2Samuel 4 We will live or die with the choices we make
Why is this called 2 Samuel? Samuel died before any of the events in this book take place. These two books, which form a bridge from the priesthood to the kingship, are in two parts. You have the Saul part and the David part. Everyone makes this same mistake so God in his wisdom presented the error with Saul which takes us from doing what is right in our own mind all the way to the bitter end of that choice. It then shows us God’s choice. In fact these two books present one choice after the next. How do you react under pressure and how do you choose when so much is on the line? How do you choose a king? What do you do when all those following you are leaving? Where do you go when staying in Israel means you will ultimately die? These two books present to us the two choices by Samuel, one according to the flesh the other according to the Spirit. We will often have very valid justifications for our choice: Saul is taller, bigger, faster, stronger than anyone else. It is so natural, so easy to choose based on that. For example, every football team will draft players each year. Their ability to select the right person determines their success or failure. I was very impressed by something that Brett Favre said concerning Tom Brady. Tom is not the fastest quarterback by a long shot and he doesn’t have the strongest arm. So what is it that makes him the greatest quarterback of all time? Doesn’t make sense? First, he is the most accurate. Every quarterback in the NFL can throw an accurate football, but to do it consistently day in, day out, throughout your career under every condition, that requires diligence and attention to detail. Second, he is “elusive”. He can’t outrun the defensive linemen but he can sidestep. Most quarterbacks will get “flushed” out of the pocket when they feel pressure, instead he sidesteps and then continues about his business of finding the open man. Third, like Joe Montana, he is “mr. Cool”, doesn’t get anxious or down. He was down by 19 points in the Super Bowl to Atlanta in the fourth quarter. His response was that it was very hot that day and he figured the defense would get tired. He is always seeing some sliver of hope. Here is what impressed me about this. Every coach will preach discipline and practice, every coach will tell quarterbacks to sidestep pressure and to stay in the pocket. Brady listened and obeyed. All the other quarterbacks who had a good chance to outrun defensive linemen didn’t. Not only so but you can see “superstar” quarterbacks down by three scores in the fourth quarter throwing in the towel. They don’t have faith. There were several things that happened in that Atlanta game that were beyond Brady’s control. Faith is not just in your ability but in your teammates and in God. But listening and obeying, that is critical. Having faith, that is critical. These should be at the top of the NFL’s scouting list of qualities to look for. Disobedience is an expression of unbelief.
The second big point is what does this mean, “to go back to your roots”? Why is Hebron where Abraham buried his dead the place to return to? Abraham was the father of faith, he was also the father of Isaac. To be a father is not simply a result of biology but also because of lessons he passed on to his son. He taught Isaac faith. When he sacrificed Isaac on the mountaintop he taught Isaac that we must have faith in God even if that means death in us. We must be willing to put our dreams, hopes, and everything we have on the altar to God. This is what we see David do time and time again. His dream and his hope was to be king of Israel, how do you go and live with the Philistines? Well in truth he lived in Ziklag which was part of Israel’s inheritance given to them by God but which they had given over to the Philistines. Think of this election in Virginia, education is part of our inheritance and yet we had given it to the leftists and communists. How do you support the men following you? David did what God had commanded the king to do, he utterly destroyed the Amalekites. He didn’t get any glory for this, instead he was despised as a deplorable. To be faithful to God is far more important than to give big “sacrifices” to God, big parties where everyone can come and see how great David is. Why is it that everyone else is wrong, Saul is wrong, Abner is wrong, Joab is wrong, Ish-Bosheth is wrong, Israel is wrong but only David is right? David is taking the path that leads to life because he is following the lesson of Abraham to put everything on the altar. His future, his being king, his pride are all on the altar. He does not dare to lift a hand against God’s anointed. Why not? It would be self defense. Because if you are a living sacrifice to God you don’t need “self defense”. If you belong to God then God will respond if someone tries to kill or damage you, likewise since Saul belongs to God David has no standing to lift a hand against him.
1 When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed. 2 Now Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Rekab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the tribe of Benjamin—Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin, 3 because the people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim and have resided there as foreigners to this day.
4 (Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth.)
5 Now Rekab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, 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. 6 They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rekab and his brother Baanah slipped away.
7 They had gone into the house while he was lying on the bed in his bedroom. After they stabbed and killed him, they cut off his head. Taking it with them, they traveled all night by way of the Arabah. 8 They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who tried to kill you. This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”
Wow, look at the arrogance. “This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king”. Really, it was the Lord who murdered and beheaded him?
9 David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 10 when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! 11 How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!”
An innocent man? Really? He doesn’t mean in a theological sense. We have already learned that Ish-Bosheth is corrupt enough to cause Abner to leave. Many people will justify their actions because “he deserved it”. Not that he was found guilty in a court of law, but he is basically a bad person. The “never Trumpers” are like this. They don’t take issue with his pro life judges, they don’t have an issue with the improvement to the economy or the fact that he didn’t get us into any wars, or even the peace treaty he brokered with Israel. No, it is because some of the things he has said proves to them that he is a bad man. In any court of law those quotes would have been inadmissible because they were irrelevant. But now people want to justify all sorts of crimes like censorship and tyranny because of these things.
12 So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them. 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.
Your hands and your feet need to be fully under the Lord’s leading. There can be no compromise. That is what it means to be a king. Abner is in the tomb because he chose Ish-Bosheth as head rather than the Lord.
I heard one person answer the question “what does Tom Brady winning the Super Bowl in Tampa do to Bill Belechik’s legacy?” He said that it doesn’t do very much to his legacy as a coach. He is still a great defensive coordinator and a great coach. But it does a lot to his legacy as a General Manager. The damage done to Belechik is not about his ability on the battle field as a strategist and tactician. No, the damage done is on his ability to choose who should head his team. People remember what you did last the most. Can you imagine if Belechik never wins another Super Bowl? His record without Brady as quarterback could wind up below .500. This will become a permanent mark on his legacy. Second of all, how much will this affect the team's trust in his ability to act as GM?