II Samuel 4:9

Who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity - This was, in David's case, a very proper view of the goodness and watchful providence of God towards him. His life was frequently in danger; murderers had often laid wait for it: but God, the living God, had always redeemed that life from all adversity; and called on him now to punish such evil-minded and blood-thirsty men.

BAANAH AND RECHAB SLAY ISH-BOSHETH, AND BRING HIS HEAD TO HEBRON. (Sa2 4:1-2) Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son that was lame of his feet--This is mentioned as a reason why, according to Oriental notions, he was considered unfit for exercising the duties of sovereignty.

When one told me, saying, behold, Saul is dead,.... No more is related, not that he killed him, or assisted in killing him, only that he was dead; by which it appears, as Abarbinel thinks, that the Amalekite did not slay Saul, and that David did not put him to death on that account, but for what follows: thinking to have brought good tidings; which would have been very acceptable to David, that he would have rejoiced and exulted at it as he did; but he was mistaken; instead of that, I took hold of him, and slew him at Ziklag; that is, ordered one of his young men to lay hold on him, and slay him, as he did, Sa2 1:15, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings; a handsome present, as the Targum here, a gift, or raised him to some post of honour and profit.

But David rewarded them very differently from what they had expected. He replied, "As Jehovah liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity, the man who told me, Behold, Saul is dead, and thought he was a messenger of good to me, I seized and slew at Ziklag (vid., Sa2 1:14-15), to give him a reward for his news: how much more when wicked men have murdered a righteous man in his house upon his bed, should I not require his blood at your hand, and destroy you from the earth?" The several parts of this reply are not closely linked together so as to form one period, but answer to the excited manner in which they were spoken. There is first of all the oath, "As truly as Jehovah liveth," and the clause appended, "who redeemed my soul," in which the thought is implied that David did not feel it necessary to get rid of his enemies by the commission of crimes. After this (Sa2 4:10) we have an allusion to his treatment of the messenger who announced Saul's death to him, and pretended to have slain him in order that he might obtain a good reward for his tidings. כּי, like ὅτι, simply introduces the address. בּעיניו ... המּגּיד is placed at the head absolutely, and made subordinate to the verb by בו after ואחזה. לתתּי־לו, "namely, to give him." עשׁר is employed to introduce the explanation, like our "namely" (vid., Ewald, 338, b.). בּשׂרה, good news, here "the reward of news." The main point follows in Sa2 4:11, beginning with כּי אף, "how much more" (vid., Ewald, 354, c.), and is introduced in the form of a climax. The words משׁכּבו ... אנשׁים are also written absolutely, and placed at the head: "men have slain," for "how much more in this instance, when wicked men have slain." "Righteous" (zaddik), i.e., not guilty of any wicked deed or crime. The assumption of the reg…

We have here justice done upon the murderers of Ish-bosheth. I. Sentence passed upon them. There needed no evidence, their own tongues witnessed against them; they were so far from denying the fact that they gloried in it. David therefore shows them the heinousness of the crime, and that blood called for blood from his hand, who was now the chief magistrate, and was by office the avenger of blood. And, perhaps, he was the more vigorous in the prosecution because for reasons of state he had spared Joab: "Shall I not require the blood of the slain at the hand of the slayers, and, since they cannot make restitution, take theirs instead of it?" Observe, 1. How he aggravates the crime, Sa2 4:11. Ish-bosheth was a righteous person, he had done them no wrong, nor designed them any. As to himself, David was satisfied that what opposition he gave him was not from malice, but mistake, from an idea he had of his own title to the crown, and the influence of others upon him, who urged him to put in for it. Note, Charity teaches us to make the best, not only of our friends, but of our enemies, and to think those may be righteous persons who yet, in some instances, do us wrong. I must not presently judge a man a bad man because I think him so to me. David owns Ish-bosheth an honest man, though he had created him a great deal of trouble unjustly. The manner of it much aggravated the crime. To slay him in his own house, which should have been his castle, and upon his bed, when he was in no capacity of making any opposition, this is treacherous and barbarous, and all that is base, and that which the heart of every man who is not perfectly lost to all honour and humanity will rise with indignation at the thought of. Assassinating is confessedly the most odious and villainous way of murder…

4:9-11 Someone once told me: Cp. 1:1-16.