2 Samuel 4:1-7

1 And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble , and all the Israelites were troubled .

2 And Saul's son had two men that were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin: (for Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin:

3 And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.)

4 And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up , and fled : and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee , that he fell , and became lame . And his name was Mephibosheth.

5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went , and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who lay on a bed at noon.

6 And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under the fifth rib: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped .

7 For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber *, and they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and gat them away through the plain all night.

2 Samuel 4:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 4

This chapter relates the concern the death of Abner gave to Ishbosheth, and the men of Israel, 2Sa 4:1; the murder of Ishbosheth by two of his captains, who cut off his head, and brought it to David, 2Sa 4:2-8; by whom they were rewarded according to their deserts, he putting them to death, and exposing their bodies to shame and ignominy, 2Sa 4:9-12.

Footnotes

• [a]. other: Heb. second
• [b]. Mephibosheth: or, Meribbaal