). A commentary on the Holy Scriptures: 1 & 2 Samuel (p. 376). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.