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2 Samuel 4

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

The murder of Ish-bosheth

1 When Saul's son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his hands went limp, and all Israel was dismayed. 2 Saul's son had two men who were captains of raiding bands; the name of the one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin. For Beeroth also is counted as part of Benjamin, 3 and the Beerothites had fled to Gittaim and have lived there as sojourners until this day.

4 Now Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel; his nurse picked him up and fled, and as she hurried to flee, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

5 The sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out and came in the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, while he was taking his midday rest. 6 They came into the middle of the house as though fetching wheat, and they struck him in the belly; then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7 They came into the house while he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, and they struck him and killed him and cut off his head. 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. Yahweh has given my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and on his seed."

9 But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, "As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my life out of every distress, 10 when the one who told me, 'See, Saul is dead,' thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag; that was the reward I gave him for his news. 11 How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed! And now, shall I not require his blood from your hand and remove you from the earth?" 12 So David commanded his young men, and they killed them, cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron.

Notes

  • 4:1 "His hands went limp" is a Hebrew way of saying that a man's courage and strength failed him; the same image appears in 17:2 and Isaiah 13:7. Abner had been the real power behind Ish-bosheth's throne (2:8-9; 3:6), and without him the house of Saul was lost.
  • 4:4 The narrator pauses to show that, with Ish-bosheth about to die, the only grandson of Saul in the line of Jonathan is a lame child, no threat to anyone; David will later show him kindness for Jonathan's sake (chapter 9). Chronicles calls him Merib-baal (1 Chronicles 8:34); as with Ish-bosheth (2:8), many think that in Samuel the word baal, "lord," was replaced by bosheth, "shame."
  • 4:6 The Hebrew of this verse is compressed, and verse 7 tells the deed again in fuller form. The Greek translation reads differently here: the doorkeeper of the house was cleaning wheat, grew drowsy and fell asleep, and the brothers slipped in. "In the belly" is the same blow by which Abner killed Asahel and Joab killed Abner (2:23; 3:27).
  • 4:11 To "require blood from someone's hand" echoes Genesis 9:5, where Elohim Himself demands an account for human life. David calls Ish-bosheth "a righteous man" not because of his deeds as a ruler but because he was innocent of any crime against his killers. As with the Amalekite who claimed to have killed Saul (1:14-16), David refuses to reach the throne by murder or to reward those who think they are serving him by it.
  • 4:12 The hands that did the murder and the feet that ran with the head were cut off, and the bodies were displayed at Hebron's pool, where all could see that David had no part in the deed. Ish-bosheth's head was buried with honor beside Abner, the general who had made him king (2:8-9).

2 Samuel 3 · 2 Samuel 5

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