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2 Samuel 4 — Two assassins bring David exactly what he wanted. He executes them for it.
5 min read
fresh.bible editorialEverything was unraveling. — the one man holding rival together — was dead. And the moment heard the news, the last of his courage evaporated. The whole northern kingdom felt it. Their general was gone, their king was crumbling, and everyone could see where this was heading.
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Into that vacuum stepped two men who thought they saw an opportunity. They were wrong. What happens next is one of those moments that reveals exactly what kind of king was — and what kind of kingdom he was building.
When word reached that had been killed in , the text says his "courage failed." That's generous — the man was paralyzed. And honestly, can you blame him? Abner had been the real power behind the throne. Without him, Ish-bosheth was a figurehead with no foundation. All of felt it too. The entire nation was dismayed.
Now, among Ish-bosheth's men were two captains of raiding bands — and , sons of Rimmon from Beeroth. They were Benjaminites, technically from own tribe. The text pauses to note that the Beerothites had actually fled their town and were living as in Gittaim. These weren't top-tier military commanders. They were men from a displaced community, commanding guerrilla units, looking for a way to get ahead.
And then there's this quiet aside that seems out of nowhere: , Saul's son — closest friend — had a son named . He was five years old when the news of Saul and Jonathan's arrived from . His nurse grabbed him and ran. In her panic, she dropped him, and he became permanently lame.
Why does the author mention this here? Because the chapter is about what happens to Saul's family. Ish-bosheth is about to lose his life. Mephibosheth already lost the use of his legs. The house of Saul keeps paying the price. And this small, tragic detail — a five-year-old being carried away from catastrophe — sets up something beautiful that David will do later. Remember this kid.
and picked their moment carefully. Middle of the day. Peak heat. was taking his afternoon nap — vulnerable, unguarded. They walked into the house like they were there to pick up grain. Normal business. Nothing suspicious.
Then they went to his bedroom, stabbed him in the stomach, killed him, and cut off his head.
Let that sit for a second. This wasn't a battle. This wasn't a confrontation. A man was sleeping in his own bed, in his own house, and two of his own soldiers murdered him in cold blood. They then took his head and traveled all night through the — the Valley — walking for hours in the dark to reach in .
When they arrived, they presented their "gift" to the king:
Rechab and Baanah said to David, "Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The Lord has avenged my lord the king today against Saul and his offspring."
Catch the spin. They didn't just present it as a military achievement — they framed it as God's will. "The Lord has avenged you." They walked in expecting a promotion, a reward, maybe land and titles. They'd solved David's biggest political problem overnight. Surely this was exactly what he wanted.
They read the room completely wrong. And what's chilling is how confident they were. They genuinely thought David would celebrate this. It's the same mistake people always make — assuming that because something benefits someone, they'll approve of how you got it. As if the ends automatically justify the means.
had been here before. After , an had come to him with a similar pitch — "I killed Saul, your enemy. You're welcome." David had that man executed on the spot. And now it was happening again, except worse.
David looked at and and responded:
"As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity — when someone came to me and said, 'Saul is dead,' thinking he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his 'good news.'
How much more, then, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house, on his own bed — should I not demand his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth?"
Read it again. David called a " man." His political rival. The man whose claim to the throne stood directly in the way of David's. And David publicly declared him righteous and his murderers wicked. There was no ambiguity, no political calculation, no "well, it's complicated." Just a clear moral line.
David ordered his men to execute them. Their hands and feet were cut off and their bodies hung beside the pool at — a public statement that this is what happens to assassins, no matter who they claim to be serving. Ish-bosheth's head was taken and buried respectfully in the tomb of .
Here's what makes this moment extraordinary. David had waited years for this throne. He'd been as a teenager, spent a decade running for his life, and watched from the sidelines while Saul's family held onto power. And now, with his last rival eliminated, the path was finally clear — and David's first act was to punish the people who cleared it.
He refused to build his on someone else's murder. He wouldn't accept power that came through injustice, even when the injustice worked in his . In a world where people will cut any corner to get ahead — where the shortcut always looks faster than the right way — David chose to wait for God to do it God's way. That's not weakness. That's the kind of that separates a ruler from a politician.