These two men have committed a capital offense but don't expect to be punished for it. They believe they've done David a favor because they know the majority of Ish-Bosheth's subjects were loyal to him only as long as he had Abner---the real power behind the throne---on his side. But he became jealous and suspicious of Abner and accused him of having an inappropriate relationship with one of the royal concubines (we discussed why this was almost certainly a false charge) and Abner transferred his loyalty to David and began campaigning for him throughout all Israel. But David's nephew Joab murdered Abner in retaliation for the death of his brother Asahel in battle. So now Rekah and Baanah, along with all the other citizens of the nation, know it's just a matter of time before David is king over all Israel. Ish-Bosheth cannot hold onto the support of the people because the only reasons they ever stood with him at all is because they loved and respected Abner and because Ish-Bosheth, though not suited to the role of king, was a son of King Saul. But at the same time it appears to have been widely known that the Lord had rejected the house of Saul as the royal family of Israel and had chosen and anointed David to be the king.
We already know Rekah and Baanah killed Ish-Bosheth in his sleep but this is what they did next. "They had gone into the house while he was lying on the bed in his bedroom. After they stabbed and killed him, they cut off his head. Taking it with them, they traveled all night by way of the Arabah. They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, 'Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who tried to kill you. This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.'" (2 Samuel 4:7-8) They even invoke the Lord's name when admitting to their crime, as if they were on a mission for Him when they did what they did.
Rekah and Baanah want to ingratiate themselves to the man who will soon be their king. They want to make him grateful and beholden to them by hastening his ascension to the throne. Wicked people tend to think everyone else thinks just like they do. If they were in David's shoes, they'd want to highly honor the men who took Ish-Bosheth out of the way. The last thing they expect is for him to have them executed, which is what he will do. In Israel there had to be two or more eyewitnesses to a capital crime in order to sentence a person to death. (Deuteronomy 17:6) But that law doesn't apply to this case in which these two men freely admit to their crime and present the severed head to David as proof of their kill. They are testifying against themselves when they admit to their crime and provide the evidence for it. This is the same as a guilty plea and when we think of it that way they appear very foolish to have done what they did and to have said what they said but, again, they assume David will react to the news the same way wicked men like them would. They assume David will react to the news like a heathen king would. Assassinating kings was something that happened on a regular basis in the ancient world and the incoming king usually rewarded whoever had killed his rival. But David doesn't think the way wicked men do or the way pagan people do. He values the laws of a holy God and he intends to abide by those laws.
"David answered Rekah and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, 'As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, when someone told me, 'Saul is dead,' and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! How much more---when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed---should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!'" (2 Samuel 4:9-11) You'll recall from Chapter 1 how an Amalekite came to David at Ziklag and claimed to have come upon and killed King Saul after Saul was critically wounded in the battle at Mount Gilboa. He presented Saul's crown and arm band as proof of his death. We discussed how this was really a lie on the Amalekite's part, for the Scriptures had already told us that Saul killed himself by deliberately falling on his spear. He knew he was mortally wounded and would die of his injuries soon but he didn't want the Philistines to find him first and make sport of him while he was dying. What probably happened was that the Amalekite was looting the bodies of the fallen soldiers, came upon Saul after he was dead, and thought he'd hit the jackpot. He thought he could take Saul's crown and arm band to David, claim he killed Saul, and be rewarded by David for killing his enemy. Instead David put him to death for admitting to such a crime (David having no way of knowing that the story about killing Saul was likely a lie).
To paraphrase David's words, he's saying to these men, "Surely you've heard how I reacted when that Amalekite told me he killed King Saul! Your crime is even worse than his, for the Amalekites and Israelites are enemies of each other and but you killed a man---who trusted you and thought you were on his side---while he was in a helpless state. You will meet the same fate as the Amalekite. I didn't need or ask you or anyone else to remove the rival king from the throne. The Lord, who has been with me all my life and who has helped me with every problem I've ever had, would have removed Ish-Bosheth in the right time and in the right way. I will not reward you for committing cold-blooded murder. I will instead administer the law that says you have committed a crime worthy of death."
"So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner's tomb in Hebron." (2 Samuel 4:12) To have one's dead body desecrated and displayed publicly was the ultimate humiliation in the ancient world. These two men did a dishonorable thing in life and they are given no honors in death. But the head of Ish-Bosheth is given a proper burial. Even though he wasn't the Lord's chosen and anointed king, he was accepted as king by the people for a time and the office of king is worthy of respect. Ish-Bosheth is worthy of having his remains treated with respect because he did nothing to deserve having two of his men turn against him and stab him to death in his sleep. There's no evidence he was trying to have David killed, as his father Saul was, and it's quite possible as we said yesterday that he hoped to make a treaty between his kingdom of Israel and David's kingdom of Judah. David refers to him as an "innocent man" and I think David harbored no ill will against him.
Ish-Bosheth was mostly a pawn in Abner's political game and we might even say he was victimized by Abner. We have no proof he ever wanted to be king; we were just told that Abner took him and made him king. I think Ish-Bosheth was weak in body and weak in character and that he was easily manipulated by his cousin Abner who had a very forceful and dominant personality. I wouldn't be surprised to know that Ish-Bosheth was much happier while he lived a life of obscurity, away from Saul's capital city, in the decades before his father and three elder brothers died in battle. He never expected to be king and probably didn't enjoy being king. Now he is dead because he was made king because of another man's ambitions and David gives him the honor and respect in death that he didn't always receive in life.
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