Ch. 2 Samuel 4:1-7. The Murder of Ish-bosheth

1. his hands were feeble] His hands were weakened. His resolution was paralysed: he lost heart. Cp. Ezra 4:4, and the opposite expression in ch. 2 Samuel 2:7.

were troubled] Were dismayed. Ish-bosheth was a mere puppet, and Abner the real stay of the kingdom.

2. captains of bands] Leaders of predatory troops. See note on ch. 2 Samuel 3:22.

of the children of Benjamin] The historian calls special attention to the fact that Ish-bosheth’s murderers belonged to his own tribe.

for Beeroth also, &c.] The object of this parenthesis is to explain how these Beerothites came to be Benjamites. Beeroth was one of the four Gibeonite cities, retained by their original Canaanite inhabitants in virtue of the treaty made with Joshua (Joshua 9:17). It was however reckoned to belong to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:25), and had been occupied by Benjamites when its original inhabitants deserted it. When and why they did so is unknown, but it has been plausibly conjectured that they fled from Saul’s massacre of the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:1-2).

The site of Beeroth (=wells) is probably marked by the modern village of El-Bireh (=the well), about 9 miles N. of Jerusalem. “It is remarkable as the first halting-place of caravans on the northern road from Jerusalem, and therefore not improbably the scene of the event to which its monastic tradition lays claim—the place where the parents of Jesus sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance, and when they found him not, turned back again to Jerusalem.” Stanley, Sinai and Pal. p. 213.

3. Gittaim] A Benjamite town of this name is mentioned in Nehemiah 11:33, but if the reason suggested above for the flight of the Beerothites is the correct one, it can hardly be the same, as they would have chosen a more distant refuge. The name is the dual form of Gath, meaning “two wine-presses,” which suggests that it may possibly have been in Philistia.

4. And Jonathan, &c.] Before proceeding to narrate the murder of Ish-bosheth, the historian inserts a remark which implies that with his death the cause of Saul’s house would necessarily become hopeless, as its only other legitimate representative was a lame child of twelve years old.

out of Jezreel] Where the Israelite camp was pitched before the fatal battle of Gilboa. See note on 1 Samuel 29:1.

Mephibosheth] Called in 1 Chronicles 8:34; 1 Chronicles 9:40, Merib-baal. Bosheth (=“shame”) has been substituted for the detested name of Baal, as in the name Ish-bosheth for Esh-baal. See note on ch. 2 Samuel 2:8. Merib-baal means “one who contends with Baal:” Mephibosheth, “exterminator of shame.” For his subsequent history see chaps. 9, 16, 2 Samuel 19:24 ff.

5. to the house of Ish-bosheth] At Mahanaim (ch. 2 Samuel 2:8).

who lay on a bed at noon] Or, as he was taking his midday sleep, or siesta, according to the usual custom of hot countries. They chose an hour when Ish-bosheth would be alone and defenceless.

6. And they came, &c.] An explanation how it was possible for Rechab and Baanah to enter Ish-bosheth’s house unsuspected. They came, as they may have been accustomed to do, to procure wheat for their men from the king’s granary.

The Heb. however may be otherwise rendered, “And hither [some MSS. read “and behold”] there came wheat-fetchers into the midst of the house:” men whose business it was to draw the rations of wheat from the granary. If this is the right rendering, the meaning is that the murderers obtained entrance to the house by going in their company.

2 Samuel 4:7 appears at first sight to be a somewhat awkward repetition of 2 Samuel 4:6. But it is a peculiar feature of Hebrew historical writing to give a general account of a fact first, and then to repeat it with additional details. The murderers’ entrance into the house, their deed, and their escape are first briefly related: then the fact of their entrance is repeated as an introduction to the fuller details of the scene and manner of the murder, and the route by which the assassins escaped. Compare the double mention of Joab’s return to Hebron in ch. 2 Samuel 3:22-23; and of the national assembly at Hebron in ch. 2 Samuel 5:1; 2 Samuel 5:3; and note on ch. 2 Samuel 13:38.

The Sept. however has the following entirely different reading, which is found also in some MSS. of the Vulgate in addition to the rendering of the present Heb. text, but apparently was not retained by Jerome himself. “And behold the portress of the house was cleaning wheat, and she slumbered and slept; and the brothers Rechab and Baanah came unobserved into the house. Now Ish-bosheth was sleeping on the bed in his chamber: and they smote him,” &c. This also explains how the murderers entered unobserved. The female slave who watched the door (ἡ θυρωρός, cp. John 18:16, Acts 12:13) had fallen asleep over her task of sifting[98] or picking the wheat, and there was no one to give the alarm. This reading gives a clear straightforward narrative, and certainly seems preferable to the repetitions of the present Hebrew text.

[98] Cp. Amos 9:9. An illustration of a Bethlehem woman sifting wheat is given in Neil’s Palestine Explored, p. 246. He says that it is a process constantly going on and forming a marked feature of Palestine life.

under the fifth rib] In the belly. See note on ch. 2 Samuel 2:23.

7. through the plain] By the way of the Arabah. See note on ch. 2 Samuel 2:29. From Mahanaim to Hebron was a distance of about 80 or 90 miles.

8–12. The Punishment of the Murderers by David

8. to the king] Observe that Ish-bosheth is never honoured with the title of king.

thine enemy, which sought thy life] These words are to be referred to Saul not to Ish-bosheth. Cp. 1 Samuel 24:4; 1 Samuel 25:29.

the Lord hath avenged] The murderers profanely represented themselves as the instruments of Providence. “They pretended piety and loyalty, but they regarded nothing except their own interest.” Wordsworth.

9. who hath redeemed, &c.] Compare the same oath in David’s mouth in 1 Kings 1:29. In this connexion it implies that one who was under God’s protection had no need to commit crimes for his own defence.

10. when one told me, &c.] The Amalekite who pretended to have slain Saul (ch. 2 Samuel 1:2 ff.).

slew him … who thought that I would have given him] Or, slew him … to give him a reward, &c. In this case the expression is bitterly ironical. ‘He expected a reward, and I gave it him; but it was the reward of death.’

11. a righteous person] “A man who had done no one any harm,” as Josephus says. His merits seem to have been negative rather than positive.

require his blood] Demand satisfaction for his murder. God is said to “require blood,” i.e. to avenge murder (Genesis 9:5; Psalm 9:12), and in punishing the murderers David acted as His representative.

take you away from the earth] Rather, put you away out of the land. The word is one specially used of removing evil or the guilt of evil from the land (Deuteronomy 19:13; Deuteronomy 19:19, &c.). The guilt of murder defiled the land until expiated by the execution of the murderer (Numbers 35:33).

12. And David commanded, &c.] Kitto compares the conduct of David towards the murderers of his rival with that of Alexander the Great towards Bessus, who murdered Darius, and of Caesar towards the murderers of Pompey. It may be questioned whether they were actuated by higher motives than “the traditional policy of rulers, who thus provide that they shall be protected for the present, and afterwards avenged” (Tac. Hist. I. 44), but David’s indignation was doubtless sincere.

cut off their hands and their feet] The hands which had been stretched out against their master, the feet which had been “swift to shed blood” and to seek reward, were exposed to view in the most public and frequented spot in Hebron, for a spectacle and a warning. Cp. Deuteronomy 21:22. We may compare the practice, formerly in vogue in this country, of exposing the heads and limbs of traitors on the city gates.

over the pool] Possibly one of the two great reservoirs, “doubtless of high antiquity,” which are still to be seen at Hebron. See Robinson’s Bibl. Res. II. 74.