God Uses Circumstances to Train up His King
[5] Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out, and about the heat of the day they came to the house of Ish-bosheth as he was taking his noonday rest. [6] And they came into the midst of the house as if to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. [7] When they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and put him to death and beheaded him. They took his head and went by the way of the Arabah all night, [8] and brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron. And they said to the king, “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 this day on Saul and on his offspring.” [9] But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity, [10] when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. [11] How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?”
2 Samuel 4:5–11 ESV Read More
I want to lay out a playing board and cover it with pieces to show how David’s path to the kingdom is happening.
Saul gave his daughter Michal to David as a wife. This could have given David a claim to the throne if there were no other men left in the family of Saul. When Michal helped David escape, Saul gave her to another man as a wife to sever ties of lineage to David and to punish both of them.
Ish-Bosheth is the brother of Jonathan and wasn’t fighting in the great battle for some reason. Abner installs him as the new king after Saul is fallen. Ish-Bosheth might be a puppet king under Abner.
Abner also took one of Saul’s concubines to be his own. This act would be a subtle way of saying that he had claim to all that was Saul’s – even the kingdom.
There are a few tribes behind David, but there are a few tribes behind Saul. To get their allegiance, David is going to have to win them over.
Jonathan had a son, Mephibosheth, but when he was 5 he was accidentally dropped and his legs were permanently damaged. He would be an heir to the throne, but because of his disability, they would not let him be king.
When Ish-Bosheth calls out Abner for sleeping with Saul’s concubine, Abner turns to the house of David. David wasn’t foreign to him. Abner served in the house of Saul the whole time that David was Saul’s armor bearer. Abner would have come to speak to Saul and many times David would be right there in the conversation with them 37 years earlier.
Abner raises approval for David among the elders of Benjamin and the other tribes loyal to Saul. Strike that off of your list.
David says he wants peace but needs Michal, daughter of Saul, back as his wife. Abner takes Michal to David and the line that was broken becomes remade. David, the son-in-law of Saul, is close to becoming king.
Two men of Benjamin that used to fight for Saul conspire together and kill Ish-Bosheth, the reigning king of the north. About this time, Joab kills Abner, who would no longer be able to have power over any puppet king.
Every player in the game has been crossed off and every obstacle in his way has been removed. David is on his way to be the king.
In the midst of all of this, David did very little treachery. All of these killings were of other men’s accord and David punished most of them for their deceptions. Even though David was a fighter and not so pure, he was leaving a lot of these events to the Lord. His response was honorable every time. As events and circumstances out of his control are preparing him to be king, he is acting the part in response.
You can get the Daily Bible Readings to your inbox via email every day by subscribing here. Join the discussion online on Facebook or Twitter.