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2 Samuel
Chapter Four
2 Samuel 4
Chapter Contents
Ishbosheth murdered. (1-7) David puts to death the
murderers. (8-12)
Commentary on 2 Samuel 4:1-7
(Read 2 Samuel 4:1-7)
See how Ishbosheth was murdered! When those difficulties
dispirit us
which should sharpen our endeavours
we betray both our heavenly
crowns and our earthly lives. Love not sleep
lest thou come to poverty and
ruin. The idle soul is an easy prey to the destroyer. We know not when and
where death will meet us. When we lie down to sleep
we are not sure that we
may not sleep the sleep of death before we awake; nor do we know from what hand
the death-blow may come.
Commentary on 2 Samuel 4:8-12
(Read 2 Samuel 4:8-12)
A person may be glad to obtain his just wishes
and yet
really regret the means by which he receives them. He may be sorry for the
death of a person by which he is a gainer. These men shed innocent blood
from
the basest motives. David justly executed vengeance upon them. He would not be
beholden to any to help him by unlawful practices. God had helped him over many
a difficulty
and through many a danger
therefore he depended upon him to
crown and complete his own work. He speaks of his redemption from all
adversity
as a thing done; though he had many storms yet before him
he knew
that He who had delivered
would deliver.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Samuel》
2 Samuel 4
Verse 4
[4] And Jonathan
Saul's son
had a son that was lame of his
feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of
Jezreel
and his nurse took him up
and fled: and it came to pass
as she made
haste to flee
that he fell
and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.
Jonathan had a son — This history is
inserted as that which encouraged these men to this wicked murder
because
Saul's family was now reduced to a low ebb; and if Isbosheth was dispatched
there would be none left
but a lame child
who was altogether unfit to manage
the kingdom
and therefore the crown must necessarily come to David by their
act and deed; for which they promised themselves no small recompense.
Jezreel — The place of that last and fatal fight.
Verse 6
[6] And they came thither into the midst of the house
as
though they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under the fifth rib:
and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
Fetched wheat — Which was laid up in publick
granaries in the king's house
and was fetched thence by the captains and
commanders of the army for the pay of their soldiers
who
in those ancient
times were not paid in money
but in corn. Upon this pretence they were
admitted into the house
and so went from room to room
to the place where the
king lay.
Verse 12
[12] And David commanded his young men
and they slew them
and cut off their hands and their feet
and hanged them up over the pool in
Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth
and buried it in the sepulchre of
Abner in Hebron.
David commanded. etc.But what a disappointment to Baanah
and Rechab
was the sentence which David passed upon them! And such they will
meet with
who think to serve the Son of David
by cruelty or injustice: who
under colour of religion
outrage or murder of their brethren
think they do
God service. However men may now canonize such methods of serving the church
and the catholic cause
Christ will let them know another day
that
Christianity was not designed to destroy humanity. And they who thus think to
merit heaven
shall not escape the damnation of hell.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2
Samuel》
04 Chapter 4
Verses 1-12
Verse 1
His hands were feeble.
Men without co-operation weak
The man spoken of was Saul’s son
and as the son of a king what
reason had he to have enfeebled hands? The reason is that Abner was dead. But
could not a king’s son do without Abner? Have not king’s sons abundant
resources in themselves
without being dependent upon outsiders
however distinguished?
All history replies in the negative. Men belong to one another. The king’s son
was nothing without Abner
but much with him. The unit one is but a singular
number
but the moment
a cipher is added to it becomes ten
and another cipher turns the ten into a
hundred.
The integer is little by itself
the cipher is nothing at all when
it stands alone
but when they are brought together they begin to make
themselves felt. It is precisely so in our social relations. What is the
husband without the wife? What is the son without the father? What is the
scholar without the teacher? What is the flock without the shepherd? It is of
no account to reason that there is a variety of value in men
some being worth
much
and others being worth little; the fact is that they must all be brought
into cooperation. (J. Parker
D. D.)
Verses 5-12
And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite
Rechab
and Baanah.
The death of Ishbosheth
I. The motives
that induced those two traitors to murder Ishbosheth were:
1. Abner’s death had disabled him for any royal duty.
2. All the tribes were in a confusion to hear their peacemaker was
slain; hereupon they now doubted of obtaining David’s favour.
3. None of Saul’s house (beside concubine sons incapable of the
crown) were alive to revenge Ishbosheth’s murder
save only Mephibosheth.
4. These two traitors
therefore
thought that by their removing
useless Ishbosheth out of David’s way the Crown of the whole kingdom must needs
come to him without any contradiction.
II. What reception
these two traitors found with David when they presented Ishbosheth’s head to
him.
1. David abhors the villany
and resolves with an oath to execute the
villains.
2. Hereupon David justly commanded their execution
and cut off their
hands that had done the deed
and their feet that carried them away with this
present. (C. Ness.)
Assassination of Ishbosheth
The Septuagint has the following entirely different rendering
which is found also in some MSS. of the Vulgate
in addition to the rendering
of the present Hebrews text
but apparently was not retained by Jerome himself.
“And behold the portress of the house was cleaning wheat
and she slumbered and
slept; and the brothers Rechab and Baanah came unobserved into the house. Now
Ishbosheth was sleeping on the bed in his chamber: and they smote him
” etc.
This also explains how the murderers entered unobserved. The female slave who
watched the door (John 18:16
Acts 12:13) had fallen asleep over her
task of sifting the wheat
and there was no one to give the alarm. (A. F.
