Study Desk

During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner had continued to strengthen his position in the house of Saul.

Abner was furious over Ish-bosheth's accusation. "Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah?" he asked. "All this time I have been loyal to the house of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends. I have not delivered you into the hand of David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman!

Then Abner sent messengers in his place to say to David, "To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and surely my hand will be on your side to turn all Israel to you."

When Abner and twenty of his men came to David at Hebron, David held a feast for them.

Just then David's soldiers and Joab returned from a raid, bringing with them a great plunder. But Abner was not with David in Hebron because David had sent him on his way in peace.

When Joab and all his troops arrived, he was informed, "Abner son of Ner came to see the king, who sent him on his way in peace."

May it whirl over the heads of Joab and the entire house of his father, and may the house of Joab never be without one having a discharge or skin disease or who leans on a staff or falls by the sword or starves."

(Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.)

Then the king said to his servants, "Do you not realize that a great prince has fallen today in Israel?

And I am weak this day, though anointed as king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer according to his evil!"

And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to escape, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

Now Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out and arrived at the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of the day, while the king was taking his midday nap.

They entered the interior of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped away.

They had entered the house while Ish-bosheth was lying on his bed, and having stabbed and killed him, they beheaded him, took his head, and traveled all night by way of the Arabah.

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 sought your life. Today the LORD has granted vengeance to my lord the king against Saul and his offspring."

But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As surely as the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress,

when someone told me, 'Look, Saul is dead' and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news!

How much more, when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house and on his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and wipe you off the earth!"

So David commanded his young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner's tomb in Hebron.

Now the king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. The Jebusites said to David: "You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you." For they thought, "David cannot get in here."