2 Samuel 4 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 2 Sam 4:1-12

1 When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed. 2 Now Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Rekab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the tribe of Benjamin – Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin, 3 because the people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim and have resided there as foreigners to this day.

4 (Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth.)

5 Now Rekab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out for the house of Ish-Bosheth, and they arrived there in the heat of the day while he was taking his noonday rest. 6 They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rekab and his brother Baanah slipped away.

7 They had gone into the house while he was lying on the bed in his bedroom. After they stabbed and killed him, they cut off his head. Taking it with them, they travelled all night by way of the Arabah. 8 They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, ‘Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who tried to kill you. This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.’

9 David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 10 when someone told me, “Saul is dead,” and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! 11 How much more – when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed – should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!’

12 So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.

A. Find Out:

1. What had been the result of Abner dying? v.1
2. What did the two men do? v.5,6
3. What did they then do with the body? v.7,8
4. What did David think about this? v.9-11
5. So what happened? v.12

B. Think:

1. What do you think motivated the two men to do what they did?
2. How did David view what they had done?
3. What do you think David felt about those still in Saul’s house?

C. Comment:

     We see history repeating itself in this chapter. Originally an Amalekite had killed Saul and thought David would be pleased. Now these two men kill Saul’s son and again think David will be pleased. What is it that makes people think like this? It is the simple human characteristic of revenge and wanting to do down your enemies, because after all that’s what you do to enemies, isn’t it?

      It took Jesus to say, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44), as he expressed his Father’s heart. Now David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14 & Acts 13:22) and again and again he expressed God’s heart. It would take Ezekiel to prophesy, “I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord” (Ezek 18:32) but David was already feeling it. Whether it was the ungodly king who had hounded him out of Israel, or that king’s son who stood in the way of him becoming king, David did not rejoice in the death of them.

      As with the death of Abner, David considered the death of the Israelite king as murder, an innocent man hacked down while his defences were down. If this had occurred in battle, perhaps he might have felt differently, but this was an innocent man murdered by men who looked for an opportunity to get in with the new man. David, as with God, does not rejoice in this death.

D. Application:

1. Unrighteous men have unrighteous motives as well as acts.
2. The man after God’s heart feels as God feels about such things.