Ishbosheth King of Israel

2022-04-22

Ishbosheth (or Eshbaal), the son of Saul, became the king of the northern kingdom of Israel when David was crowned king over Judah after the death of Saul. He was 40 years old and reigned two years. He was crowned by Abner, Saul’s general. When you read the story of the last remaining son of Saul, you see that he is not really a good leader and is fearful. You also begin to wonder why he was never with his father and three brothers on the battlefield. One gets the feeling that Abner is the real authority behind the throne.

Ishbosheth’s general Abner and David’s general Joab battled at Gibeon. Despite the loss of Joab’s brother Asahel, Judah suffered less losses.

Ishbosheth confronted Abner over one of his father’s concubines. This made Abner turn on Ishbosheth, so the general swore that he would “translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba” (2 Samuel 3:10). Ishbosheth did not respond to him because of fear. This shows Abner was really in control of Israel.

After the death of Abner, two men killed Ishbosheth while he lied in his bed. Bringing the king’s head to David, they expected a reward, only to be executed themselves. The king of Judah called them wicked men and Ishbosheth a righteous person. From this, we can infer that despite Ishbosheth’s shortcomings as a leader, he did serve the Lord rather than idols.

Ishbosheth never seems to be a good leader, as he did not go to battle with his men, he feared his own general Abner, and when he was killed, he was lying in his bed at noon. A good leader is going to be with his followers, confront his fears, and not be lazy. Even so, he was given respect by King David because of his position and his family.

This is a part of the Kings of Israel series. To go back to the table of contents, proceed here.