Day 163 – 2 Samuel 21:1-9
Scripture Review
2 Samuel 21:1-9
"Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites."
(2 Samuel 21:1)
The kingdom has survived rebellion, but now the land suffers under famine. For three years the ground does not yield as it should, and David finally inquires of the LORD. It was "year after year." The repeated nature of it made David realize something deeper was wrong. He did not only study the weather or blame the soil. He knew the land belonged to the LORD, and he needed the LORD's answer. The LORD says the famine is because of Saul and his house was guilty of bloodshed. Saul had slain the Gibeonites. The sin was not new, but it was not forgotten by God. God's books are not like man's memory. People may move on, leaders may die, and nations may forget, but God does not forget innocent blood and broken promises.
"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."
(2 Samuel 21:2)
David calls the Gibeonites, part of the remaining Canaanite people in the land. Israel had made a covenant with the Gibeonites in Joshua's day. Even though the Gibeonites had first deceived Joshua, Israel's leaders still made an oath, and God held that oath seriously.
"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?"
(2 Samuel 21:3)
David asks the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you?" He recognizes they were the injured people, and he asks what restitution is needed. He wants the Gibeonites to "bless the inheritance of the LORD. David understands that the mistreated people must no longer have cause to cry out against Israel before God. He takes responsibility to deal with old wrongs that still affect the nation.
"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."
(2 Samuel 21:4)
The Gibeonites say money cannot answer for blood. They also say David should not kill just any man in Israel on their behalf. They are not asking David to slaughter Israelites without cause. David answers which shows he is willing to hear them fully.
"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,"
(2 Samuel 21:5)
The Gibeonites describe Saul as the man who sook to destroy, devour, or wipe out their people. They say he "devised" against them meaning it was not an accident. It was a deliberate effort to destroy them from remaining in the "coasts" of Israel.
"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."
(2 Samuel 21:6)
The Gibeonites ask for seven men from Saul's sons to be delivered to them. The number seven often carries the idea of completeness. They ask to hang them "unto the LORD" in Gibeah, Saul's own place. Meaning they would be publicly executed and exposed. This was not private punishment. It was public judgment connected to the guilt of Saul's house.
I need to be careful here. The law says children are not to be put to death for the fathers in normal civil judgment. But this was an extraordinary case where the LORD Himself had revealed that Saul's bloody house had brought guilt on the land. Scripture is showing divine judgment on a covenant-breaking royal house, not permission for men to punish innocent descendants whenever they choose. David recognizes that the matter is before God, and the land cannot be healed while the guilt is ignored.
"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."
(2 Samuel 21:7)
David spares Mephibosheth, because he had made a covenant with Jonathan, and he will not break that oath even while dealing with Saul's broken oath to the Gibeonites. This verse shows hope in the middle of a dark passage. Judgment is real, but covenant mercy is real too. Mephibosheth is spared, not because Saul's house had no guilt, but because David is bound by the covenant he made before the LORD.
"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:"
(2 Samuel 21:8)
David takes seven descendants connected to Saul's house. Two are sons of Rizpah, Saul's concubine, Armoni and another Mephibosheth. This is not Jonathan's son Mephibosheth. It is a different man with the same name. The verse also mentions five sons connected to Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she "brought up" for Adriel. The Bible says Michal had no child, and Saul's daughter Merab was married to Adriel. These sons may have been of Merab whom Michal may have raised. The main point of the verse is clear, seven men from Saul's house are appointed for judgment.
"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."
(2 Samuel 21:9)
David delivers the seven men into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they are hanged in the hill "before the LORD." The phrase shows this was done under the solemn eye of God in connection with the guilt that had brought famine on the land.
They fell all seven together and they died at the beginning of barley harvest, which was the early grain harvest in Israel. The land had been dry under judgment. Harvest could not be enjoyed rightly while guilt remained unresolved. Justice had to be faced before blessing could fully return.