241 lines
17 KiB
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241 lines
17 KiB
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<div2 id="iiSam.v" n="v" next="iiSam.vi" prev="iiSam.iv" progress="40.88%" title="Chapter IV">
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<h2 id="iiSam.v-p0.1">S E C O N D S A M U E L</h2>
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<h3 id="iiSam.v-p0.2">CHAP. IV.</h3>
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<p class="intro" id="iiSam.v-p1">When Abner was slain David was at a loss for a
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friend to perfect the reduction of those tribes that were yet in
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Ish-bosheth's interest. Which way to adopt for the accomplishment
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of it he could not tell; but here Providence brings it about by the
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removal of Ish-bosheth. I. Two of his own servants slew him, and
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brought his head to David, <scripRef id="iiSam.v-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.1-2Sam.4.8" parsed="|2Sam|4|1|4|8" passage="2Sa 4:1-8">ver.
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1-8</scripRef>. II. David, instead of rewarding them, put them to
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death for what they had done, <scripRef id="iiSam.v-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.9-2Sam.4.12" parsed="|2Sam|4|9|4|12" passage="2Sa 4:9-12">ver.
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9-12</scripRef>.</p>
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<scripCom id="iiSam.v-p0.1_1" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4" parsed="|2Sam|4|0|0|0" passage="2Sa 4" type="Commentary"/>
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<scripCom id="iiSam.v-p0.2_1" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.1-2Sam.4.8" parsed="|2Sam|4|1|4|8" passage="2Sa 4:1-8" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:2Sam.4.1-2Sam.4.8">
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<h4 id="iiSam.v-p1.5">Ish-bosheth Slain by His
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Servants. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iiSam.v-p1.6">b. c.</span> 1048.)</h4>
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<p class="passage" id="iiSam.v-p2">1 And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead
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in Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were
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troubled. 2 And Saul's son had two men <i>that were</i>
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captains of bands: the name of the one <i>was</i> Baanah, and the
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name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a Beerothite, of the
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children of Benjamin: (for Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin:
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3 And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners
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there until this day.) 4 And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son
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<i>that was</i> lame of <i>his</i> feet. He was five years old when
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the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse
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took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to
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flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name <i>was</i>
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Mephibosheth. 5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite,
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Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the
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house of Ishbosheth, who lay on a bed at noon. 6 And they
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came thither into the midst of the house, <i>as though</i> they
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would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under the fifth
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<i>rib:</i> and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7 For
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when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber,
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and they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his
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head, and gat them away through the plain all night. 8 And
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they brought the head of Ishbosheth unto David to Hebron, and said
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to the king, Behold the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul thine
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enemy, which sought thy life; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiSam.v-p2.1">Lord</span> hath avenged my lord the king this day of
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Saul, and of his seed.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="iiSam.v-p3">Here is, I. The weakness of Saul's house.
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Still it grew weaker and weaker. 1. As for Ishbosheth, who was in
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possession of the throne, his hands were feeble, <scripRef id="iiSam.v-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.1" parsed="|2Sam|4|1|0|0" passage="2Sa 4:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. All the strength they ever had
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was from Abner's support, and now that he was dead he had no spirit
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left in him. Though Abner had, in a passion, deserted his interest,
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yet he hoped, by his means, to make good terms with David; but now
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even this hope fails him, and he sees himself forsaken by his
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friends and at the mercy of his enemies. All the Israelites that
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adhered to him were troubled and at a loss what to do, whether to
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proceed in their treaty with David or no. 2. As for Mephibosheth,
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who in the right of his father Jonathan had a prior title, his feet
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were lame, and he was unfit for any service, <scripRef id="iiSam.v-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.4" parsed="|2Sam|4|4|0|0" passage="2Sa 4:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. He was but five years old when
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his father and grandfather were killed. His nurse, hearing of the
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Philistines' victory, was apprehensive that, in pursuit of it, they
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would immediately send a party to Saul's house, to cut off all that
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pertained to it, and would especially aim at her young master, who
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was now next heir to the crown. Under the apprehension of this, she
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fled with the child in her arms, to secure it either in some secret
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place where he could not be found, or in some strong place where he
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could not be got at; and, making more haste than good speed, she
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fell with the child, and by the fall some bone was broken or put
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out, and not well set, so that he was lame of it as long as he
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lived, and unfit either for court or camp. See what sad accidents
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children are liable to in their infancy, the effect of which may be
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felt by them, to their great uneasiness, all their days. Even the
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children of princes and great men, the children of good men, for
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such a one Jonathan was, children that are well tended, and have
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nurses of their own to take care of them, yet are not always safe.
