This book contains an account of many sudden and violent deaths (in addition to those that took place in battle) by assassination, suicide (2 Samuel 17:23), the direct judgment of God (2 Samuel 6:7), the judicial sentence of man. Capital punishment for murder was of old deemed right and necessary and divinely sanctioned (see 2 Samuel 1:13-16). In this execution, we see that:

1. The agents by whom the purposes of God are effected (ver. 8) without his commission and from selfish motives are not entitled to the reward of faithful service, although they sometimes expect to obtain it, being turned aside by "a deceived heart."

2. The reward which wicked men obtain for their wickedness is the opposite of that which they expect (ver. 10). Even if they gain their immediate object, they fail to find therein the happiness they anticipated, and sooner or later suffer loss and woe.

3. The guilt of the crime which such men commit against a fellow man is aggravated by his innocence and the circumstances under which the crime is committed. "A righteous person in his own house upon his bed."

4. The authority to which they vainly appeal in justification of their conduct surely requires their condemnation. "He will by no means clear the guilty" (Exodus 34:7). What they did as private persons to Ishbosheth without Divine commission, David, as king and "minister of God," was commissioned to do to them, and "take them away from the land" which the Lord had given, but which they had polluted and were unworthy to enjoy. "Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men" (Psalm 26:9).

5. The example afforded by a severe and signal punishment is sometimes necessary to maintain public justice; to manifest the evil of sin and the certainty of retribution; to deter others from wrong doing. The hands that did the deed and the feet that "ran eagerly for reward" were cut off, and their bodies exposed to open shame.

"He that's merciful
Unto the bad is cruel to the good."

6. The termination of strife in a land is usually attended with melancholy circumstances. "And they took the head of Ishbosheth," etc.

7. The saddest events are often succeeded by a season of gladness (1 Chronicles 12:40) and prosperity, and even directly conducive to it. With the death of Ishbosheth "the whole resistance to David's power collapses;" and "thus at last, not by his own act, but through circumstances over which he had no control - allowed by him who gives liberty to each man, though he overrules the darkest deeds of the wicked for the evolving of good - David was left undisputed claimant to the throne of Israel. Faith, patience, and integrity were vindicated; the Divine promise to David had come true in the course of natural events; and all this was better far than even if Saul had voluntarily resigned his place or Abner succeeded in his plans" (Edersheim). "Thus God will make all the sins of evil men to be one day ministerial to the extension and final settlement of the universal dominion of Christ" (Wordsworth). - D.

The man spoken of was Saul's son, and as the son of a king what reason had he to have enfeebled hands? The reason is that Abner was dead. But could not a king's son do without Abner? Have not king's sons abundant resources in themselves, without being dependent upon outsiders, however distinguished? All history replies in the negative. Men belong to one another. The king's son was nothing without Abner, but much with him. The unit one is but a singular number, but the moment a cipher is added to it becomes ten, and another cipher turns the ten into a hundred. — The integer is little by itself, the cipher is nothing at all when it stands alone, but when they are brought together they begin to make themselves felt. It is precisely so in. our social relations. What is the husband without the wife? What is the son without the father? What is the scholar without the teacher? What is the flock without the shepherd? It is of no account to reason that there is a variety of value in men, some being worth much, and others being worth little; the fact is that they must all be brought into cooperation.

(J. Parker, D. D.)