Civil War Between King David And Ish-Bosheth: Abner Switches Sides Series

The civil war continues between the remnants of the house of Saul and David’s forces. The war was fierce and brutal. But slowly David gained the upper hand.

As it says in verse 1 of 2nd Samuel 3: “The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.”

During this extended period of conflict and warfare, several children were born to David, so this must’ve lasted several years. The children born to him were Amnon, Kileab, Absalom, Adonijah, Shephatiah, and Ithream. All of them were born while David lead from Hebron. And it makes sense, we know from the previous chapters that David lived in Hebron for 7 and a half years.

First point today, God blesses David with much fruitfulness. Children are a gift from God. And David is abundantly blessed. He has many children in Hebron. He has a beautiful family. He is blessed. God loves to bless us and help us, as we follow Him.

Then we shift over to King Ishbosheth, who is ruling over the forces of Saul. Ishbosheth is Saul’s only remaining son after his death in battle. Abner is the chief military leader under Ishbosheth, and we see some drama in verses 6 through 11:

It says, “6 During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner had been strengthening his own position in the house of Saul. 7 Now Saul had had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. And Ish-Bosheth said to Abner, “Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?”

8 Abner was very angry because of what Ish-Bosheth said. So he answered, “Am I a dog’s head—on Judah’s side? This very day I am loyal to the house of your father Saul and to his family and friends. I haven’t handed you over to David. Yet now you accuse me of an offense involving this woman! 9 May God deal with Abner, be it ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the Lord promised him on oath 10 and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David’s throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beersheba.” 11 Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him.”

Point number two today, loyalty is very important. Stay loyal to God. Keep your commitment. Stay with God to the end. If something offends you, don’t switch sides over and over. Work things out. In this situation though, God is working things out so that David will be king. But Abner’s behavior is still off. Then again, it was unwise for Ishbosheth to falsely accuse Abner. Don’t falsely accuse someone if you don’t know if it’s true or not. It can lead to someone being enraged and lashing out in rebellion against you.

King Ishbosheth accuses Abner of sleeping with a woman inappropriately. We don’t really know if there was any truth to the allegation. But Abner gets very mad. This shows how powerful Abner had become. Ishbosheth didn’t really have much power, in fact he feared Abner. And Abner gets very upset.

Abner gets so angry, he decides to switch sides:

In verses 12-15: Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to say to David, “Whose land is it? Make an agreement with me, and I will help you bring all Israel over to you.”

13 “Good,” said David. “I will make an agreement with you. But I demand one thing of you: Do not come into my presence unless you bring Michal daughter of Saul when you come to see me.” 14 Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, demanding, “Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins.”15 So Ish-Bosheth gave orders and had her taken away from her husband Paltiel son of Laish.”

David insists on getting Michal his old wife back, who was the daughter of Saul.

But she was already remarried to another man. It says in verse 16, “Her husband, however, went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go back home!” So he went back.”

An ugly situation. Does David really need another wife? He has many already. But he did pay a high price of Michal. So he insists on taking her back. But her husband follows weeping, until Abner yells at him to go back home.

Sad situation. Abner’s behavior here really bothers me. He’s self seeking, playing both sides against each other, and trying to gain power and authority.

So Abner begins to plotting to get Israel to shift behind David’s rule. It says in verses 17-21: