2 Samuel 4:1-12
Ishbosheth Is Murdered
1 When Saul’s son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost heart, and all Israel was troubled. 2 Now Saul’s son had two men who were captains of troops. The name of one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin. (For Beeroth also was part of Benjamin, 3 because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have been sojourners there until this day.)
4 Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son who was lame 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 it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.
5 Then the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out and came at about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who was lying on his bed at noon. 6 And they came there, all the way into the house, as though to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7 For when they came into the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom; then they struck him and killed him, beheaded him and took his head, and were all night escaping through the plain. 8 And they brought the head of Ishbosheth to David at Hebron, and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life; and the LORD has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and his descendants.”
9 But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity, 10 when someone told me, saying, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag—the one who thought I would give him a reward for his news. 11 How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth?” 12 So David commanded his young men, and they executed them, cut off their hands and feet, and hanged them by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron.
There were two sons of Saul still alive when David became king over Judah, Ishbosheth and Mephibosheth. The one took over as king over Israel and warred against David and Judah, while the lame one sought no throne or power. Both were sons of a king chosen by the LORD, however, and so David honored God by not murdering them; unfortunately, two men who were captains of the son’s troops took matters into their own hands and murdered Ishbosheth as he lay in his bed and then bragged to David as they brought his head to them. David reminded them of Saul’s royal calling by God that extended to his children counted as righteous, even if they did unrighteous acts. The only reward those murderers would receive for taking God’s vengeance into their own hands was holding those loves accountable for the others. He had them killed and hanged for all to see as a warning of taking vengeance into their own hands and then David buried the head of Ishbosheth that had been put on unrighteous display as a ceremonial honor. We likewise cannot take justice into our own hands and be executioners of supposed righteousness when none of us are righteous except as counted (Romans 4:3, 6:11, James 2:23) to be in the righteousness of Christ. Hating our enemies is akin to murder and denies the value they have as the work of God’s hand. He alone is able and worthy in righteousness to judge the wicked and the dead (Ecclesiastes 3:17) and show mercy to any and all He calls. May we then not be murderers of anyone who may become righteous in Him, but submit to the Right Judge who will settle all in the end.
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