2 Samuel 4

Introduction

Chapter 4 is a short chapter in the transition to David's unified kingship, and one of the clearest in moral terms. With Abner dead, Ish-bosheth's kingdom has lost its support. Two of his own officers, Rechab and Baanah, assassinate him as he sleeps and bring his head to David expecting a reward. Their reasoning is the same as that of the Amalekite messenger in chapter 1: David's enemy is dead, so this must be good news. David answers them as he answered the first.

The chapter also contains a single verse that introduces, without elaboration, the person who will become the object of David's covenant loyalty: Mephibosheth, Jonathan's crippled son (2 Samuel 9). The note about his disability, caused when his nurse dropped him while fleeing after Gilboa, appears without comment, as if merely recording a fact. It is the kind of detail that matters later, and the narrator expects the reader to remember it.

The Murder of Ish-bosheth (vv. 1–8)

¹ Now when Ish-bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel was dismayed. ² Saul's son had two men who were leaders of raiding parties. One was named Baanah and the other Rechab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite of the tribe of Benjamin—Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin, ³ because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have lived there as foreigners to this day. ⁴ And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to escape, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth. ⁵ Now Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out and arrived at the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of the day, while the king was taking his midday nap. ⁶ They entered the interior of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped away. ⁷ They had entered the house while Ish-bosheth was lying on his bed, and having stabbed and killed him, they beheaded him, took his head, and traveled 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 sought your life. Today the LORD has granted vengeance to my lord the king against Saul and his offspring."

¹ When Ish-bosheth the son of Saul heard that Abner had died at Hebron, his courage failed, and all Israel was dismayed. ² Now the son of Saul had two men who were commanders of raiding bands. The name of one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon a man from Beeroth of the tribe of Benjamin — for Beeroth also is counted as part of Benjamin. ³ The Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have been sojourners there to this day. ⁴ Jonathan the son of Saul had a son who was crippled in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse picked him up and fled, and as she hurried to flee, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. ⁵ Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out and came to the house of Ish-bosheth at the heat of the day, while he was taking his midday rest. ⁶ And they came into the inner part of the house as if to get wheat, and they struck him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. ⁷ When they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and killed him and beheaded him. They took his head and went by the way of the Arabah all night. ⁸ They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, "Here is the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The LORD has granted my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and on his offspring."

Notes

וַיִּרְפּוּ יָדָיו — "his courage failed" — literally "his hands went limp." This idiom denotes the loss of resolve, the opposite of "let your hands be strong," which David used to encourage Jabesh-gilead in 2 Samuel 2:7. Ish-bosheth had no real power base of his own; he depended entirely on Abner. Without Abner, the Saulide cause collapses from within.
The parenthetical note on Mephibosheth — וּלְיוֹנָתָן בֶּן שָׁאוּל בֵּן נְכֵה רַגְלָיִם — "Jonathan the son of Saul had a son who was crippled in both feet" — is inserted here without explaining why it matters. The reader will understand in 2 Samuel 9, when David fulfills his oath to Jonathan by seeking out his crippled son. The detail of the fall, while he was helpless in the arms of a fleeing nurse after Gilboa, anticipates the vulnerability that will later frame David's covenant loyalty.
The assassins enter under the pretense of collecting wheat, a daily provision from the royal household, and kill Ish-bosheth as he sleeps. The crime combines betrayal, deception, and cowardice. They address David in the language of holy war ("the LORD has granted vengeance"), invoking divine sanction for personal opportunism.

David Executes the Assassins (vv. 9–12)

⁹ But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As surely as the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, ¹⁰ when someone told me, 'Look, Saul is dead,' and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news! ¹¹ How much more, when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house and on his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth!" ¹² So David commanded his young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner's tomb in Hebron.

⁹ David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from every trouble, ¹⁰ when someone told me, 'Behold, Saul is dead,' thinking he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag — that was his reward for his news. ¹¹ How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hand and destroy you from the earth?" ¹² And David commanded his young men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and their feet and hung them up by the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron.

Notes

David's citation of the Amalekite precedent — "I killed him at Ziklag; that was his reward" — is his explicit reason for executing Rechab and Baanah. The logic is consistent across chapters 1 and 4: David did not harm Saul when he had the chance, and he will execute anyone who claims credit for harming the LORD's anointed or members of the Saulide house. The principle is theological, not merely political.
David calls Ish-bosheth אִישׁ צַדִּיק — "a righteous man." Ish-bosheth was David's rival for the throne, which makes the description striking. The word צַדִּיק in legal contexts means "innocent" — one against whom no legitimate charge has been made. Ish-bosheth had done nothing deserving death. Whatever the civil war meant politically, it could not justify murder, and David refuses to treat it as justification.
The mutilation of the assassins' bodies — cutting off hands and feet and hanging them by the pool — mirrors the treatment the Philistines gave Saul's body at Beth-shan, though here it is judicial. In ancient Near Eastern custom, such public display served as both punishment and deterrent. The burial of Ish-bosheth's head in Abner's tomb is a gesture of dignity: the last Saulide king and Saul's general are interred together in Hebron, the city David holds as his royal seat before he takes Jerusalem.