“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.”
– 2 Samuel 4:12
Hi James and Ellen,
What would you do if you knew that there was a reason why a guy or gal wanted to kill you? Would you run if you knew that that a guy or gal wanted to kill you? Would you become discouraged if you knew that a guy or gal wanted to kill you? Would you do something desperate to try to save your life if you knew that a guy or gal wanted to kill you? Samuel – in 2 Samuel 4, recorded the actions of three really scared guys and a nurse when they thought that death was at their doorstep. Ish-Bosheth lost courage when Abner was murdered by Joab. Ish-Bosheth’s dad was Saul. After Ish-Bosheth’s dad killed himself after taking an archer’s arrow during a battle with Philistine people group guys, Ish-Bosheth became dependent on Abner to protect him. Abner had been Ish-Bosheth’s dad’s army commander. At the time when Saul fell on his sword, Saul was the first anointed and positioned king to rule over the Israelite people group’s guys and gals – God’s specially chosen guys and gals. When Saul ended his life by falling on his sword, David became the next anointed and positioned king to rule over the Israelite people group’s guys and gals. Being one of Saul’s kids and because Saul had spent a lot of his waking hours trying to kill David, Ish-Bosheth was really scared what David might do to him. Another one of Saul’s kids – Jonathan, had a kid. The kid’s name was Mephibosheth. Even though Jonathan’s dad was fanatical about his desire to see David dead, Jonathan became a very close friend of David. When Jonathan was killed by the Philistine people group guys during the same battle when his dad killed himself, the sad news of what happened was sent to the nurse who was caring for Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was five years old at this time. When the nurse who was caring for Mephibosheth got the news that Mephibosheth’s dad had been killed, the frightened nurse took off with Mephibosheth to go someplace to hide out as she really thought that David would want to kill Mephibosheth because of Mephibosheth being in Saul’s extended family. Mephibosheth’s nurse – as she was carrying Mephibosheth while running to a safe place where she could hide Mephibosheth, accidentally dropped Mephibosheth resulting in Mephibosheth becoming crippled for the rest of his life. Baanah and Recab were bros and two leaders of Saul’s bands of raiders. When these two dudes found out that their leader was no longer alive, these two guys came up with a plan that they thought would keep David from killing them – as they believed that David would want to kill them for having been aligned with Saul. The plan that Baanah and Recab thought up was to kill Ish-Bosheth – who they thought David would for sure want to kill being that Ish-Bosheth was one of Saul’s kids and because David had been on the very top of Saul’s hit list, and to give David Ish-Bosheth’s head. While Ish-Bosheth was taking an afternoon nap, the two conniving bros – Bannah and Recab, were able to get into the house where Ish-Bosheth was staying using the pretext of getting some of the wheat that Ish-Bosheth was keeping in his house. Baanah and Recab went into Ish-Bosheth’s bedroom and fatally stabbed Ish-Bosheth in the stomach. After Baanah and Recab murdered Ish-Bosheth, they cut off Ish-Bosheth’s head and took Ish-Bosheth’s head to David.
If you knew that there was a reason why guy or gal wanted to kill you, would you go to pulling an Ish-Bosheth who became despondent and climbed into bed or would you go to pulling a Mephibosheth’s nurse who ran with her charge or would you go to pulling a Baanah and Recab who tried to get on the good side of a perceived avenger? Do you think that by curling up in a ball or running away or pursuing favors will really work to help to escape an immediate danger or an ongoing stress or a challenging life lesson? Ish-Bosheth ended up being murdered in his bed. Mephibosheth’s nurse ended up causing Mephibosheth to become a lifetime cripple. Baanah and Recab ended up with an even worse fate than the messenger who told David the news – which the messenger thought was really good news for David to want to hear, that Saul was dead, David had the messenger killed on the spot. Verse 12 is David’s reactive response to Baanah and Recab for their having cut off Ish-Bosheth’s head and for having brought Ish-Bosheth’s head to him, “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.”
Do you like sad and/or gruesome stories? Your grandpaa does not like depressing and/or gory life anecdotes. There are always life lessons that teach about life’s ugly, dark side. Unpleasant, unhappy life lessons are never to be ignored, run from and manipulated. God wants to hear from you each time that you find yourselves in an untenable moment or unsustainable situation. God will give you the strength to courageously face directly any difficult life lesson. God will give you the ability to boldly go face to face with any guy, gal or kid who is doing whatever he or she can do to humiliate or demean you. God will give you the right words and the precise means for getting away from any guy, gal or kid who is out to cause you physical and/or emotional harm. If you are trusting totally in God, you will never have a reason to become discouraged or have to run or have to figure out what to do on your own.
2 Samuel 4 (1003)