Sermon Tone Analysis

Ishbosheth

With the death of Abner now known to the nation of Israel, we see the response:

Ishbosheth’s “hands were feeble” and all of Israel “was troubled”.

Why?

Obviously they had put their trust in Abner, yet he was just a man, so when he was removed Israel now feared.

Their fear was several fold:

1. Abner had helped to restore the nation of Israel from their immediate enemies, now without him they were now vulnerable

2. Abner was looking to reunite them with the nation of Judah, now that hand that would units them was gone - was Judah using a form of guerilla warfare to control the nation now their leader was dead?

3. Ishbosheth was only in power because Abner had placed him there, now how would he use his authority to command?

4. As Scripture soon illustrates for us, the next of kin, Mephibosheth was in no state, nor of age (at 12), to rule.

It was now a grab for power and this is why 2 captains from Abner’s army saw an opportunity.

Herein we see where Ishbosheth’s faith is stored: in man, rather than God.

What are we like with loss?

Loss of job?

Loss of loved one?

Where do you turn?

Abner’s Captains

Who were these men of Beeroth and why did they flee their town?

We’re not given specifics here, but interestingly Beeroth is a town of the Gibeonites:

Joshua 9:

Recall that this was the encounter Joshua had with a wily group of men from Gibeon who faked they were from a far country and made a league with Joshua and the Israelites:

Joshua 9:

And yet we also know later in the book of 2 Samuel (chapter 21) that the Gibeonites kill the grandchildren of King Saul as a famine was upon the land due to King Saul acts:

And Scripture adds the

So going back to our passage, we don’t know why these men fled their town of Beeroth, perhaps it was during the slaughter of Gibeon as some have conjectured, but it could also have happened at a time when other enemies, such as the Philistines were attacking and this is likely the case as being attacked by an enemy would have you retreat closer to help, rather than fleeing closer to an enemy.

Mephibosheth

Born as Merib-baal as noted in .

We see here that he had a nurse who was in his care, which doesn’t appear unusual - as another boy from the regal line similarly had a nurse:

At the age of 5 though as she was fleeing he fell on his feet and became lame.

He would have to have fallen from a height (such as a horse/ass), or possibly stumbled down stairs as at the age of 5 he would already have been able to walk by himself.

However, now at the age of 12, he was not able to take the throne even though positionally he could due to his lineage - son of Jonathan.

Therefore, he is never seen as a threat.

Once David is established on the throne he seeks to perform kindness to the house of Saul, and Mephibosheth is brought forth.

2 Samuel 9:

2 Samuel 9:

Here we see David’s kindness by having Mephibosheth eat at the table of David, a great honour.

However, when Absalom seeks to take the throne, and David flees, we see a hint of rebellion:

:1

It appears from Ziba that Mephibosheth is revolting against the king seeking to usurp the throne back to King Saul.

Which appears quite odd, as Mephibosheth doesn’t have any power himself, nor an army.

Perhaps he was ungrateful for his position in life and this even was his attitude towards his servants.

When David comes back from defeating the usurpers we see Mephibosheth coming down to meet the king:

2 Samuel 19:24-

Mephibosheth neither had the ability to go after David when his servant had left him.

However, he is humble and is content with whatsoever David desires to perform as right.

And we know that David believed Mephibosheth because we soon read of the famine in and David spares him:

And this is the last time we read of him in Scripture.

Cutting Hands & Feet

Why did David cut the hands and feet of these treacherous captains and then hang their bodies over a pool in Hebron?

Public display of their treachery and the great crime this against country and king.

The hands were cut off because they had committed the murder; the feet, because they had brought the head to Hebron

Matthew 18: