Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 154
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IMMERSE
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KINGDOMS
2S
| 4:1–5:3
When Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, heard about Abner’s death at Hebron, he lost
all courage, and all Israel became paralyzed with fear. Now there were two
brothers, Baanah and Recab, who were captains of Ishbosheth’s raiding
parties. They were sons of Rimmon, a member of the tribe of Benjamin
who lived in Beeroth. The town of Beeroth is now part of Benjamin’s territory because the original people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim, where they
still live as foreigners.
(Saul’s son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth, who was crippled
as a child. He was five years old when the report came from Jezreel that
Saul and Jonathan had been killed in battle. When the child’s nurse heard
the news, she picked him up and fled. But as she hurried away, she dropped
him, and he became crippled.)
One day Recab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, went
to Ishbosheth’s house around noon as he was taking his midday rest. The
doorkeeper, who had been sifting wheat, became drowsy and fell asleep.
So Recab and Baanah slipped past her. They went into the house and
found Ishbosheth sleeping on his bed. They struck and killed him and cut
off his head. Then, taking his head with them, they fled across the Jordan
Valley through the night. When they arrived at Hebron, they presented
Ishbosheth’s head to David. “Look!” they exclaimed to the king. “Here
is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul who tried to kill
you. Today the Lord has given my lord the king revenge on Saul and his
entire family!”
But David said to Recab and Baanah, “The Lord, who saves me from all
my enemies, is my witness. Someone once told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ thinking
he was bringing me good news. But I seized him and killed him at Zik
lag. That’s the reward I gave him for his news! How much more should I
reward evil men who have killed an innocent man in his own house and
on his own bed? Shouldn’t I hold you responsible for his blood and rid
the earth of you?”
So David ordered his young men to kill them, and they did. They cut
off their hands and feet and hung their bodies beside the pool in Hebron.
Then they took Ishbosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb in
Hebron.
Then all the tribes of Israel went to Dav id at Hebron and told him, “We
are your own flesh and blood. In the past, when Saul was our king, you
were the one who really led the forces of Israel. And the Lord told
you, ‘You will be the shepherd of my people Israel. You will be Israel’s
leader.’”
So there at Hebron, King David made a covenant before the Lord with
all the elders of Israel. And they anointed him king of Israel.