Strength and Justice

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 2 Samuel 4. Keep your Bible open in front of you this morning. It will do you good to have your Bible with you so you can follow along as we go.

2 Samuel 4 is a short chapter. 12 verses. That’s all there is; that’s all the text we’re going to read today from 2 Samuel. You might get a shorter sermon…but I doubt it. It’ll probably be 30 minutes. No matter what I do, I end up with a 30-minute sermon.

2 Samuel 4 is more lead-up to the moment when David, son of Jesse, becomes king over all Israel. It takes a little bit of time and more than a little drama for David to become king.

There’s a lot of waiting involved; such is life.

Sometimes, maybe most of the time, things move slowly. We wonder if the day is ever going to come. We get tired of waiting for “it” to happen. We may even give up hope along the way. “How long, LORD?” we ask and pray.

David has had to be very patient, waiting for his time as king. But the LORD will see to it.

One of the many verses we read last week in our exposition of 2 Samuel 2-3, says this:

2 Samuel 3:1 “The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.”

This—our text for today in 2 Samuel 4—is that verse playing out. The house of Saul grows weaker and weaker. And David—the king God has chosen—grows stronger and stronger.

Weaker and weaker.

Stronger and stronger.

Because this is the LORD’s will. It’s His plan. It’s His divine prerogative.

And so it is: we begin 2 Samuel 4 seeing Saul’s house growing weaker and weaker.

2 Samuel 4:1–4 NIV

1 When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed. 2 Now Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Rekab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the tribe of Benjamin—Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin, 3 because the people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim and have resided there as foreigners to this day. 4 (Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth.)

Weaker and Weaker (vv. 1-4)

In the first four verses of chapter 4, we basically have a summary of the state of Saul’s house. King Saul is dead. So is Jonathan. So are all of Saul’s sons, except one guy we call “Ishy”—Ish-Bosheth, the momentary king of Israel.

Understand: Ishy is king, but Ishy is weak. He lacks courage. He didn’t even muster the courage to stand up to his #2.

In 2 Samuel 3, Ishy confronts Abner, Abner sounds off and gives him the what-for. And we read, 2 Samuel 3:11 “Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him.”

Coward.

The king of Israel is afraid of his military commander; afraid to say anything to the guy who works for him. He’s a coward. He lost courage; we read this in the first verse of Chapter 4.

Ish-Bosheth was merely a puppet used by Abner to contest the kingship of David. Without Abner, Ishy’s nothing. He knows it, and so does Israel.

In fact, without Abner propping up Ish-Bosheth, all Israel is alarmed. “Terrified” or “dismayed”, even “horrified” might capture the sense of the word better.

The narrator also does something subtle. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything. But I think it’s curious. Notice how verse 2 begins: Now Saul’s son…

The narrator doesn’t even use Ishy’s name. Ish-Bosheth is of no consequence. The only reason we’re talking about him at all is because he’s Saul’s son. It’s not “Now Ish-Bosheth had two men who where leaders of raiding bands…”, no. He’s just Saul’s son.

That’s the state of Ish-Bosheth, the one remaining son of Saul. Ishy is the weak, quivering, ineffectual king with a terrified people.

Saul’s house is growing weaker and weaker.

We’re introduced, next, to the two men of Saul’s son. Ish-Bosheth is a wet, off-brand, Dollar Store paper towel. But he does have a couple of men left in his ranks.

Maybe these guys come and pick up where Abner left off. At first glance, we don’t really know what to do with Rekab and Baanah.

They’re given quite the introduction, which gives us some important information. It tells us who they are.

Rekab and Baanah and Ish-Bosheth are bound by blood. The brothers’ father, Rimmon was from the tribe of Benjamin. As was Kish (Saul’s father). As was Saul. As was Ish-Bosheth.

With the death of Abner, the future for Ishy and his failing kingdom, seemingly depends upon these two men: Rekab and Baanah.

We’ll read more of them shortly, but suffice it to say, they aren’t what Ish-Bosheth needs.

Verse 4 deals exclusively with Ish-Bosheth’s nephew: Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth.

Ish-Bosheth has lost all courage. Israel has lost faith in Ish-Bosheth. What’s next? All the other sons of Saul died in battle with Saul. Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-shua all bit it on Mt. Gilboa.

To extend Saul’s dynasty, we may have to look to the next generation. Saul did have a grandson, Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth.

Here in verse 4, we have a lengthy description of Mephibosheth that seems oddly out-of-place, unless we are getting a summary of Saul’s house.

Here’s all we have left: Ish-Bosheth, a weak, cowardly king; and Mephibosheth, a crippled young boy who is not ready, by any means, to be king.

What we’re meant to observe here, I believe, is that “this surviving member of Saul’s family was too young to rule and would be unable to fight when older. No one would be looking to Mephibosheth to take up Ish-Bosheth’s lost cause.” -John Woodhouse

As has already been said (and written down), 2 Samuel 3:1 “…the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.”

