II Samuel 4:1-12 – Generational Curse
The Living Word With Chuck Davis
II Samuel 4:1-12 – Generational Curse
Welcome to "The Living Word" with Chuck Davis. 2 Samuel 4, 1 to 12, generational curse. Wunish Boseth saw son heard that Abner had died at Hebron, his courage failed, and all Israel was dismayed. Now, saw son had two men who were captains of raiding bands. The name of one was Banat, the name of the other, Rekhab, son of Riman, a man of Benjamin from Baroth. For Baroth also was a counted part of Benjamin, and the barothites fled to Githam and had been sojourners there to this day. Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. Now, the sons of Riman, the Barothite and Rekhab and Banat, set out in about the heat of the day they came to the house of Ishboheth, as he was taking his new day rest. They came into the midst of the house as if to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rekshab and Banat, his brother, escaped. When they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and put him to death and beheaded him. They took his head and went by the way of Araba all night, and brought the head of Ishboheth to David at Hebron. And they said to the king, "Here's the head of Ishboheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The Lord has avenged my lord, the king, this day, on Saul and on his offspring. But David answered Rekhab and Banat, his brother, the sons of Riman, the Barothites, as the the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity, when one told me, "Behold Saul is dead," and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth? And David commanded his young men and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool of Hebron. But they took the head of Ishboheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron. Pretty gruesome story. This is part of that tribal warfare world that they're living in. It's really foreshadowing to another story, because we're introduced to the character Mephibosheth, the writer of First and Second Samuels, a skilled storyteller. And this introduction is for later, but it's anticipating the heart of David, and we're going to see his heart play out in this situation. The front story, two of Saul's raiders trying to get on the good side of David, they want to bring revenge on Saul's house. But they miscalculate the thinking of David. David is not power hungry. He feels no need to exercise brutal care to make sure Saul's family is wiped out. Again, the reference to Mephibosheth is going to come up in the future chapter. David isn't a praying, waiting, refusing to hurry and trusting God. His theology, his view of God is embodied in life. And we see in this story that at Backfires, they underestimated David's loyalty to the king. There's a pattern here that's been developing. At the death of Saul and Jonathan, the agent was the Amalekites, and there was great lamentation for David. When Abner dies, the agent is Joab, and there's grief and fasting from David. But now, at Isposheth, even distant, there's a level of vengeance in David. There's an honor of burial and blood guilt is perceived as he executes these two that have brought this death. The soul-water of this passage, for me, is in the title "Generational Curse." There's a subtext throughout this story, "Violence and Infidelity Breeds Violence and Infidelity." It's hard to imagine how David would become king without all of these deaths. But the biblical writer wants us to see that David is innocent of taking matters into his own hands. His own regime will not be immune to pervasiveness of death, as we will see that unfaithfulness will then become the pattern of his days. It's a real reminder to us that we reap what we sow, and we don't want to sow in vengeance. So now, what of this is to lay down all places of revenge, and where we feel like we have to get an ounce of justice in Romans 12-19, it says, "Vengence is mine. I will repay," says the Lord. So Lord, we allow you to be our vengeance. We allow you to be the one who addresses our enemies, and those who may have misused us or treated us unjustly. We refuse to take those matters into our own hands. We wait on you as David waits on you. In Jesus' name.