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2 SAMUEL 4

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Etc.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 4:1-3
  ¹Now when Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel was disturbed. ²Saul's son had two men who were commanders of bands: the name of the one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin (for Beeroth is also considered part of Benjamin, ³and the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have been aliens there until this day).

4:1 Ish-bosheth was a weak and fearful king (cf. 2 Sam. 3:11). The MT does not have the name, only the designation, "son of Saul." His name was Ish-baal, see full note at 2 Sam. 2:8.

There are two surprising things about this verse.

1. the LXX and DSS have "Mephibosheth," not "Ish-bosheth"
2. the plural is surprising, referring to the king

The MT has "they dropped their hands." This is a common OT idiom for loss of control/power/ability to act.

SPECIAL TOPIC: HAND

4:2 The two brothers who will kill Ish-bosheth were raiding party leaders.

1. Baanah
2. Rachab

A raiding party is mentioned in 2 Sam. 3:22.

▣ The parenthesis in vv. 2b-3 is an editorial note explaining the people group called Beerothites. These brothers were either Israelites of the tribe of Benjamin or non-Israelites living in Benjamin's territory.

The phrase "until this day" is a textual marker of a later editor.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 4:4
  ⁴Now Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the report of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened that in her hurry to flee, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.

4:4 This verse informs us that there was yet a descendant of Saul's family, a crippled son of Jonathan. His name was "Meri-baal." Like Ish-baal, later editors changed the name to Mephibosheth. Bosheth means "shame." These later editors were offended by the name Ba'al, which became the Canaanite name "lord" and referred to the male fertility god of the Canaanite pantheon.

The UBS Text Project, p. 215, gives "Mephibaal" a "B" rating (some doubt).

1. Meri-baal ‒ מריבעל (cf. 1 Chr. 8:34; 9:40)
2. Mephibaal ‒ מפיבעל
3. Mephibosheth ‒ מפיבשׁת

See full note at 2 Sam. 2:8.

The fact that Jonathan's son was lame made him unacceptable as king. There was no rival to David becoming king.  David was very kind to Jonathan' son (cf. 2 Samuel 9).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 4:5-8
  ⁵So the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, departed and came to the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of the day while he was taking his midday rest. ⁶They came to the middle of the house as if to get wheat, and they struck him in the belly; and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. ⁷Now when they came into the house, as he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and killed him and beheaded him. And they took his head and traveled by way of the Arabah all night. ⁸Then they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, "Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; thus the Lord has given my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and his descendants."

4:5-8 There seem to be two accounts of Ish-bosheth's death put side by side.

1. they struck him in the belly on his bed
2. they struck him and beheaded him on his bed (this is missing in Peshitta and Vulgate)

The Jewish Study Bible, p. 626, suggests that v. 6 may be corrupt because the LXX is so different and that v. 7 follows v. 5 so easily.

4:6 The LXX has a very different form of this verse.

"And behold, the porter of the house was cleaning wheat, and he slumbered and slept, and Rechab and Baanah, the brothers, escaped notice."

4:8 The head of Ish-bosheth was

1. a way to show disrespect (i.e., Saul beheaded by the Philistines)
2. a way to prove they had killed him

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 4:9-12
  ⁹David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, "As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, ¹⁰when one told me, saying, 'Behold, Saul is dead,' and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. ¹¹How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hand and destroy you from the earth?" ¹²Then David commanded the young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hung them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.

4:9 David swears an oath by the name of YHWH ("as the Lord lives," cf. 1 Sam. 14:39). He characterizes YHWH as the one who "redeemed his life from all enemies." Thus implying he did not need the help of these two brothers to deal with his former enemy's family.

SPECIAL TOPIC: RANSOM/REDEEM

4:10 These two brothers obviously had not heard, or at least understood, what David did to the Amalekites in 2 Samuel 1 who claimed to have killed Saul.

4:11 David calls these brothers "wicked men." There may be an intentional word play between

1. men (ish), BDB 35
2. Ish-bosheth, BDB 36

The MT has the VERB (BDB 128, KB 145, Piel PERFECT with waw), which means "burn" or "consume." Fire was often imagery for YHWH's judgment. Here, it denotes the complete removal as in a burnt offering.

SPECIAL TOPIC: FIRE

4:12 David not only killed these men but

1. cut off their hands
2. cut off their feet
3. hung them up exposed for all to see (i.e., improper burial)

Josephus, Antiq. 7.2.1, says David tortured these men, cutting off their hands and feet while they were still alive.

Why was David so harsh with these brothers?

1. They killed Israel's king (son of the anointed King Saul) and, therefore, were worthy of disrespect.
2. Again David wants to unite all the tribes. This is another sacrilege against Benjamin. As he distances himself from Abner's murder, so too, Ish-bosheth's. He showed respect by burying the head with Abner.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. Why did these two brothers kill Ish-bosheth?
2. 2 Samuel 4:4 seems out of context. Why is Mephibosheth mentioned at all?
3. Why did they behead Ish-bosheth?
4. Why were David's actions so severe?

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