Bible Commentaries
2 Samuel 4

Verses 1-12

Chapter 4

Now when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all of Israel was troubled. And Saul's son had two men that were the captains of his bands ( 2 Samuel 4:1-2 ):

These two men came into the palace as though they were gonna get some wheat, and then they jumped on him while he was taking his afternoon nap. They smote him under the fifth rib, a common phrase, it means they ran him through the heart. They escaped, they cut off his head and escaped. They came running to David with the head of Ishbosheth.

So they said to David, Behold here is the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul your enemy, which sought your life; and the LORD has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed. And David answered [these two generals] Rechab and Baanah his brother, and said to them, As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, When a young man told me that Saul was dead, thinking that he was bringing good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him there at Ziklag, when he thought that I was gonna give him a reward for those tidings: How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hands, and take you away from the earth? And so David commanded his young men, and they slew them, cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and they buried it there in the grave of Abner there in Hebron ( 2 Samuel 4:8-12 ).

So David again showed that he was not trying to promote himself, and punished these men who did this dastardly deed to Ishbosheth. "