mh_parser/vol_split/10 - 2Samuel/Chapter 4.xml

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