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What reason have we to be thankful to God for the preservation of
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our limbs and senses to us, through the many perils of the weak and
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helpless state of infancy, and to own his goodness in giving his
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angels a charge concerning us, to bear us up in their arms, out of
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which there is no danger of falling, <scripRef id="iiSam.v-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.12" parsed="|Ps|91|12|0|0" passage="Ps 91:12">Ps. xci. 12</scripRef>.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="iiSam.v-p4">II. The murder of Saul's son. We are here
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told,</p>
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<p class="indent" id="iiSam.v-p5">1. Who were the murderers: <i>Baanah and
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Rechab,</i> <scripRef id="iiSam.v-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.2-2Sam.4.3" parsed="|2Sam|4|2|4|3" passage="2Sa 4:2,3"><i>v.</i> 2,
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3</scripRef>. They were own brothers, as Simeon and Levi, and
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partners in iniquity. They were or had been Ish-bosheth's own
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servants, employed under him, so much the more base and treacherous
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was it in them to do him a mischief. They were Benjamites, of his
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own tribe. They were of the city of Beeroth; for some reason which
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we cannot now account for care is here taken to let us know (in a
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parenthesis) that that city belonged to the lot of Benjamin, so we
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find (<scripRef id="iiSam.v-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.18.25" parsed="|Josh|18|25|0|0" passage="Jos 18:25">Josh. xviii. 25</scripRef>),
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but that the inhabitants, upon some occasion or other, perhaps upon
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the death of Saul, retired to Gittaim, another city which lay not
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far off in the same tribe, and was better fortified by nature,
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being situate (if we may depend upon Mr. Fuller's map) between the
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two rocks Bozez and Seneh. There the Beerothites were when this was
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written, and probably took root there, and never returned to
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Beeroth again, which made Beeroth, that had been one of the cities
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of the Gibeonites (<scripRef id="iiSam.v-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Josh.9.17" parsed="|Josh|9|17|0|0" passage="Jos 9:17">Josh. ix.
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17</scripRef>), to be forgotten, and Gittaim to be famous long
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after, as we find, <scripRef id="iiSam.v-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Neh.11.33" parsed="|Neh|11|33|0|0" passage="Ne 11:33">Neh. xi.
