”Saul’s court had been wicked and bloody: he had taught his servants to shed innocent blood, and now they practise the art on his own family. He had shed the blood of all the priests at Nob; and now God shed the blood of all his house, with the exception of (cripple) Mephibosheth[—the son of Jonathan]…While we see in the tragic fall of Saul’s house, all the [free-will] agents acting from mean and mercenary motives, we also see them all acting in behalf of David, and fulfilling the sentence of heaven against the disobedient king.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
“When Saul's son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost heart, and all Israel was troubled.’ (1) How awful and rapid was the fall of Saul’s house, and without war. Abner was dead; Mephibosheth was an infant, and lame; Ishbosheth and all his friends were troubled. Why then did he not send and make a covenant with David? Ah, Abner was dead, and now the dispirited prince had no minister of state, nor captain-general to keep the nation in awe.” (Sutcliffe)— “‘Now Saul's son (never called “the Anointed of the LORD”) had two men who were captains of troops. The name of one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, etc. (2) “a city in Benjamin's territory (Jos 18:25; 2 Sm 4:2-3). Beeroth was one of four Hivite cities that secured Joshua's promise not to destroy them when the Israelites marched into Canaan (Jos 9:17).” (Tyndale Bible Dictionary) “They deceived Israel into making a covenant with them by a clever device of pretending to be from a far distant country.” (Burton Coffman) So in this scene, the sons of Rimmon prove themselves to be pretenders, as their fathers were. “They disguised themselves as merchants, who came to buy wheat.” (6) But they were really “Amorites mercenaries in Ishbosheth's army.” (Willis)
They slew “their king” and made off with his head. “And were all night escaping through the plain.” (7) They likely fled because they feared a kinsman redeemer from little Benjamin. —
“'And they brought the head of Ishbosheth [upon which the crown of the king of Israel from Benjamin once sat] to David at Hebron, and said to the king, ‘Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life; and thus the LORD has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and his descendants.’ [8] By the use of the word ‘thus’ they indicate that, by killing Ish-bosheth, they have carried out the will of the LORD. They boast that they exercised the LORD’s revenge on Saul and his descendants. After the Amalekite and Abner, these two murderers now come to offer David the kingdom.” (de Koning)
David was from Judah, but he was a Benjamites in spirit. He answered that the LORD only had redeemed him from all distress (9) “He brings the matter into its true perspective. Only the LORD has helped him against Saul, and not these two murderers. He expresses his confidence that the LORD will arrange it for him further. He does not have to take anything in his own hand or accept from others.” (G. de Koning) “Ah, Christian soul, you, too, will one day attain the sunny heights, standing on which you also will be able to say, ‘He hath redeemed my soul from all adversity.’ The night may be long, but the day-spring is at hand.” (F. B. Meyer)
“David is now through these circumstances the sole and undisputed claimant of the throne of Israel and his anointing as king over all Israel must speedily follow.” (Arno Gaebelien) He is both king and righteous judge of Israel. “What a glory to Israel to have a king clothed with justice: a righteous monarch makes a righteous nation.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
After recounting the execution of the man who claims to have assisted Saul’s death (10), he speaks judgment. “‘How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed?’ (11a) And they are sentenced as evil men worthy of death. “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.” (Matthew Henry)
“‘Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth?’ (11b) “Rather, put you away out of the land. The word is one specially used of removing evil or the guilt of evil from the land (Deuteronomy 19:13; 19, etc.). The guilt of murder defiled the land, until expiated by the execution of the murderer (Numbers 35:33).” (Kirkpatrick)
“‘And David commanded his young men, and they slew them,’ (12a) and treated them according to the law or torah of Moses. “Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear. If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.” (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)
“‘And cut off their hands and their feet.’ (12b) It is suggested that David executed the law of talion, but this part of the judicial sentence was executed post-mortem. So, they had no possibility to reform, as normal. “Their hands had been swift to shed blood and their feet had been swift to culminate this evil in boldly bringing their master's head to David.” (L. M. Grant) So it was "in the spirit, but not in the letter, of the Mosaic law of retaliation hand for hand, foot for foot. Exodus 21:24.” (Whedon Commentary) “‘And hanged them up over the pool in Hebron.’ (12c) as monuments of their villany, and of David’s abhorrency of it.” (Matthew Poole)
“What a disappointment to Baanah and Rechab was the sentence which David passed upon them!” (Joseph Benson) And soon many who think by pretense of religion to merit heaven. They shall not escape the second (eternal) death. “‘But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron.’ (12d) “on account of the relation that had existed between the two men.” (Lange) They rested together in sheol near the plot that Abraham bought to bury Sarah. And together they await the proper resurrection and Judgment. “David showed to all Israel that he was a decided enemy to the destruction of Saul's family; and that none could lift up their hands against any of them without meeting with condign punishment. In all these cases I know not that it was possible for David to show more sincerity, or a stricter regard for justice.” (Adam Clarke) “We must not overlook verse 4 in which Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth is mentioned for the first time. He was the only representative of Saul’s line, a helpless cripple. His story and David’s kindness to him we shall soon follow.” (Arno Gaebelein)
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