Peter Barnes | 2 Samuel 4:1-12
SERMON NOTES
THE MURDER OF ISHBOSHETH
2 Samuel 4
– two worthless brothers murder Saul’s only surviving son, Ishbosheth. It is wonderful and beyond our comprehension that a kingdom with such glorious promises attached to it begins in such an inglorious way.
1. The brutal cowardice of the ambitious.
– 4:1-11. A weak government is almost as destructive as a bad government. David compares this with the supposed act of the Amalekie – 2 Sam.4:9-11.
– Matt.15:19; Calvin: they are ‘drunk in their vainglory and presumption’.
2. The hypocrisy of the wicked.
– 4:8. Dale Ralph Davis says they have ‘blood on their hands but theology on their lips’.
– Ex.20:7; Ps.50:16-23; Isa.1:15.
Charles Colson said regarding visitors to the White House: ‘none were more compliant than the religious leaders’. 1 Thess.5:21.
3. The faith and justice of David.
– 4:9; hence Psalm 103:1-5. People think that faith makes one aggressive and authoritarian, but David says that it kept him from doing what Rechab and Baanah did.
– 4:12; Gen.9:5-6; Ex.21:12; Rom.13:3-4. What about David’s weakness in dealing with Joab’s murder of Abner in 2 Samuel 3:39?