The Kingmaker and the King

King Saul had Jonathan, Abinadab, Malchishua, Ishvi, Ishbosheth with Ahinoam who was his wife and two other sons named Armoni and Mephibosheth with Rizpah, his concubine. His daughters were Merab and Michal.

At the battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua died with King Saul. After the battle, Ish-bosheth who was also known as Ishbaal was proclaimed the King of Israel

But Abner son of Ner, Saul’s army commander, had taken Ish-bosheth son of Saul and brought him across to Mahanaim and made him king over Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin—over all Israel. Ish-bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king of Israel, and he reigned two years. But the House of Judah supported David.

Ishbosheth reigned at a time when all the strong men of his tribe and many other tribes in Israel had died in battle. The last thing he could afford was another conflict

David and his men were spared from losing anything in that war because David was living in exile in Philistine (the village of Ziglag) at the time

The Philistines wanted to take David to the battle so that he could prove his allegiance by fighting against Saul and the army of Israel at the Battle of Gilboa but one of the Philistine’s chieftains insisted that David and his men must be sent far away from the battle because David’s loyalty to Israel may get the better of him and turn him into a force that will turn the battle in favor of Israel, especially as he would be fighting beside the philistines and could easily turn against them

David had six hundred seasoned fighters in his army, and they were all great fighters. A Kingdom needed to have a strong military force defending both its king and its kingdom.

After the battle the army Israel had become very fragmented, and the kingdom was severely weakened.

At the same time, David had no need to be afraid of Saul and his soldiers anymore and he returned to Hebron, a city in the land of Judah with all his men and their families.

Hebron became something of an army barrack to Judah and this made the tribe very strong and influential in Israel. Ishbosheth was still the official king, but he had no control over the nation. Whom he had was Abner, the General of his father’s army who somehow survived the war at Gilboa.

Abner was fiercely loyal to the throne of Saul, but he was not a very moral man. As soon as Saul died, he began to have a sexual relationship with one of Saul’s concubines. This was a slap on the face of Ishbosheth, whose primary duty was to take care of his father’s harem after his father’s death. Nobody is allowed to inherit the concubines of a king apart from the King who took over the throne from him.

Concubines are very powerful women who keep the secret of Kings due to the intimacy they share with the King.

Ishbosheth felt Abner was insulting him, the memory of his father, and the throne by openly engaging in sexual relations with his father’s concubine

Ishbosheth, however, did not have the strength and the power to do anything about this and the wise thing for him to do would have been to leave the matter alone.

It was Abner that kept the throne of Saul standing. Without him, all that was left of Saul was dust and ashes. Ishbosheth, however, was not very well known for his wisdom. He was a rash man who followed his emotions rather than his brains.

Rizpah, had impressed upon Abner the need for Ishbosheth to become the King of Israel after Saul’s death.

Abner was the highest-ranking member of the council of Saul who was still alive and the only one who could put a crown on Ishbosheth’s head and compel the people to accept him as their King.

In exchange for making Ishbosheth King, Abner demanded the one thing a woman could give a man who has everything.

Rizpah, the concubine of Saul, began to sleep with Abner. It was based on this relationship that Abner stood by and with Ishbosheth in that trying time, but Ishbosheth refused to understand that politics is a game of compromises.

He challenged Abner for daring to sleep with his father's concubine and this made Abner very upset. Abner then turned against him and handed over Israel to David, who was already crowned at the time as King over the tribe of Judah.

During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner had been strengthening his own position in the house of Saul. Now Saul had had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. And Ish-Bosheth said to Abner, “Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?”

Abner was very angry because of what Ish-Bosheth said. So he answered, “Am I a dog’s head—on Judah’s side? This very day I am loyal to the house of your father Saul and to his family and friends. I haven’t handed you over to David. Yet now you accuse me of an offense involving this woman!

May God deal with Abner, be it ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the Lord promised him on oath 10 and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David’s throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beersheba.”

Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him. Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to say to David, “Whose land is it? Make an agreement with me, and I will help you bring all Israel over to you.”

“Good,” said David. “I will make an agreement with you. But I demand one thing of you: Do not come into my presence unless you bring Michal’s daughter of Saul when you come to see me.”

Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, demanding, “Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins.”

So, Ish-Bosheth gave orders and had her taken away from her husband Paltiel, son of Laish.

Her husband, however, went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go back home!” So, he went back.

Abner conferred with the elders of Israel and said, “For some time you have wanted to make David your king.

Now do it! For the Lord promised David, ‘By my servant David I will rescue my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.’”

Abner also spoke to the Benjamites in person. Then he went to Hebron to tell David everything that Israel and the whole tribe of Benjamin wanted to do.

When Abner, who had twenty men with him, came to David at Hebron, David prepared a feast for him and his men.

Then Abner said to David, “Let me go at once and assemble all Israel for my lord the king, so that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may rule over all that your heart desires.” So, David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.

After this ceremony, all the soldiers that were supposed to guard Ishbosheth left him as they had now been sworn to David as their King

This then opened the door to two criminals who murdered Ishbosheth in his sleep.

Rechab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, started out, and they reached the home of Ish-bosheth at the heat of the day when he was taking his midday rest. So they went inside the house, as though fetching wheat, and struck him in the belly. Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped by and entered the house while he was asleep on his bed in his bed-chamber; and they stabbed him to death. They cut off his head, took his head and made their way all night through the Arabah.

This effectively ended the dynasty of Saul forever.

However, Abner himself did not enjoy the benefit of the deal he brokered with David because Joab, David’s Army commander and cousin had an axe to grinf with Abner over the death of his brother, Asahel.

When Joab came out from David's presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah. But David did not know about it. And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner the son of Ner.

May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father's house and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!” So, Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.

PS: I wanted to bring us one of the numerous stories in the Bible about a kingmaker and a King

-GSW-