Ish-bosheth Made King of Israel

As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.

Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.

2 Samuel 2:8-11
8 But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim,
9 and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel.
10 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.
11 And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

One new character is introduced in this passage, along with Abner. Now before we ventured into a short discussion on Ish-boseth, it might be good to consider Abner for a moment.

Abner is the son of Ner, who was Kings Saul’s uncle, making Abner and Saul cousins. Abner rose to power as Saul’s general through his time on the throne, and was the man responsible for bringing David to King Saul during the time of Goliath.

Abner was no shrinking violet, for he proved himself in many ways a man of action. Upon the death of his cousin and sovereign, he travelled back to the family of Saul, took Ish-boseth to Mahanaim, and made him king.

Notice all the action verbs are related to Abner. Abner took Ish-boseth. Abner brought Ish-boseth to Mahanaim. Abner made Ish-boseth king.

In many ways, Abner stemmed the tide of David’s rule over the remaining portion of Israel by taking charge and setting up a competitive kingdom. From Abner’s point of view, David was setting up a competitive kingdom, a threat to the monarchy of Saul. David was a direct challenge to the authority granted to Saul through God. At least that is how it appeared to Abner, and it certainly made sense to Abner. After all, monarchies continued through bloodlines – all the nations knew this! This must be the same for Israel, for they truly wanted to be like the nations.

This is an assumption that the Israelites often fell into. The assumption I refer to is that blood lines trump the promise of God. Let me explain.

By now, it was common knowledge throughout Israel that David had been anointed by Samuel as a young boy to be the next king. David was worthy, and prior to his anointing, Saul suffered the rejection by God of his reign over God’s people. This loss of kingdom was not done in a secret meeting, but before all the elders of Israel. Samuel clearly informed Saul and the nation through it’s leadership that Saul was now dethroned by God.

1 Samuel 15:28, 30

28 And Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.
30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the LORD your God.”

For the remining time of Saul’s life, he would be ruling against God, and not with God. For up to 15 years, the nation continued with Saul over them, though dethroned, persecuting the anointed king of Israel.

This era of a false king over Israel speaks of the same condition we find ourselves in currently. Is not the ruler of this world dethroned? Is not Jesus the anointed King over all? And yet a usurper, an adversary who has (limited) control over the lives of so many, continues to persecute the rightful King. Though the adversary has been publicly dethroned, he still reigns in rebellion for a period.

Even as Jesus was on earth, the majority of the nation preferred the ruling class as opposed to the anointed Son of God. The rejection and persecution of the Son of God, along with the persecution of His followers became evidence of this very condition. They assumed bloodlines from Abraham trumped the promise of God.

Abner made this assumption also. He knew of the promise given to David by God, and yet forced the continuation of a monarchy over Israel that had been rejected by God. He was a man of action, basing his actions on false assumptions, seeking to maintain his own position within the now threatened government of Saul’s rejected monarchy!

We will see Abner often in the next few passages and was certainly a force to be reckoned with! But as mentioned in the introduction, let us now consider Saul’s son Ish-boseth.

Ish-boseth was a puppet of Abner, a weak man that held little promise as a leader, and that was used by Abner to extend a kingdom doomed from the start.

He is known commonly among believers as Ish-boseth, and the name means “man of shame”, or per Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, a man who shames himself.

This is an amazing name for anyone born into a culture where the ruling principal of the culture is elevation of honor as the highest goal. To be shamed is the ultimate insult. What was Saul thinking when this child was born?

Later in the Old Testament records provides an alternate name for this son of Saul. Eshbaal.

1 Chronicles 8:33 Ner was the father of Kish, Kish of Saul, Saul of Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab and Eshbaal;

This name may provide us the mindset of Saul at his birth. He was named Eshbaal, or “a man of Baal”. Saul was in full rebellion against the God of Israel, and his son bore the name showing of his allegiance to Baal, as opposed to the God who made him!

Ish-boseth became a ruler over Israel, God’s people. He would rule for a short time, but the anointed king was on a path of victory. The anointed king would become dominant over the people of God. The anointed king would be preeminent. The anointed king would unite the kingdom under His leadership.

God’s kingdom is not like the nations. We are not to depend on bloodlines to determine the rightful ruler, but on the blood of One! It was His blood shed on Calvary that opened the kingdom of God for all! Let us look to the promise of God instead of any bloodline that may appeal to our senses, for the anointed One has proven to be the True King of kings through the resurrection from the dead, and ascension to the throne of God.

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