2 Samuel 4: ☧ David's Vow to Treat Enemies as Innocents

Rev. David Fleming, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Executive Director for Spiritual Care with DOXOLOGY, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 2 Samuel 4. Learn more about spiritual care and mental health resources from DOXOLOGY at doxology.us.

“How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?” David learns of the death of an enemy for the third time in these first four chapters, and for the third time he reacts with anger and sorrow. As with Saul’s death, the death of Ish-bosheth seemed like an opportunity for David, but that did not justify the treacherous assassination of a man that David calls “innocent.” Even if Ish-bosheth was not as noble as Abner, David had made an oath to Saul his king. David was by no means faultless, but like Christ, he left his enemies to God, and so we have been declared innocent.