Kirkpatrick
M. A.)
The end of weakling
Here lies what was once a bar of iron
but the joint action of air
and water has reduced it to a bar of rust. It has now no strength
and
consequently no value. To how many varied and useful purposes it might have
been put some years ago
and in its work have found its strength
beauty and
preservation; but it is too late now; it will soon be blended with the earth
upon which it passively lies
a striking emblem of the man who refuses to face
the hammer and anvil of active life and honest work; who flies from the
purifying fire of life’s adversities
and who will fight no battle for truth
and the higher interests of his soul. Gifted only with powers which properly
cultivated and employed would have blessed myriads
and opportunities for good
which an angel might have envied
be allows the former to run waste and the
latter to pass unheeded away
until corroded and worn down by his own inanition
he sinks by degrees into that grave of mental and physical imbecility which has
swallowed up its myriads
and which is too:frequently but the dark passage to a
more terrible death.
Verses 9-12
And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother.
Nobleness and selfishness
We praise Caesar for slaying the man who brought intelligence of
Pompey’s death; let us have some reverent regard for this passion in the heart
of David--this loyalty and all but adoration for the man who was king of
Israel.
1. Those who did not understand David
or took narrow and partial
views of his character
imagined that they could always please him by relating
some misfortune that had befallen the house of Saul. King Saul had a son who
was of weak mind and of weak body
inanimate
dependent largely upon others for
all that he was and did
especially dependent upon his uncle Abner. This man
was accustomed to take a mid-day sleep. He went up into his room one mid-day to
slumber
and there went in upon him two young men
Baanah and Rechab by name
and they made as though they would have fetched wheat from the royal residence
and when they found Ishbosheth asleep they smote him under the fifth rib and
beheaded him
and ran through the plain all night until they reached Hebron
and when they found David they said
“The Lord hath avenged His servant; here
is the head of the son of king Saul.” David seems to have taken the large and
true view of these men who brought him tidings which they thought would have
pleased him. He said
“They are essentially mean men; their meanness in this
case counts for me
but I will none of them--hang them
drown them
burn
them--they only want an opportunity to thrust the dagger under my fifth rib
that they have drawn from the life of Ishbosheth.” We would teach this lesson
especially to the young
and make it very clear to them
and write it upon
their hearts and upon their minds
that they who would do a mean trick for us
would not hesitate to do a mean trick against us.
2. It is not enough to be clever in life--we must always be right.
There is nothing more contemptible than cleverness when it is dissociated from
integrity. Always endeavour to avoid a merely clever person. Cleverness is a
two-edged instrument
cleverness is a word you may apply to a thimble-rigger.
Keep the word “cleverness” for very small occasions and for very small persons.
Associate it with moral sensibility
associate it with the moral virtues
and
it becomes proportionately dignified. The first thing you have to make out in
all life is
what is right. “That ye may be sincere.” What does that word
sincere mean? It is two Latin words in one
and it means without wax
a term
employed in describing the quality of honey
without wax. Or it is a Greek
word
which refers to porcelain
and the meaning of it is that if the china be
held up between the eye and the sun
it is sincere
without speck or flaw or
breach. What should we look like if Christ were to take us up and look at us as
we look critically at porcelain? That is the only true view to take of
ourselves. Judging ourselves by ourselves we become fools; by social standards
we are all respectable and good and fair and decent and honourable
but the
grand test is the law of Divine rectitude
the standard and the balance of the
sanctuary of heaven.
3. The real test of success is at the end. We never know what an
action is
as to its real value
until we reach the end. Things may look
tolerably well in the process--there is a way that seemeth right unto a man
but the end thereof is death. What talk Baanah and Rechab had that night as
they hurried across the plain
what pictures they drew how David would receive
them
how he would house them in the royal palace
how he would show them to
the military and to the populace
and call for loud huzzas
how they would be
the brothers whom the king would delight to honour
riding upon his noblest
steeds
and for the time being sit at the front of his ranks and crowned with
glory and honour. They went to Hebron
and never left it. The men were to be
promoted--were promoted to the gallows. The clever men died as the fool dieth
and the earth was not allowed to have their bones. Let us be instructed by the
narrative
for it may be even so with some of our own purposes and schemes. A
thing is only everlasting
in its consolations and honours in proportion as it
is genuinely right. Is our trade
is our purpose
is our programme
is our
policy
is our set in life right. If so
we have succeeded even before we have
begun.
4. Behold the contrast between nobleness and selfishness
as seen in
David and in those who brought him tidings concerning the fate of Saul
and the
ill-luck of his child. There are moments when a man is almost God; and it was
so with David in this case. He had his moments of fretfulness about Saul
and
his moments of supreme fear
but in his heart he loved the grand old king of
Israel; and where there is a supreme love it rises above everything
and
sacrifices everything that would oppose its sovereign sway. Have we any supreme
love? Is our heart ever washed by a great tide of loving emotion about any man
woman
or little child? Then blessed are we; that river rises sometimes and
submerges the whole life
and bears away all the ill-thinking and ill-behaviour
of many days. Let us not allow our emotions to be talked down
nor allow the
fountain of our tears to
be sealed up so that it cannot be broken on any occasion. Sometimes it is good for the heart to
sink under its own tears; it comes up out of that baptism sweeter and fresher
than ever.
5. Beware of taking narrow views of life
then. The young Amalekite
and Baanah and Rechab were men who saw only little points in a case. They were
wanting in mental apprehensiveness and in moral expansion. There are many such
Men in the world
keen as a hawk in seeing little points
blind as a mole in
beholding the measure of a circumference. Let us pray for that enlargement of
mind which sees every aspect of a question. (J. Parker
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》