2 Samuel 4

With Abner dead, Saul’s son Ish-bosheth is left weak and afraid. Two of his own captains murder him in his bed and carry his head to David, expecting a reward. David refuses to gain the throne by treachery and has them executed, so he comes to rule all Israel with clean hands.

2 Samuel 4:1

Abner had been the real strength behind Ish-bosheth’s throne. When he died, the king’s courage drained away, and the whole nation shared his alarm. A kingdom that leans on one strong man, and not on God, trembles when that man is gone.

BSA: lost courage (“his hands were feeble”): The picture is of hands gone limp, a man with no strength left to hold or fight. dismayed (“troubled, alarmed, in a state of fear”): The fear spread beyond the king to the entire nation.

See also: 2 Samuel 3:27.

2 Samuel 4:2-3

Baanah and Rechab were officers over raiding bands in Ish-bosheth’s own army. They were Benjamites, from Saul’s own tribe, which makes their betrayal worse. The note about Beeroth’s people fleeing to Gittaim shows an earlier upheaval, and that these brothers came from an uprooted family.

BSA: leaders of raiding parties (“captains of bands”): They held real command, so they had easy access to the king.

2 Samuel 4:4

This verse is a short aside about Jonathan’s son. When Saul and Jonathan died, his nurse fled in panic, dropped the five-year-old, and he was lamed for life. It shows how little was left of Saul’s house and prepares for David’s kindness to him later.

BSA: lame (“crippled, physically disabled”): His disability left him helpless and unable to claim any royal future.

See also: 2 Samuel 9:1-13; 1 Samuel 31:1-6.

2 Samuel 4:5

The brothers came at the hottest part of the day, when the king was resting and the house was quiet. They chose their moment well. Ish-bosheth, who was supposed to be the nation’s protector, was caught unguarded and alone.

BSA: midday (“noon, when the sun shines”): The deed was done in broad daylight, when no one expected danger.

2 Samuel 4:6

They pretended to be fetching wheat, perhaps for the soldiers’ supplies, and so walked straight into the inner rooms. Then they struck the king down and slipped away. Their plan rested on deceit from start to finish.

BSA: stabbed (“smote, struck”): It was a deliberate, fatal blow to a defenseless man.

2 Samuel 4:7

The writer repeats that Ish-bosheth was lying on his bed, stressing how helpless he was. The killers cut off his head as proof of the deed. They then hurried through the night along the Arabah, the rift valley route, toward Hebron.

BSA: beheaded (“cut off his head, removed his leadership”): Taking the head was meant to prove that Saul’s line had lost its ruler.

2 Samuel 4:8

The murderers presented the head to David as a gift and dressed their crime in religious words, claiming the LORD had given vengeance. They used God’s name to excuse their own treachery. People often call selfish and wicked acts the will of God.

BSA: vengeance (“avengement, punishment”): They claimed God had settled David’s score, though David had never asked for such a deed. enemy (“one who hates or opposes”): They wanted David to see them as friends who had removed his opponent.

2 Samuel 4:9

David answered by swearing in the name of the living LORD. He looked back and credited God, not schemes, with rescuing him from every trouble. A man who knows that God has redeemed him has no need to win by foul means.

BSA: redeemed (“ransomed, set free”): David saw his past deliverances as God’s own rescue, not his own cleverness.

Hebrew: פָּדָה (padah, H6299) — “to ransom, to buy back.” The Hebrew word speaks of paying a price to set someone free. David says God has set him free again and again.

See also: 1 Kings 1:29; Psalm 34:22.

2 Samuel 4:10

David recalled the man who told him of Saul’s death, thinking he would be rewarded. That messenger was executed instead. David’s point is that a deed which only looks like good news for David does not earn his thanks if it is built on bloodshed.

BSA: bearer of good news (“bringing glad tidings, a messenger of joy”): The man expected praise, but David judged the act, not the messenger’s hopes. reward (“a payment, a recompense”): David’s grim wording turns the expected pay into the due penalty.

See also: 2 Samuel 1:1-16.

2 Samuel 4:11

If David punished the man who claimed to kill a wounded king, how much more must he punish men who murdered an innocent man in his own bed. David calls Ish-bosheth righteous in this matter, since he had done nothing to deserve such an end. Innocent blood must be answered for.

BSA: righteous man (“morally upright, just”): In this crime Ish-bosheth was the wronged party, and David defends him. blood (“life, vital fluid”): Blood stands for life, and a life taken wrongly cries out for justice.

See also: Genesis 9:6; Numbers 35:33.

2 Samuel 4:12

David had the killers executed, and their hands and feet were displayed publicly as a warning, since those were the parts that did the deed. Ish-bosheth’s head, however, was buried with honor in Abner’s tomb. David stayed clear of murder and showed respect even to a rival.

BSA: hung (“displayed, suspended”): The public display warned everyone what treachery would cost. buried (“interred, laid to rest”): A proper burial honored the dead king and showed David’s respect for him.

See also: Deuteronomy 21:22-23.