These first verses are the story of the end of Saul’s line.

2 Samuel 3:1 “The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.”

This is the LORD’s process/will. He is going to give the kingdom to David, taking it away from Saul.

This will happen. The LORD said it would. And it does. In His time…

The LORD is working for David (and Israel). This requires patient waiting.

David wrote quite a few psalms with the theme of patiently waiting for the LORD. He experiences it here, and lives it out well.

Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

Psalm 37:7 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…”

This has been a long time coming for David, the end of Saul’s kingdom. This is how it shakes out:

2 Samuel 4:5–8 NIV

5 Now Rekab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out for the house of Ish-Bosheth, and they arrived there in the heat of the day while he was taking his noonday rest. 6 They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rekab and his brother Baanah slipped away. 7 They had gone into the house while he was lying on the bed in his bedroom. After they stabbed and killed him, they cut off his head. Taking it with them, they 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 tried to kill you. This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”

The Weak End (vv. 5-8)

If there was any thought that Rekab and Baanah were going to do something to help out Ish-Bosheth and the line of Saul, any thought of that dissolves quickly.

These two fellas set out for Ishy’s house and arrive there at precisely the time they want to arrive: mid-day, when Ishy takes his siesta.

No one would suspect them of doing anything like what they did. They were his kinsmen, fellow Benjamites. They worked for him. They were going in, it appeared, to get some wheat.

But what they really intended was to kill Ish-Bosheth, their king. They slip in, stab the guy, and slip out.

Ish-Bosheth may have been cowardly, but Rekab and Baanah are cowardly and deceitful, not to mention murderous. Theirs was an assassination, plain and simple.

In verse 7, we’re given a more detailed account of Ish-Bosheth’s assassination. It’s the pivotal moment in 2 Samuel 4, and the narrator hones-in on it.

They stab and kill the sleeping king, and then they cut off his head. Poor Ishy, lying there, doesn’t even have his own head to comfort him.

As the great theologian Michael Scott says, “His cappa was de-tated.”

Rekab and Baanah are cowards who stab Ish-Bosheth in the stomach while he sleeps. And then they slip away, with Ish-Bosheth’s head in hand.

Stabbed in the stomach and decapitated echoes his father Saul’s death (1 Sam 31). Here, Saul’s house has gone from weak to weaker.

And now, just like that, we have the end of Saul’s house.

2 Samuel 4:8–12 (NIV)

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 tried to kill you. This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”

9 David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 10 when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! 11 How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!”

12 So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.

Stronger and Stronger (vv. 8-12)

Rekab and Baanah thought they were helping David by killing Saul’s son.

They even invoke the LORD’s name. They thought they knew what they were doing. They think, somehow, they’ve done the right thing. And they stamp it with the LORD’s approval.

They speak to David with full-recognition of his position as the king. They have brought their ill-gotten trophy, the head of Ish-Bosheth, and intend to show the king they have abandoned their allegiance to the house of Saul and are going to transfer it to David.

It all sounds good. This even seems, from their perspective, and maybe from our perspective, like good news.

I mean, come on. They’ve taken out the rival king. Here’s his head as proof.

But Rekab and Baanah did not understand that David had never sought the death of Saul or his sons. Not once.

They refer to Saul as David’s enemy. But that was only the case from Saul’s side of the relationship (Saul had tried to kill David, this is true). But David had consistently refused to treat Saul as his enemy.

Rekab and Baanah present Ish-Bosheth’s head, and his death, as a gift to David. “This day the LORD has avenged my lord, the king.”

They view this as recompense/repayment for all the wrong done to David by Saul. Rekab and Baanah see this as a righteous thing they’ve done.

“Uh, you’re welcome, David! Happy to do it. It’s what the LORD wanted,” they say.

But David sees this simply, clearly: this is wicked—a wicked act perpetrated by wicked men. And wicked men who do wicked things deserve death.

(Lest we get all haughty and start with the “I’m-way-better-than-these-two-guys” in our minds, we need to see ourselves here. All of us, apart from Christ, are wicked. Our best deeds are evil, filthy. We, like Rekab and Baanah, and all the rest, deserve only death).

Rekab and Baanah do a wicked, despicable thing. But they don’t see it. “It is the height of presumption for the perpetrator of the wickedness to present his evil deed as a gift from God.” -Woodhouse

The LORD may use the wicked acts of men to advance His own good purposes. What Joseph’s brothers intended as harm, the LORD used for good (Genesis 50:20). Wicked men put Jesus to death, which was all part of God’s deliberate plan (Acts 2). And we believe wholeheartedly that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).”

But those wonderful truths do not excuse the wicked sinfulness of those who do wicked things.

