When Ish-Bosheth, Saul’s son, found out that Abner had passed away in Hebron, he lost his bravery and all of Israel soon became very concerned. Ish-Bosheth had two men (Rekab and Baanah) who were the commanders of his raiding bands. These men were Rimmon’s sons who belonged to the Benjamin-Beeroth tribe.
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Beheading Ish-Bosheth
Baanah and Rekab went to Ish-Bosheth’s house during the midday heat when Ish-Bosheth was resting. The two men entered the most inner section of the home like they were getting some wheat, but instead they went to Ish-Bosheth and stabbed him. Afterwards, they cut off Ish-Bosheth’s head. Baanah and his brother, Rekab, then slipped away, taking the head with them.
The two men traveled through the night through Arabah. They took Ish-Bosheth’s head to David in Hebron. They told the king that they had the head of David’s enemy, Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul, the man who had tried to kill him. They also told David that God had avenged David against Saul and all of his offspring.
David Learns of the Murder
David told Baanah and Rekab that the Lord really did exist because He had saved him many times from serious trouble. He went on to say that a messenger had told him that Saul was dead, thinking he was delivering good news. But David had him killed in Ziklag.
David tells the two men that was the reward he had given the messenger of this news. He then says to them that he would rid the earth of them because they had murdered an innocent man right in his own home.
Then David ordered his men to kill Baanah and Rekab. The men cut off the feet and hands of the two brothers, and then they hung their bodies in Hebron. They took Ish-Bosheth’s head and had it buried in Abner’s tomb which was located in Hebron.
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2 Samuel 4 (King James Version)
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.