2 Samuel 4--Ish-bosheth Murdered

2 Samuel 4
English Standard Version

Ish-bosheth Murdered
4 When Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, heard that Abner had died at Hebron, his courage failed, and all Israel was dismayed. 2 Now Saul's son had two men who were captains of raiding bands; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon a man of Benjamin from Beeroth (for Beeroth also is counted part of Benjamin; 3 the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have been sojourners there to this day).

4 Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.

​5 Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out, and about the heat of the day they came to the house of Ish-bosheth as he was taking his noonday rest. 6 And they came into the midst of the house as if to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7 When they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and put him to death and beheaded him. They took his head and went by the way of the Arabah all night, 8 and brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron. And they said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The LORD has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring.” 9 But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity, 10 when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. 11 How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?” 12 And David commanded his young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron.

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All of Israel hears of Abner's death and is worried about what this means for them.  Many people started fleeing Israel including the Beerothites who went to Gittaim and the only surviving son of Jonathan, named Mephibosheth, who was crippled in his feet.  All these and more were seeking refuge somewhere far enough away where they imagined that David would not go to look for them.

Two of the Beerothites were captains of the raiding parties under Abner's authority, and when they heard that Abner was dead, they made a plan that on their way out of town, they would kill the king, cut off his head, and take it to David as a gift.  We'll see that didn't go so well for them though, as they did not learn from what happened when the Amalekite servant of King Saul came to David claiming that he had killed Saul as a favor to David (he did not, Saul committed suicide) in order to try to gain favor with David.  David killed that Amalekite for what he claimed to have done, but now these two actually brought proof to David of their wickedness--that they would kill a man who had done nothing to David (not once did Ish-bosheth actually try to murder David like Saul did, but instead he was just the king chosen by Abner and all the people that wanted to continue to follow someone in Saul's family instead of submitting to the one the LORD had chosen for them).

David would cut off the hands and feet of these men and then hang them next to the pool at Hebron (a place where all could see them).  He then took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner to show respect to Ish-bosheth.  Even though this was not the way that David would have chosen, the LORD has now cleared the way for David to be king over all of Israel and the people of Israel are now ready to accept David as their king (we'll read about that next time).  Also, don't forget about Mephibosheth as he'll come up again and it will be important to remember the context that he is the last living son of Jonathan and that he is crippled when we see David's kindness towards him that is a glimpse of God's mercy towards us in 2 Samuel chapters 9, 16, 19 and 21.  Though he would appear to be but a minor character in the story, he teaches us much about who we are positionally before the LORD and how the LORD has chosen to love us as sons even though we had every right to be called His enemies).