But it is not only that we have the death of Abner, as I have said, but of Ish-bosheth also. This follows in the next chapter, 2 Samuel 4, and there again how truly men mistook the heart of the king. The murderers “brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; and Jehovah hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed.” How little unbelief ever learns the lesson that was taught the Amalekite one might have supposed would have been remembered by the men of Israel that heard of the king's feeling. But unbelief, in its ignorance of God and its incapacity to discern those that are His, unfits itself to appreciate the ways of faith and of love, and hence it is that all was lost on them. “And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, As Jehovah liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity, when one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings: how much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed?” What can be finer than this? Here was a man that was a rival, and this too without a cause and without a title. But faith is more than upright, and can readily afford to be generous. Certainly so it was with King David, who hated any advantage taken even of his enemies. “How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed?” It was not that David shut his eyes to anything that was wrong. He did not mean that Ish-bosheth was righteous in everything, more particularly in disputing the throne given by God to himself. But he did not forget his life and general character, because of the grave mistake that opposed David and turned out fatal to himself. Therefore he adds, “Shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth? And David commanded his young men, and they slew them.”