2 Samuel 2:8

ABNER ELEVATED ISHBOSHETH TO THE KINGSHIP

"Now Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, had taken Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim; and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. Ishbosheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months."

"Abner ... took ... Saul's son ... brought him over to Mahanaim ... made him king ... over all Israel" (2 Samuel 2:8-9). Following the death of Saul, Abner was by far the most powerful man in Northern Israel, and it could have been nothing less than his sinful and disobedient heart that led him into this open defiance of what he certainly knew to be the will of God, namely, that David was God's choice to succeed Saul, a fact which even Saul himself knew.

"Ishbosheth reigned two years" (2 Samuel 2:10). Some of the commentaries we have consulted are preoccupied with what is called difficulties in the chronology here. It is well known that David did not become king over all Israel until after the death of Ishbosheth, a full seven and one half years after his moving to Hebron. So why is it said that Ishbosheth reigned only two years?

We fail to see any problem. Abner was the only person in Northern Israel with any real power. He was probably an uncle of King Saul (1 Chronicles 8:33) and was in full command of Saul's army following the king's death. Ishboshesh (actually Eshbaal in 1 Chronicles 8:33) was evidently incompetent for some reason, because otherwise he would have perished fighting beside his father as did Jonathan. Jamieson believed that incompetence was due to "his imbecility."[6] Abner's proclaiming him "king" was only a ploy on Abner's part, who almost certainly intended to seize the kingship himself. The proof of this is his taking one of the concubines of Ishbosheth.

Therefore, when we read that "Ishbosheth reigned two years," the only satisfactory explanation is that Abner took complete control after two years. Some of the older commentators understood this perfectly as, for example, did Adam Clarke. "Some think that Abner in effect reigned the last five years of Ishbosheth, who had only the name of king after the first two years."[7] Another possible explanation of this is that offered by Haley: "Ewald and Keil maintain that after Saul's death, five years were spent in warfare against the Philistines, before Ishbosheth was anointed king over Israel."[8] This, of course, might very well have been true; however, we believe Clarke's explanation is the better one.

"The time that David was king in Hebron ... seven years and six months" (2 Samuel 2:11). "The length of David's reign in Hebron as given here coincides with the data in 2 Samuel 5:5, and we have no reason to doubt its correctness."[9]

We have noted that the original name of Ishbosheth was Eshbaal. Young notes that, "Hebrew names were often compounded with `Baal,' that of the old Canaanite god of fertility. But since the word was peculiarly associated with the low standards of Canaanite sex morality and baseness in worship, this practice was discontinued. Later copyists of the O.T. substituted the word [~bosheth], which means `shame' in those names where `Baal' had been used."[10]

R. P. Smith attempted to justify the use of "Baal" as a suitable compound for personal names in the times of Saul, stating that, "At that time, Baal was not the specific name of any idol, but meant simply "lord" or "master."[11] We do not accept that opinion as correct because of Numbers 25:1-5. which proves that even during the wilderness wanderings of Israel, Baal was indeed the name of a specific idol, namely, the one worshipped in Peor. There can be little doubt that "Baal" in the original name of Saul's son Eshbaal was a reference to the Canaanite sex god, but that does not mean that Saul honored Baal instead of Jehovah. Keil gave the meaning of Eshbaal as "`The fire of Baal,' which has the equivalent meaning of, `the destroyer of Baal.'"[12]