2 Samuel
Chapter 4
Murder of Ishbaal
When Ishbaal, Saul’s son, heard that Abner had died at Hebron, he was stunned, and the Israelites were disheartened.
Saul’s son had two men, captains of raiding bands: one was Baanah, the other Rechab, both sons of Rimmon, a Benjaminite from Beeroth. For Beeroth was still considered part of the tribe of Benjamin.
The Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have remained there as immigrants to the present day.
(Jonathan, son of Saul, had a son whose feet were crippled. He was five years old when the news came from Jezreel about the death of Saul and Jonathan. His nurse took him up and fled so hastily that the boy fell and became lame. He was called Meribbaal.)
Now Rechab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon, the Beerothite, went their way and arrived in the heat of the day at the house of Ishbaal, who was taking a nap.
His doorkeeper had been cleaning wheat, but feeling drowsy, she slept; Rechab and his brother Baanah got into the house.
They rushed into Ishbaal’s bedroom as he lay asleep in his bed and struck him dead. They beheaded him, took his head, and left, walking all night by the way of the Arabah.
They brought Ishbaal’s head to David at Hebron and said to the king: “Here is the head of Ishbaal, son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life. This day, the Lord has avenged my lord the king, on Saul and his son.”
But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite: “Let the Lord hear, he who has saved me from all adversities.
When somebody reported Saul’s death to me, thinking he was bringing me good news, I took hold of him and killed him at Ziklag instead of rewarding him.
Will I do less when wicked men have murdered just one in his own house and on his bed? Shall I not now demand his blood from your hands and sweep you away?”
So David commanded his young men to kill them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung them beside the pool at Hebron. Then they took Ishbaal’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.
Commentaries
Murder of Ishbaal.
With Abner dead, Ishbaal is left without support or initiative. Those who hoped for Saul’s dynasty are unsettled, and those looking forward to the union with David, organized by Abner, are unsure about what will happen next. King Ishbaal, powerless and barely conscious, dies quietly in his sleep. In the borrowed capital of Transjordan, in a palace guarded by an unarmed and drowsy woman. How different this is from Saul and Jonathan’s death in battle! The writers, who favor David, systematically highlight his innocence in the bloodshed of his main rivals; this innocence is underscored by the elimination of those who killed Saul’s leaders—Saul himself, his general, and his son Ishbaal.