Rechab and Baanah, the captains of troops, wanted to please David, their lord. They thought that by taking revenge on Saul and his family, who they saw as the enemy of David, they would find favour in David’s eyes. Hence, they killed Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, then escaped all night through the plain to show the severed head of Ishbosheth to David at Hebron. Yet, by doing so, these two men did not gain favour with David, and they even lost their lives.
David’s response to these two men would have shocked them. Calling them “wicked men” who “killed a righteous person in his own house on his own bed”. David commanded for Rechab and Baanah to be executed, cut off their hands and feet and hanged them by the pool of Hebron. In contrast, he buried the head of Ishbosheth in the tomb of Abner. We can conclude that these two men did not know the heart of David, their Lord.
“As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity”. David knew that judgement and punishment was the LORD’s. Thus, even at the Wilderness of En Gedi, David spared Saul’s life, only cutting off a corner of Saul’s robe [1 Sam 24]. Although Saul pained David (Psalm 13), yet David mourned sincerely for him and his family when they were killed in battle.
For us today, do we know the heart of our Lord?
It will be dangerous if we think we are earnest and working for God, but what we do is not pleasing in His eyes. Are there times when we lean on our own understanding, following our own ideals and methods while serving God?
May we walk nearer, still nearer, so that in all we say, do and think, we find favour in the eyes of God.
“But I will look to this one,
At one who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at My word.”
Isaiah 66:2 (NASB)
