2 Samuel 4:1 And when Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.
Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was a weak man on his own; he took his courage from another man, Abner, rather than from God. When Abner died, Ishbosheth was left with nothing. He collapsed in fear. Fear can paralyze; trust in God overcomes fear. Jeremiah says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm.”
He was the foil to David, who throughout his life put his trust in God. He had a heart for God. David was no great shakes as a sinful human being, but one redeeming quality was that he trusted in the Lord with all his heart. One example is the defeat of Goliath: “I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand [1 Sam. 17:45-46].”
David was obviously the stronger person than Ishbosheth, but that was because he did not trust in man, either himself or another man. The whole story of David exemplifies one who put his trust in God alone. In whom do we trust? God is for us and overcomes for us. Without faith we are feeble.