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33</scripRef>.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="iiSam.v-p6">2. How the murder was committed, <scripRef id="iiSam.v-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.5-2Sam.4.7" parsed="|2Sam|4|5|4|7" passage="2Sa 4:5-7"><i>v.</i> 5-7</scripRef>. See here, (1.) The
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slothfulness of Ish-bosheth. He lay upon his bed at noon. It does
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not appear that the country was at any time of the year so hot as
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to oblige the inhabitants to retire at noon, as we are told they do
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in Spain in the heat of summer; but Ishbosheth was a sluggish man,
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loved his ease and hated business: and when he should have been, at
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this critical juncture, at the head of his forces in the field, or
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at the head of his counsels in a treaty with David, he was lying
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upon his bed and sleeping, for his hands were feeble (<scripRef id="iiSam.v-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.1" parsed="|2Sam|4|1|0|0" passage="2Sa 4:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), and so were his head and
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heart. When those difficulties dispirit us which should rather
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invigorate us and sharpen our endeavours we betray both our crowns
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and lives. <i>Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty and
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ruin.</i> The idle soul is an easy prey to the destroyer. (2.) The
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treachery of Baanah and Rechab. They came into the house, under
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pretence of fetching wheat for the victualling of their regiments;
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and such was the plainness of those times that the king's
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corn-chamber and his bed-chamber lay near together, which gave them
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an opportunity, when they were fetching wheat, to murder him as he
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lay on the bed. We know not when and where death will meet us. When
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we lie down to sleep we are not sure but that we may sleep the
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sleep of death before we awake; nor do we know from what
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unsuspected hand a fatal stroke may come. Ish-bosheth's own men,
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who should have protected his life, took it away.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="iiSam.v-p7">3. The murderers triumphed in what they had
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done. As if they had performed some very glorious action, and the
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doing of it for David's advantage was enough not only to justify
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it, but to sanctify it, they made a present of Ish-bosheth's head
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to David (<scripRef id="iiSam.v-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.8" parsed="|2Sam|4|8|0|0" passage="2Sa 4:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>):
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<i>Behold the head of thy enemy,</i> than which they thought
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nothing could be more acceptable to him; yea, and they made
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themselves instruments of God's justice, ministers to bear his
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sword, though they had no commission: <i>The Lord hath avenged thee
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this day of Saul and of his seed.</i> Not that they had any regard
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either to God or to David's honour; they aimed at nothing but to
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make their own fortunes (as we say) and to get preferment in
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David's court; but, to ingratiate themselves with him, they
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pretended a concern for his life, a conviction of his title, and a
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zealous desire to see him in full possession of the throne. Jehu
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pretended <i>zeal for the Lord of hosts</i> when an ambition to set
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up himself and his own family was the spring of his actions.</p>
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</div><scripCom id="iiSam.v-p0.3" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.9-2Sam.4.12" parsed="|2Sam|4|9|4|12" passage="2Sa 4:9-12" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:2Sam.4.9-2Sam.4.12">
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<h4 id="iiSam.v-p7.3">Ish-bosheth's Murderers
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Punished. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iiSam.v-p7.4">b. c.</span> 1048.)</h4>
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<p class="passage" id="iiSam.v-p8">9 And David answered Rechab and Baanah his
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brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them,
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<i>As</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiSam.v-p8.1">Lord</span> liveth, who hath
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redeemed my soul out of all adversity, 10 When one told me,
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saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good
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tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who
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<i>thought</i> that I would have given him a reward for his
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tidings: 11 How much more, when wicked men have slain a
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righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not
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therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away
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from the earth? 12 And David commanded his young men, and
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they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged
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<i>them</i> up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of
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Ishbosheth, and buried <i>it</i> in the sepulchre of Abner in
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Hebron.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="iiSam.v-p9">We have here justice done upon the
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murderers of Ish-bosheth.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="iiSam.v-p10">I. Sentence passed upon them. There needed
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no evidence, their own tongues witnessed against them; they were so
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far from denying the fact that they gloried in it. David therefore
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shows them the heinousness of the crime, and that blood called for
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blood from his hand, who was now the chief magistrate, and was by
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office the avenger of blood. And, perhaps, he was the more vigorous
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in the prosecution because for reasons of state he had spared Joab:
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"<i>Shall I not require the blood of the slain at the hand of the
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slayers,</i> and, since they cannot make restitution, take theirs
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instead of it?" Observe, 1. How he aggravates the crime, <scripRef id="iiSam.v-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.11" parsed="|2Sam|4|11|0|0" passage="2Sa 4:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Ish-bosheth was a
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righteous person, he had done them no wrong, nor designed them any.
