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From Eternity Past
David’s recognition of one who had been his bitter enemy won the
admiration of all Israel. “For all the people and all Israel understood
that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner.” In
the private circle of his trusted counselors and attendants, the king
recognized his own inability to punish the murderers as he desired. He
left them to the justice of God. “The Lord shall reward the doer of evil
according to his wickedness.”
“When Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands
were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.” Soon another act of
treachery completed the downfall of the waning power. Ishbosheth was
murdered by two of his captains, who, cutting off his head, hastened
with it to the king of Judah, hoping thus to ingratiate themselves in his
favor.
David Punishes the Murderers of His Enemy
But David did not desire the aid of treachery to establish his power.
He told these murderers of the doom visited upon him who boasted
of slaying Saul. “How much more,” he added, “when wicked men
have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? Shall I
not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away
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from the earth? And David commanded his young men, and they slew
them.”
After the death of Ishbosheth, there was a general desire among
the leading men of Israel that David become king of all the tribes.
They declared, “Thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel:
and the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed My people Israel, and thou
shalt be a captain over Israel. So all the elders of Israel came to the
king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron
before the Lord.” Thus through the providence of God the way had
been opened for him to come to the throne.
The change in the sentiments of the people was decisive. The
revolution was quiet and dignified, befitting the work they were doing.
Nearly half a million souls, the former subjects of Saul, thronged
Hebron and its environs. The hour for the coronation was appointed.
The man who had been expelled from the court of Saul, who had fled
to the mountains and hills and to the caves of the earth to preserve his
life, was about to receive the highest honor that can be conferred upon