Beware of man's selfish ambition

The lesson, “When Responding to Loss” is aimed at those who will suffer loss, which includes all of us. It is not intended for those surrounding a person who suffers loss.

As part of the background passage, it’s instructive to compare how David responded to the loss of Saul and Jonathan with his response to the loss of Abner (2 Sam 3:28-39) and Ish-Bosheth (2 Sam 4:9-12). Furthermore, contrast Joab’s murder of Abner (2 Sam 3:22-26) in response to his having legitimately killed Joab’s brother in battle (2 Sam 2:18-23).

Mark Rathel’s commentary doesn’t stick to the “responding to loss” topic. Instead he takes the passage 2 Samuel 1-4 more for the spiritual principles it teaches.

You also might consider Bob Deffinbaugh’s “black hat and white hat” approach (See the section titled 'What we can learn from Joab and Abner'). I think it could be made to work with all four chapters (2 Sam 1-4) with an alternate title of "Beware of man's selfish ambition".