Evil Acts Backfire

Today’s Daily Bible Reading is from 2 Samuel 4:1-12. When Saul’s son heard about Abner’s death, he was feeble. All of the Israelites were mourning over Abner.

Saul had two men who were captains of bands. One was named Baanah and the other was called Rechab. They were the sons of Rimmon, who was a Beerothite. He was one of the children of Benjamin.

Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son named Mephibosheth who was lame since he was five years old. He fell and got hurt as his nurse tried to flee when they heard of Saul and Jonathan’s death.

Rechab and Baanah went to Ishbosheth’s house one day about noon while he was taking a nap. Ishbosheth wasn’t bothering anybody. He was laying on his bed trying to rest. They pretended they were there to gather wheat. They went into his house and killed him. Then they  cut his head off and fled with it.

They took Ishbosheth’s head and presented it to David. Somehow they thought David would be happy about their actions since Saul had pursued David for so long. They acted as if they were doing David a service.

David wasn’t happy about their actions at all. He wasn’t even happy when he was told that Saul had been slain. David insisted that those who did this act had to be punished. He instructed his men to slay the two men for their actions.

Then, they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it, along with Abner, in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

I know some of these lessons are hard. They aren’t encouraging and inspirational as I would like them to be, but when we’re studying through a book of the Bible we have to take the bad with the good. We’re learning the history of the Bible. That history includes not only the births of the people of the Bible, but also how and when their lives were ended.

One thing we can learn from this lesson is that we can’t expect good to come from evil. When people do sinful acts eventually they will have to pay for them one way or the other. We also learn that David  wasn’t looking for revenge on Saul’s family because Saul had pursued him for many years.

First Peter 3:8-9 reminds us, “Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.”

Daily Bible Reading:

2 Samuel 4:1-12

1 And when Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.
2 And Saul’s son had two men that were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin: (for Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin:
3 And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.)
4 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.
5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who lay on a bed at noon.
6 And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under the fifth rib: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
7 For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and gat them away through the plain all night.
8 And they brought the head of Ishbosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; and the LORD hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed.
9 And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, As the LORD liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity,
10 When one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings:
11 How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?
12 And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron.

Things to think about:

• Who was Mephibosheth? What did we learn about him?

• Who were Saul’s two band leaders? What did they do?

• What was David’s response to their actions?

• How did David honor Ishbosheth?

Prayer of the Day:

As we read this Scripture in 2 Samuel we learn that there were those who were evil back in David’s day as well. They did things out of spite, but their actions backfired on them. Help us to realize that it’s not our place to take revenge on those who have wronged us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

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