2 Samuel 4:9-12 (NASBStr)
David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, when one told me, saying, ‘Behold, Saul is dead, ’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. 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 from your hand and destroy you from the earth?” Then David commanded the young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hung them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish- bosheth and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.
Nothing demonstrates the quality of a man's character than what he does or feels about his enemies. God's forbearance for evil and His restraining of their instant destruction ought to be a lesson to each of us as to what He wants us to live like and be like. But God is God. How can we be as equally patient, loving and kind? David, in the first four chapters of 2 Samuel shows us the love and kindness a man can have for his enemies. In the first chapter we see David weeping over Saul and Jonathan's death. Make no mistake: Saul hotly pursued David to kill him. David had two chances to kill Saul and didn't because he respected God's appointed leader. He so respected that position of Saul that he killed a man who boasted of killing Saul. David equally was frustrated when he best warrior, Joab, killed another one of his enemies, Abner. David wouldn't eat or sleep because he felt Joab should not have taken revenge on Abner, even though Abner killed Joab's brother. David wanted a kingdom of forgiveness and, instead, he got war. Now in the end of chapter four we read of the two men above. They sought Saul's son, Ishbotsheth, and killed him on his bed, while he slept. It seems no one in David's kingdom knew of the desire in David's heart for peace. Instead they sought revenge and bloodshed. Again, David kills these two men for their lack of true justice. David, later, will not be allowed to build the temple because his kingdom was established in bloodshed. David, as the leader, was held responsible for these acts of revenge, even though he despised them. Sometimes the leader's heart is not known and followed. But, the leader is still responsible for the failure of those he leads. We don't know if David had tolerance classes and anger management classes for his soldiers. They each thought they were doing him a favor by taking the lives of men that David felt should have a different form of justice. Whatever the reason David was grieved as the acts of evil on his enemies. He was willing to forgive, even if his men didn't catch that theme. How we feel about the fall of our enemies is something God is concerned about. Perhaps this is why David's son, Solomon, would later right a great admonishment to us to remember:
Proverbs 24:17
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
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