When Ish-Bosheth got news about the death of Abner, he ‘lost courage’, 2 Samuel 4:1, that’s because he knew his time was up. Because his strength didn’t come from the Lord and the only real strength he had was in Abner, he now knows that his reign as king was coming to an end. Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding bands, 2 Samuel 4:2.
The sons of Rimmon, Baanah and Rekab, 2 Samuel 4:3, weren’t Israelites but possibly Amorites or Canaanites, we know this because Rimmon was from a Gibeonite city, Joshua 9:1-26. The Gibeonites were severely persecuted by Saul who murdered many of them, 2 Samuel 21:1-14. As a result of this persecution, the Gibeonites fled to Gittaim and the town of Beeroth which were considered to be a part of Saul’s tribe, Benjamin, 2 Samuel 4:3.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘From Joshua 9:17, it might have been expected that the population of Beeroth would be Canaanite. But from some unknown cause the Canaanite inhabitants of Beeroth had fled to Gittaim, perhaps the same as Gath and continued there as sojourners. If this flight of the Beerothites took place at the time of Saul’s cruel attack upon the Gibeonites, 2 Samuel 21:1-2, Baanah and Rekab may have been native Beerothites, and have been instigated to murder the son of Saul by a desire to avenge the blood of their countrymen. The fact of their being reckoned as Benjamites is quite compatible with their being Canaanites by blood.’
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This mention of Mephibosheth seems to be inserted here partly to show that with the death of Ish-Bosheth the cause of the house of Saul became hopeless, and partly to prepare the way for the subsequent mention of him, 2 Samuel 9:1-13 / 2 Samuel 16:1-4 / 2 Samuel 19:25.’
Mephibosheth was Johnathon’s son, the only surviving heir of Saul’s family and here it describes his fate. 2 Samuel 4:4, lays the foundation for what’s coming up in 2 Samuel 9, where David meets him. Notice his nurse picked him up but was in such a hurry that Mephibosheth fell and became disabled, 2 Samuel 4:4 / 2 Samuel 9:13.
Rekab and Baanah set out for the house of Ish-Bosheth, and they arrived there in the heat of the day while he was taking his noonday rest and then they went into the inner part of the house presented to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach and then Rekab and his brother Baanah slipped away, 2 Samuel 4:5-6.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘As these men were accustomed to bring wheat from these stores, from which it appears there was an easy passage to the king’s chamber, especially if we consider this a summer-house, as it most probably was, no man would suspect their present errand, as they were in the habit of going frequently to that place.’
Notice what Rekab and Baanah did when they got inside Ish-Bosheth’s house, they stabbed him, killed him, and then cut off his head, 2 Samuel 4:7. Once more treachery was involved in the death of a king who would reign in Israel. The reason Rekab and Baanah took the head of Ish-Bosheth to David, was because they wanted a reward for killing one of David’s rival kings, 2 Samuel 4:7-8.
David doesn’t mix his words or feelings here, when Rekab and Baanah tell him they have killed, Mephibosheth. He reminds them of what he did to the Amalekite who reported to David that he killed Saul and was looking for a reward, 2 Samuel 4:9-10 / 2 Samuel 1:1-15. David hates this kind of murderous act, especially when those who do them, seek some kind of political reward for doing so.
David demands Mephibosheth’s blood, 2 Samuel 4:11, which means he wants to hold the murderers guilty and execute them, Genesis 9:51 / Genesis 42:22 / Psalm 9:12. We must remember that God commanded murderers to be put to death, Genesis 9:6, and we must remember that God hears things we can’t hear, one of those things is unavenged blood, Genesis 4:10.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
Here are several things which aggravated the guilt of those wicked men.
1. Ish-Bosheth was an innocent man, and therefore none could have any ground of quarrel against him.
2. He was in his own house, which was his sanctuary, and none but the worst of men would disturb him there.
3. He was upon his bed, resting in the heat of the day, and so free from suspicion that he was not even attended by his guards, nor had he his doors secured. To take away the life of such a man, in such circumstances, whom also they professed to hold as their sovereign, was the most abandoned treachery.
David wastes no time here in putting Rekab and Baanah to death, 2 Samuel 4:12. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron but they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron, 2 Samuel 4:12.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Their hands and feet were hung up in a place of public resort, both to deter others and also to let all Israel know that David was not privy to the murder of Ish-Bosheth.’
David didn’t really have any other choice, because if he allowed them to live, then people may think that he was part of the plan to kill Mephibosheth. However, by killing them straight away, David sent a clear message out to all of Israel, that no one of honour should be murdered by treacherous men, 2 Samuel 1:14-16. No one can approach him to look for some kind of political reward for doing something so evil.