Death Of Ishbaal (Ishbosheth)
(2 Schmuel 4)
In this somber story Ishbaal, son of Saul, the legitimate king of Yisrael, seems almost to have been forgotten; but he had no intention of standing aside for his southern rival. The Yisraelite soldiers, however, were unwilling to continue the struggle against David and even preferred to serve under his command. Increasingly, as the days went by, Ishbaal felt himself isolated and abandoned by all.
Among Ishbaal's officers were two freebooting chieftains, rough and primitive characters, called Baanah and Rechab. In their opinion the required solution was simple: if they killed their sovereign the political problem would be solved. At the hottest part of the day, when everyone took a siesta, they went to the door of Ishbaal's house at Mahanaim. The woman who kept the door had been cleaning wheat and she had drowsed off to sleep in the heat. Rechab and Baanah stole into the house and went straight to Ishbaal's room, surprised the king while he was asleep and without more ado ran him through with a sword. After which they cut off his head. Taking the head, they set off along the valley of the Yarden, traveling throughout the night; in the morning they arrived at Hebron, asked to be received by David and triumphantly presented him with the head of his rival. The murderers expected to receive a reward worthy of their exploit. But David was shocked by their deed, and in addition he was an astute diplomat; he realized that he must not be suspected in the slightest degree of any complicity in this sordid affair. The harsh words that he addressed to the murderers left them in no doubt: 'The man who thought to bring me good news when he told me Saul was dead, this man I seized and killed at Ziklag, rewarding him for his good news!' He made a sign to the guards which they understood at once. The two Benjamite chieftains fell beneath the blows of the soldiers. Their hands and feet were cut off and their corpses hung up on a tree near the Pool of Hebron.
David had Ishbaal's head buried with great ceremony in Abner's tomb. Both by his attitude and by the various measures which he publicly adopted he wished to prove that he had had nothing to do with the murder of the king of Yisrael. From the evidence available about the murders of Abner and Ishbaal it does seem that David was innocent of the blood of these two men. Quite simply events worked in his favour. After this the crown of Yisrael could not be long in coming his way.
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