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As to himself, David was satisfied that what opposition he gave him
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was not from malice, but mistake, from an idea he had of his own
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title to the crown, and the influence of others upon him, who urged
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him to put in for it. Note, Charity teaches us to make the best,
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not only of our friends, but of our enemies, and to think those may
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be righteous persons who yet, in some instances, do us wrong. I
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must not presently judge a man a bad man because I think him so to
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me. David owns Ish-bosheth an honest man, though he had created him
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a great deal of trouble unjustly. The manner of it much aggravated
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the crime. To slay him in his own house, which should have been his
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castle, and upon his bed, when he was in no capacity of making any
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opposition, this is treacherous and barbarous, and all that is
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base, and that which the heart of every man who is not perfectly
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lost to all honour and humanity will rise with indignation at the
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thought of. Assassinating is confessedly the most odious and
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villainous way of murdering. <i>Cursed is he that smiteth his
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neighbour secretly.</i> 2. He quotes a precedent (<scripRef id="iiSam.v-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.10" parsed="|2Sam|4|10|0|0" passage="2Sa 4:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): he had put him to
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death who had brought him the tidings of the death of Saul, because
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he thought it would be good tidings to David. Nothing is here said
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of that Amalekite's helping Saul to kill himself, only of his
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bringing the tidings of his death, by which it should seem that the
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story he told was upon enquiry found to be false, and that he lied
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against his own head. "Now" (says David) "did I treat him as a
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criminal, and not a favourite" (as he expected), "who brought me
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Saul's crown, and shall those be held guiltless that bring me
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Ish-bosheth's head?" 3. He ratifies the sentence with an oath
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(<scripRef id="iiSam.v-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.9" parsed="|2Sam|4|9|0|0" passage="2Sa 4:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>As the
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Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity.</i> He
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expresses himself thus resolutely, to prevent the making of any
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intercession for the criminals by those about him, and thus piously
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to intimate that his dependence was upon God for the putting of him
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in possession of the promised throne, and that he would not be
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beholden to any man to help him to it by any indirect or unlawful
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practices. God had redeemed him from all adversity hitherto, helped
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him over many a difficulty and through many a danger, and therefore
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he would depend upon him to crown and complete his own work. He
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speaks of his redemption from all adversity as a thing done, though
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he had many a storm yet before him, because he knew that he who had
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delivered would deliver. 4. Hereupon he signs a warrant for the
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execution of these men, <scripRef id="iiSam.v-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.4.12" parsed="|2Sam|4|12|0|0" passage="2Sa 4:12"><i>v.</i>
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12</scripRef>. This may seem severe, when they intended him a
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kindness in what they did; but, (1.) He would thus show his
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detestation of the villany. When he heard that <i>the Lord smote
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Nabal, he gave thanks</i> (<scripRef id="iiSam.v-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.25.38-1Sam.25.39" parsed="|1Sam|25|38|25|39" passage="1Sa 25:38,39">1 Sam.
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xxv. 38, 39</scripRef>), <i>for he is the God to whom vengeance
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belongeth;</i> but, if wicked men smite Ish-bosheth, they deserve
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to die for taking God's work out of his hand. (2.) He would thus
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show his resentment of the great affront they put upon him in
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expecting that he should patronize and reward it; they could
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scarcely have done him a greater injury than thus to think him
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altogether such a one as themselves, one that cared not what blood
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he waded through to the crown.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="iiSam.v-p11">II. Execution done. The murderers were put
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to death according to law, and their hands and feet were hung up;
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not their whole bodies, the law forbade that; but only their hands
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and feet, <i>in terrorem—to frighten others,</i> to be monuments
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of David's justice, and to make that to be taken notice of which
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would recommend him to the esteem of the people, as a man fit to
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rule, and that aimed not at his own preferment, nor had any enmity
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to the house of Saul, but only and sincerely designed the public
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welfare. But what a confusion was this to the two murderers! What a
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horrid disappointment! And such those will meet with who think to
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serve the interests of the Son of David by any immoral practices,
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by war and persecution, fraud and rapine, who, under colour of
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religion, murder princes, break solemn contracts, lay countries
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waste, <i>hate their brethren, and cast them out, and say, Let the
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Lord be glorified, kill them, and think they do God good
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service.</i> However men may canonize such methods of serving the
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church and the catholic cause, Christ will let them know, another
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day, that Christianity was not intended to destroy humanity; and
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those who thus think to merit heaven shall not escape the damnation
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of hell.</p>
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</div></div2>
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