David’s regard for right

And they brought the head of Ishbosheth to David at Hebron, and said to the king, "Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life; and the LORD has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and his descendants." But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity, when someone told me, saying, 'Look, Saul is dead,' thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag—the one who thought I would give him a reward for his news. How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth?" – 1 Samuel 4v8-11

David had an eye and a heart for justice and just doing what is right. You would think they would have learned, but David’s men and those who wanted to curry favour with him by taking matters into their own hands.

Ishbosheth was the king of Israel. After the death of Abner David was trying to reconcile the two nations and to re-establish the united kingdom of Israel. Two of Ishbosheth’s own men decided that if they killed their king David would surely honour them in his new kingdom. They snuck in while Ishbosheth was asleep and killed him. They cut off his head and took it back to David.

I heard a podcast yesterday that reminded me of this incident. The podcast was about how warfare has changed in recent history with the ability to ‘take out’ enemy leaders in order to expedite a military objective.

It was thought provoking. Here it seems, like it did with Saul, would be thrilled that Ishbosheth’s men had taken out their leader and shortened the conflict.

But it wasn’t right. These men had snuck in and killed a man on his own bed. Enemy or not, this just wasn’t right. This was the world’s way. This was how man’s wisdom worked. God had a way to sort this out. David had these men executed for their crime, even though it helped him.

Man’s view of justice is not the same as God’s. May we all seek God’s way in dealing with our difficulties.