Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 2 Samuel 4:9 - 4:12
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Murder Avenged
v. 9. And David answered Rechab and Baanah, his brother, the sons of Rimmon, the Beerothite, and said unto them, As the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity, from all the suffering with which he had been afflicted, thus putting him beyond the necessity of freeing himself from his enemies by crime,
v. 10. when one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, namely, the Amalekite who came to Ziklag, 2Sa_1:2, thinking to have brought good tidings, literally, "and he was as a bringer of good tidings in his own eyes," I took hold of him and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings, or, in order to give him the reward, to inflict on him the punishment which he deserved;
v. 11. how much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? Ishbosheth, although connected with a wrong cause, was himself without falsehood and blameless; he was not out on a raiding expedition or engaged in anything wrong, but was at home, doing no one any harm. Shall I not, therefore, now require his blood of your hand, God Himself being the chief avenger of blood and the king His instrument in carrying out justice upon the murderers, and take you away from the earth?
v. 12. And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands, which had committed the murder, and their feet, which had hurried after the reward, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron, a public place visited by many people, as a testimony to David's just severity against criminals of this kind. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, which the murderers had brought along as a trophy of their deed, and buried it in the sepulcher of Abner in Hebron. Note: As David finally subdued all his enemies who challenged his right to be king over Israel, so Christ, the Son of David, having conquered all enemies of mankind, will finally obtain the eternal victory.