2 Samuel 2:8–23 (ESV)

But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim, and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. And Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men arise and compete before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.” Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is at Gibeon. And the battle was very fierce that day. And Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.

And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle. And Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is it you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.” Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men and take his spoil.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. And Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?” But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.

Who is Ish-bosheth? And why didn’t he die in 1 Samuel 31:2? And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. (ESV)

We don’t know how Ish-bosheth escaped death, but he’s obviously not the cream of the crop. He’s not even mentioned in the genealogy of Saul in 1 Chronicles 8:33 and 9:39 (unless he’s Eshbaal there). And notice that today’s passage never shows Ish-bosheth doing or even saying a single thing.

He’s just a puppet. This is all about Abner. Everyone knows that David is supposed to be the next king.

Abner is propping up Ish-bosheth in an ill-fated quest for power.

Big evil leads to big grief, and seeking power in this way is big evil. Abner’s scheme has divided Israel. Now he’s started a civil war. As always, battle by champion (or ten champions) doesn’t settle anything.

The death toll will be significant. And for what?

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday ones are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to the DEEP click here:  https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Scripture taken from the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.