David shows himself, once again, to be above this line of thinking. The line of thinking that says the best thing for him to do is kill Saul and end Saul’s kingship by force.

David had the opportunity (at least twice) to kill Saul. But he wouldn’t do it; he’s stronger than that. He’s patiently waiting for the LORD to act on His behalf.

And he knows that an opportunity to do evil is never from God.

Justice and Mercy (v. 12)

At the end of the day, this is a pretty sad chapter in the history of God’s people. We see the failure of Saul’s house and, ultimately, more death.

We should see justice here, even if the story is grim. Justice is carried out, even if it looks like this: Rekab and Baanah are killed, their hands and feet cut off, and their bodies displayed for all to see.

No feet, no hands. “Rekab and Baanah would never sneak nor stab again.” -Dale R. Davis

It’s not all warm and fuzzy. But it is justice.

Alongside the justice David metes-out, we see mercy and honor. David has Ish-Bosheth’s head buried in Abner’s tomb there in Hebron.

So, Saul’s son (Ishy) and military commander (Abner) are buried in the same tomb. It’s honorable and merciful of David to see to this.

The LORD Yahweh’s chosen king (David) rightly addresses wrongdoing; he handles the assassins justly. He doesn’t join them in the delusion of calling evil good. He calls evil, evil and has it punished appropriately.

This small justice (micro-justice) by David points to the full and complete justice (macro-justice) exercised by God in Jesus Christ.

Sin deserves judgment. Sin will rightly be punished. And all have sinned. Justice could not be satisfied apart from death, so the Just and Merciful God steps-in.

Romans 3:25–26 NIV

25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

In the cross of Christ, God has shown Himself to be just (utterly holy, so that the penalty demanded by the law is not removed but paid for by Christ). God is also the justifier (the one who provides the means of justification and who declares people to be in right standing with Himself) and the Savior of all those who trust in Jesus.

Here is the heart of the Christian faith, for at the cross God’s justice and mercy meet. This is actually Good News.

Here in 2 Samuel 4, David shows a nice combination of justice and mercy. It’s a good picture of the two, a small glimpse of what Jesus did fully, completely, perfectly.

We know this about Jesus, don’t we? I pray we spend the rest of our lives, daily working to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ—love that took Him to the cross where justice and mercy meet in their fullest expressions.

David is right here a good king.

Jesus is THE Just, Merciful, and Perfect King.

It’s Him we need.

>2 Samuel 4 is pretty sad. There are many lessons to be learned, I think.

It’s good to ask, “God, what are you wanting to teach me here?” as we read the Bible. His Holy Spirit will illuminate our minds and help us to understand.

As I read and studied and talked this passage through, I realized the big contrast presented here is between taking matters into our own hands versus trusting the LORD to take care of us.

Rekab and Baanah, like Abner before them, and the Amalekite in Chapter 1, all decided to take matters into their own hands. They were going to do things their way. They knew what was best.

This is why Saul’s house grew weaker and weaker.

“Doing things my way, taking matters into my own hands” is a story written across the pages of the Bible, and I dare say, a story many of us have played out (though without all the murder. Hopefully).

The book of Judges ends with this summation: Judges 21:25 “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”

In Proverbs, there are several cautions about following oneself. Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”

It’s never a good idea, NEVER a good idea, to take matters into your own hands and do things your own way.

The best option is to admit we are not all-wise, to admit we need the LORD, and to obediently follow Him according to His Word.

Don’t do as you see fit. Don’t do what is right in your own eyes. Don’t “do you” or “be true to yourself”—that’s like the worst advice I can imagine.

Look to the LORD. Depend on Him. The LORD Yahweh cares for us. He is the One who delivers us out of every trouble.

Do you see that statement from David in verse 9? He readily admits it’s the LORD who delivers him out of every trouble.

It’s not Rekab and Baanah who have delivered David by avenging him against Saul, even though they think they did.

David knows—from a lifetime of experience and trusting what the LORD has said—David knows it’s the LORD Yahweh who has delivered him out of every trouble.

David remembers His true and only Redeemer.

David remembers God’s promise to make him king.

To turn to any other source of help—especially the help of two wicked assassins—would be to deny God’s sufficiency.

It’d be the same as saying, “God can’t handle this, or isn’t working quickly enough for me, so I’ll figure it out myself.”

David is already under the protection of the LORD. He doesn’t need any henchmen.

The LORD is Deliverer. He is the Redeemer.

Wait on the LORD. He cares for you and will meet your needs.

Wait on the LORD. He will defend you, working justice for His people.

Wait on the LORD. He will deliver and redeem.

On your own, you will grow weaker and weaker and will face death and judgment for your sins.

With Jesus, you will grow stronger and stronger by His grace and mercy.

Place your faith in Jesus to deliver you out of every trouble, and you will have life everlasting.