2 Samuel 21:1-14

Gibeonite Revenge

1 Now there was ¹a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and ²David sought the presence of the LORD. And the LORD said, "It is for Saul and his bloody house, because * he put the Gibeonites to death."

2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites, and ³the sons of Israel made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah ).

3 Thus David said to the Gibeonites, "What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless ⁴the inheritance of the LORD?"

4 Then the Gibeonites said to him, "⁵We have no concern of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel." And he said, "I will do for you whatever you say."

5 So they said to the king, "⁶The man who consumed us and who planned to exterminate us from remaining within any border of Israel,

6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them ⁷before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, ⁸the chosen of the LORD." And the king said, "I will give them."

7 But the king spared ⁹Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, ¹⁰because of the oath of the LORD which was between them, between David and Saul's son Jonathan.

8 So the king took the two sons of ¹¹Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of ¹²Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the ¹³Meholathite.

9 Then he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before the LORD, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at ¹⁴the beginning of barley harvest.

10 ¹⁵And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until it rained on them from the sky; and ¹⁶she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.

11 When it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done,

12 then David went and took ¹⁷the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead *, who had stolen them from the open square of ¹⁸Beth-shan, ¹⁹where * the Philistines had hanged them on the day ²⁰the Philistines struck down Saul in Gilboa.

13 He brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged.

14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in ²¹Zela, in the grave of Kish his father; thus they did all that the king commanded, and after that ²²God was moved by prayer for the land.

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2 Samuel 21:1-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 21

A famine being in the land three years, the Lord was inquired of, to know the reason of it; and it being answered, that it was on account of Saul's slaughter of the Gibeonites, they were summoned by David to know what satisfaction they required for the cruel usage of them, 2Sa 21:1-3; to which they replied, that they only desired seven of Saul's sons to be delivered up to them, to be hanged by them, which was granted, 2Sa 21:4-9; whose bones, with those of Saul and Jonathan, David buried in the sepulchre of their fathers, 2Sa 21:10-14; and the chapter is closed with an account of the various battles fought with the Philistines, in which four of their generals were slain, 2Sa 21:15-22.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 22

1. Genesis 12:10; Genesis 26:1; Genesis 42:5
2. Numbers 27:21
3. Josh 9:3, 15-20
4. 1 Samuel 26:19; 2 Samuel 20:19
5. Numbers 35:31, 32
6. 2 Samuel 21:1
7. Numbers 25:4
8. 1 Samuel 10:24
9. 2 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 9:10
10. 1 Samuel 18:3; 1 Samuel 20:12-17; 1 Samuel 23:18; 2 Samuel 9:1-7
11. 2 Samuel 3:7
12. 1 Samuel 18:19
13. 1 Kings 19:16
14. Exodus 9:31, 32
15. Deuteronomy 21:23
16. 1 Samuel 17:44, 46
17. 1 Samuel 31:11-13
18. Joshua 17:11
19. 1 Samuel 31:10
20. 1 Samuel 31:3, 4
21. Joshua 18:28
22. Joshua 7:26; 2 Samuel 24:25

Footnotes 9

[a]. Lit "had sworn to"
[b]. Lit "smite"
[c]. Lit "against us that we should be exterminated"
[d]. Lit "expose them"
[e]. So Gr and Heb mss
[f]. Lit "exposed them"
[g]. Lit "water was poured"
[h]. Lit "gave"
[i]. Lit "exposed"