Read 2 Sam. 4
How fickle we are. Where is loyalty and honor? Are we only loyal to the one on top? Noone wants to be left on the losers side. That is played out so plainly in today's reading. Ishbosheth, the puppet king of Israel finds out that Abner, the real leader is killed. He is depressed and retreats to his bed (in the middle of the day). The two captains of his army find out Abner is dead and want to be on the winning side. So they go to Ishbosheth and kill him "under the fifth rib", behead him and take his head to David. Surely this will give them a high position with David. All they care about is their own hide.
Thank God, David sees right through them. He explains to them that he killed the man who came and told him Saul was dead thinking he would get an award, so how much more guilty are they to go and kill an innocent man on his bed. So David has them killed and their hands and feet cut off. He hangs their body over the pool in Hebron to show all the people what revenge will get them. He then takes Ishbosheth's head and buries it in the sepulcher of Abner.
The only redemption in this passage is found in verse 4: Jonathan had a son that was lame. He was 5 when news came that Saul and Jonathan were both killed. His nurse had picked him up to flee, but accidently dropped him and he had been crippled ever since. His name was Mephibosheth which means "breathing shame."
Mephibosheth ended up joining David's side out of total loyalty and humility. He knew how to approach a holy king. He lost his ability to walk early in life, but got to live a full life eating at the king's table. Ishbosheth's 2 men became cripple in death and lived a short, cut-off life. I'll take the limp.
Lord, may we stay true to you no matter who seems to be on top and may we always experience the honor of sitting at your table feasting on your food.
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