2 Samuel 4

For ten years David was an exile with a price on his head, fleeing from Saul and waiting for the time when God would put him on the throne of Israel. During those difficult years, David grew in faith and godly character, and God equipped him for the work He had chosen for him to do. When the day of victory did arrive, David was careful not to force himself on the people, many of whom were still loyal to the house of Saul. He took a cautious approach, and we can’t help but admire David for his wisdom and patience as he won the affection and allegiance of the people and sought to unify the shattered nation. “So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands” (Ps. 78: nkjv).

In order to govern,” said Napoleon on his deathbed, “the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.” If this statement is true, then David was a very effective leader during the seven and a half years he ruled in Hebron. While Joab led the army of Judah, David watched and waited, knowing that the Lord would one day open the way for him to reign as king over all Israel. God called David not only to be the king of His people, but also their shepherd and spiritual leader. David had to wait on God’s timing while patiently enduring the consequences of the selfish ambitions and reckless actions of leaders who were motivated by pride and hatred. David learned to build with the materials at hand and to trust God to use disappointments to the advantage of his people.

If David thought he was weak because of the behavior of his nephews, he should have considered the situation of Ish-Bosheth following the death of Abner. David was at least a great warrior and a gifted leader, while Ish-Bosheth was a mere puppet in the hands of his general, and now the general was dead. The people of the tribes in his kingdom knew that Abner’s death meant the end of the reign of their king, and they no doubt expected a swift invasion by David and his army. The common people knew nothing of David’s intentions or of his recent meeting with Abner. It was a day of distress for Ish-Bosheth and his people.

The account of Baanah and Rechab reminds us of the Amalekite in 2 Samuel 1, the man who claimed he killed Saul. These two men were minor officers in Abner’s army who thought they could earn rewards and promotion from David if they killed Ish-Bosheth, and like the Amalekite, they were wrong. The only living heir to Saul’s throne was a crippled twelve-yearold boy named Mephibosheth, so if Baanah and Rechab killed the king, the way would be open for David to gain the throne and unite the nation. (We will meet Mephibosheth again in 9:1–13; 16:1–4; 19:24–30; and 21:7–8.)

Their excuse for entering the king’s house was to secure grain for their men, and while the king was asleep and unprotected, they killed him. If the murder of Abner was a heinous crime, this murder was even worse, for the man’s only “crime” was that he was the son of Saul! He had broken no law and injured no person, and he wasn’t given opportunity to defend himself. His murderers didn’t even show respect to his dead body, for they beheaded him so they could take the evidence to David and receive their reward. Even worse, the two murderers told David that the Lord had avenged him!

David’s answer made it clear that at no time in his career had he ever broken God’s commandment by murdering somebody in order to accomplish his purposes. The Lord had watched over him and protected him during ten years of exile and now more than seven years as king in Hebron. As when Saul and Abner died, David made it very clear that he was not involved in any way. It would have been very easy for David’s enemies to start slanderous rumors that the king had engineered both deaths in order to clear the way for ascending the throne of Israel.

At the king’s command, his guards killed the two confessed murderers, cut off their hands and feet, and hung their corpses up as evidence of the king’s justice. To mutilate a corpse in this way and then expose it publicly was the ultimate in humiliation (Deut. 21:22–23). David had the head of Ish-Bosheth buried in Hebron in the sepulchre of Abner, for they were relatives.

The four “kings” that Paul wrote about in Romans 5 were certainly active in these scenes from David’s life. Sin was reigning (5:21) as men lied to each other, hated each other, and sought to destroy each other. Death also reigned (5:14, 17) as Asahel, Abner, and IshBosheth were slain, along with nearly four hundred soldiers who died at the battle of the pool of Gibeon. But God’s grace also reigned (5:21), for He protected David and overruled men’s sins to accomplish His divine purposes. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (5:20). But David “reigned in life” (5:17) and let God control him as he faced one emergency after another. He was a man empowered by God, and God brought him through each crisis and helped him to succeed.

In the midst of today’s troubles and trials, God’s people can “reign in life by Jesus Christ” if we will surrender to Him, wait on Him, and trust His promises.