_A FAMINE RAGING FOR THE SLAUGHTER OF THE GIBEONITES MADE BY SAUL; SEVEN OF SAUL'S SONS ARE DELIVERED TO THEM, WHOM THEY HANG. DAVID BURIES THE BONES OF SAUL AND JONATHAN IN THE SEPULCHRE OF THEIR FATHER._ _Before Christ 1019._... [ Continue Reading ]
THREE YEARS, YEAR AFTER YEAR— Houbigant reads it, _for three successive years._ The crime for which the three years of famine were sent, was the murder of many of the Gibeonites by Saul, with a determined purpose utterly to destroy the remainder; and this contrary to the public oath and faith, which... [ Continue Reading ]
IN GIBEAH OF SAUL, WHOM THE LORD DID CHOOSE— _Whom the Lord had chosen,_ says Houbigant; or, _according to the word of the Lord:_ for when David asks the Gibeonites, 2 Samuel 21:3. _What shall I do for you?_ it seems, God had commanded that the wickedness of Saul should be expiated with that blood w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FIVE SONS OF MICHAL— Or, _Merab._ From the parallel passage, 1 Samuel 18:19 it appears that _Merab,_ not _Michal,_ was married to Adriel; and therefore, as Houbigant has very fully shewn, we should read _Merab_ in this place, instead of _Michal._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE DELIVERED THEM INTO THE HANDS OF THE GIBEONITES— David had given Saul his oath, that "he would not cut off his seed after him, nor destroy his name out of his father's house." Had Saul's family committed crimes worthy of death, David's oath would have been no reason against punishing them acc... [ Continue Reading ]
AND RIZPAH THE DAUGHTER OF AIAH, &C.— Commentators have justly observed from hence, that the hanging of these carcases for so long a time in the open air, could not be in consequence of any command from David, because it was an open violation of the law of God, Deuteronomy 21:22 which commanded that... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER THE PHILISTINES HAD YET WAR AGAIN WITH ISRAEL— It appears from chap. 2 Samuel 15:18 that Ittai, an exile from Gath, arrived at Jerusalem with all his men on the very eve of David's flight before his son Absalom; whence it is probable, that the Philistines, hearing of Absalom's rebellion, to... [ Continue Reading ]
A BATTLE IN GOB WITH THE PHILISTINES— Houbigant, with whom Calmet agrees, observes, that both here and in the next verse, the reading of the parallel place, 1 Chronicles 20:4 is to be preferred. It is there read, _in Gezur,_ a city on the borders of Israel, near the Philistines; and as David slew Go... [ Continue Reading ]