The Reading
The Summary
Shemuel Bet Chapter 4
Two officers of Ish Boshet (called merely “the son of Shaul”) named Rekhav and Baanah plot to assassinate him. They manage to gain entry into his house, either disguised as wheat merchants or together with some wheat merchants who had come to call. While he is enjoying his afternoon nap, Rekhav and Baanah kill Ish Boshet, decapitate him and escape undetected.
They bring his severed head to David and present it to him, declaring that his rival has been eliminated once and for all. David swears by God that he will deal with this news in what he deems to be the appropriate manner. He compares this situation to the circumstances recounted in Chapter One wherein the Amaleqite boy brought him tidings of Shaul’s demise, hoping to receive reward. There, David ordered the lad executed for confessing to the crime of having killed the anointed one of Hashem.
How much more so, David reasoned, when two men have clearly murdered an innocent man on his bed in the middle of the day – hoping, ostensibly, to be rewarded – should they be deserving of death. David instructs his officers to kill Rekhav and Baanah; he has their hands and feet cut off and hung by the pool in Hevron, while Ish Boshet’s head is buried in the grave of Avner ben Ner.
No explicit motive is ascribed to the act of Rekhav and Baanah. In context, it seems reasonable to assume that they were disenchanted with the ineffective leadership of Ish Boshet and that the last straw was the defection and subsequent death of Avner ben Ner. Realizing their only hope for a bright future was through an affiliation with David’s regime and hoping to accelerate the process of his ascension to power, Rekhav and Baanah probably felt that they were doing a great act of heroism and national service (as well as securing themselves employment) in assassinating Ish Boshet.
Nevertheless, David remains true to form, having only words of condemnation and punishment for those who commit unjust actions on his behalf. Without hesitation, he has the perpetrators of the crime killed. This once again emphasizes his commitment to justice and fairness and his rejection of the kind of partisan politics and cronyism that tainted Shaul’s government. Hanging the hands and feet of the criminals for display sends a message of zero tolerance for violent and unethical behavior, particularly when it appears to serve political ends and can therefore be misinterpreted as a form of state-sponsored terrorism. The measures taken by David clarified the fact that he neither ordered nor endorsed the murder of his rival to advance his own agenda, and that he considers such behavior morally reprehensible and a contradiction to all he stands for.
Burying Ish Boshet’s head in the grave of Avner was an unusual course of action and requires some explanation. While Avner’s final wish was indeed to be associated with the kingdom of David that was based in Hevron, one might have expected that Ish Boshet would want his remains to be laid to rest in Mahanayim or somewhere else within the boundaries of Binyamin. Perhaps David felt that, in his heart of hearts – or in his brain! – Ish Boshet acknowledged David’s right to the monarchy and knew that the future was with the Davidic dynasty. Ish Boshet’s willingness to allow David to take Mikhal back suggested that he was himself conflicted about the role he had been chosen to play, a role that forced him to stand in inevitably failing opposition to David. Here we find evidence of the great sensitivity of David and his giving credit to Ish Boshet for good intentions even though they remained unspoken.