Let The Lord Fight Your Battles--While You Fight His - 2 Samuel 4:1-12 Series

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Introduction

The heart and soul of this chapter is verse 9.

9 David answered …"As surely as the LORD lives, who has delivered me out of all trouble…

That little piece of theology – thinking of God as the one who delivers from all trouble – that simple truth can unlock doors of sanctification and godliness that in the past have seemed impossible to open. If you struggle with anger or vengeance or bitterness or selfishness or worry, or if no matter how hard you try you just cannot find it in you to forgive someone, this principle can change your life. God is the God who delivers from all trouble. But first things first – let’s start with verse 1.

The House of Saul…is a house of cards (because it opposes the true King)

We left off last week with the murder of Abner, who was the military commander of the north in Israel.

4:1 When the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed.

When Abner died, King Ish-Bosheth’s already rickety kingdom lost the one last little bit of strength it had. Abner was the only remaining power propping up what was left of the house of Saul. And so when news of his death reaches Ish-Bosheth and the rest of Israel up north it is no surprise that they are alarmed and disheartened. That phrase translated “lost courage” is an idiom that means all his inner strength just went limp. Ish-Bosheth was already kind of a wimp and now he turns into a complete noodle and it says all Israel became alarmed. They lost their powerhouse general and now they are left with nothing but their noodle king.

And it is not just the loss of Abner that is so scary. What is really scary is that he died in Hebron. The last these people heard, Abner was headed down to Hebron to try to arrange a covenant with David. After years and years of trying to kill David, and then establishing a rival king against David, and then fighting against him in a civil war and killing his nephew, Abner goes down there to try to broker a deal with David. That is the last thing these people heard, and now the news comes - Abner’s dead. He went down to Hebron to see if he could broker some kind of peace deal with David and he never made it back alive. That is why they are alarmed. If David said no to the deal, and he is just out for blood, the northern tribes who have been fighting against David are in real trouble. They would have been in real trouble even with Abner, but without him – they are in big time danger.

The opening chapters of 1 Samuel chronicle the collapse of the house of Saul. And that is the way the writer wants us to think about this – that northern kingdom is the house of Saul. That is why almost every time you see the name Ish-Bosheth it is followed by “the son of Saul.”

2 Samuel 2:8 Abner… the commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-Bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.

2 Samuel 2:10 Ish-Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king

2 Samuel 2:12 Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon.

There it is not even referring to Ish-Bosheth – just to his men. Abner and the men of Ish-Bosheth (who, by the way, is the son of Saul)…

2 Samuel 2:15 So they stood up and were counted off--twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David.

2 Samuel 3:14 Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth son of Saul,

2 Samuel 4:8 They …said to the king, "Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul

The only times when his name is mentioned without the phrase “son of Saul” is when there is some other reference in the paragraph to the fact that Saul was his father. The writer wants you to think of the northern kingdom as being the remnant of the house of Saul. In fact, the name Ish-Bosheth is not in the Hebrew in verse 1. The translations just throw it in there so you don’t get confused. But the Hebrew just says, “Saul’s son.” And verse 2 starts the same way:

2 Now Saul's son had two men…

The writer wants us to see what is happening to the house of Saul. And it is not a pretty picture.

It is about to collapse altogether, but before that happens the writer wants to introduce some new characters into this drama.