“The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them” (Prov 11:3).
In 2 Samuel 4, we see the drama of the final collapse of Saul’s house. It is written in three parts. First, “When Saul’s son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost heart, and all Israel was troubled” (v 1). There was no possibility now that Abner might return to support Ishbosheth, and it was Abner who had been the scaffolding that held the crumbling house of Saul from utter ruin. Then, innocently enough, we are introduced to “two men who were captains of troops. The name of one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab” (v 2). We will find out why shortly. Third, and quite suddenly, as if the story is out of place, we have a flashback to perhaps seven years before. It recounts the panic in Saul’s palace when the news arrived of the horrible defeat on Mount Gilboa. It describes a further fall, this time of Jonathan’s son. “He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel; and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth” (v 4). Why is it inserted here? It answers this question: What if Ishbosheth died? Would there be anyone left to continue this feeble dynasty? Just 12-year-old Mephibosheth! And it’s a good question to ask at this juncture because the next verses tell us about those two captains, Baanah and Rechab, and their assassination of Saul’s son. “When they came into the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom; then they struck him and killed him, beheaded him and took his head, and were all night escaping through the plain” (v 7). Another beheading! Thus ends the sad regime of self-absorbed Saul, who proved the point, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it” (Ps 127:1).