2 Samuel 21:1-9

2. The Three Years of Famine, 2 Samuel 21:1-22.

The Gibeonites Avenged. 2 Samuel 21:1-9

Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)

3 Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?
4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.

5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,

6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them.

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the Lord's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

1.

Who were the Gibeonites? 2 Samuel 21:1

The Gibeonites were inhabitants of a republic which included not only Gibeon, the capital, but the towns of Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-Jearim. Gibeon was larger than Ai, the city which Israel attacked when she first came up out of the Jordan valley in the days of Joshua (Joshua 10:2). Gibeon was one of the royal cities and was inhabited by Hivites, who were a brave people (Joshua 10:7; Joshua 11:19). When the land was settled by the Israelites, the city was allotted to the tribe of Benjamin and set aside as a Levitical city (Joshua 18:25; Joshua 21:17). After the destruction of the priestly family at Nob by Saul, the tabernacle was moved to Gibeon; and it remained there until the building of Solomon's temple (1 Chronicles 16:39; 1 Chronicles 21:29; 1 Kings 3:4-5; 2 Chronicles 1:3). A team of archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania excavated the site of El-Jib in 1956. The walls and part of the city's water supply system were uncovered. More recent diggings reveal that the city had an elaborate system of civil defense which was designed to enable Gibeon to withstand indefinite siege. They also found a cemetery dating to 2000 years before Christ and containing thirty-six rock-cut tombs which illustrated burial customs and documented the details of the Gibeonite daily life several hundred years before the Israelites came to Palestine. These people had lived at peace with the Israelites from the days of Joshua when they deceived the Israelites by their camouflage and Joshua made a treaty of peace with them.

2.

Why had Saul sought to slay them? 2 Samuel 21:1 b

The Gibeonites were not members of any of the tribes of Israel, but were known as Amorites, a name given to the Canaanites in general on occasion and probably signifying those who dwelt in the hills (Joshua 24:8). They were descended from Canaan (Genesis 10:16). Joshua's covenant with them was an unending one and should have been honored by all leaders of Israel who followed Joshua (Joshua 9:15). No historical reference is made to Saul's effort to exterminate them, but he probably did this in a burst of senseless zeal after he had failed to exterminate the Amalekites, as if wiping out a Canaanite tribe would atone for his failure to get rid of the Amalekites.

3.

Why was the nation punished for Saul's sin? 2 Samuel 21:2

Israel had sworn to the men of Gibeon that they would be at peace throughout their days. This was promised at the time Israel conquered the land, and an account of this promise is found in Joshua 9:1-27. Saul had slain a number of the men of Gibeon. No number is given, but the number was probably larger than the seven lives sought in revenge. Saul had sinned, it is true; and all Israel paid the penalty by a famine because of Saul's zeal for Israel and the fact that the nation would be held responsible for the acts of her leaders. Why the Gibeonites should desire the penalty to be paid in Gibeah of Saul is not known; but it was, of course, Saul's home.

4.

Why did the Gibeonites want seven men to be killed? 2 Samuel 21:6

The Gibeonites told David that they did not want retribution in the form of the payment of money, neither did they want to punish all Israel for the sins of her king. They asked for specific revenge in the form of the killing of seven descendants of Saul. By hanging them up in Gibeah they would keep the shame upon Saul's home and any other of his descendants who might live there. Seven sons were chosen to signify a complete number. The number seven is generally taken to be a full number, God having ordained seven days in a week and often providing that a payment be made seven times for injuries sustained (Genesis 4:15; Proverbs 6:31).

5.

Why did David spare Mephibosheth? 2 Samuel 21:7

Mephibosheth was the grandson of Saul, and his death would certainly have satisfied the demands of the Gibeonites. David spared him because he had sworn with an oath to Jonathan, the son of Saul, that he would not harm his heirs. This oath was made immediately after David had killed Goliath and was repeated a number of times as David was in exile from Saul's court (1 Samuel 18:3; 1 Samuel 20:8; 1 Samuel 8:15; 1 Samuel 23:18). It is called the Lord's oath because the men swore to each other as unto the Lord. It was a sacred covenant, and David would not do anything to break it. It is significant that he spared Mephibosheth even though Ziba had said that Mephibosheth entertained noeions of succeeding David to the throne (2 Samuel 16:3).

6.

Which of Saul's descendants were slain? 2 Samuel 21:8

David took two sons of RizpahArmoni and Mephibosheth. Rizpah was Saul's concubine, and she had borne these children to Saul. David took five sons of Merab, Saul's oldest daughter. She was the daughter who should have been given to David as his wife as a reward for his killing Goliath (1 Samuel 18:19), but when it came time for the marriage, Saul gave her to Adriel, the Meholathite, to be his wife and to embarrass David. Michal had no children of her own (2 Samuel 6:23), and these sons were evidently taken into Michal's care for rearing after Merab had died. Barzillai is noted as the father of Adriel, but this is quite evidently a different Barzillai from the one who aided David while he was in Gilead (2 Samuel 17:27). These seven descendants of Saul were hung by the Gibeonites in Gibeah, the home of Saul.

7.

How were the sons banged? 2 Samuel 21:9

The Gibeonites asked that the persons executed might be impaled as a public exhibition of the punishment. The bodies were gibbeted and exposed after death. These sons were slain at the beginning of the harvest (near the first of June) and Rizpah kept watch over them until the time of the autumnal rains (sometime in November). This was a long period of five months. Rizpah, Saul's concubine, posed a tragic, dramatic figure in the heart of the scripture account. Although the place of woman in those days was not what we know it to be now, women still were capable of that faithful deep devotion which is well expressed in mother love. The attachment of Rizpah to her sons caused David to again show his respect for Saul.