2 Samuel 21:2

2 Da ließ der König die Gibeoniter rufen und sprach zu ihnen. (Die Gibeoniter aber waren nicht von den Kindern Israel, sondern übrig von den Amoritern; aber die Kinder Israel hatten ihnen geschworen, und Saul suchte sie zu schlagen in seinem Eifer für die Kinder Israel und Juda.)

2 Samuel 21:2 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 21:2

And the king called the Gibeonites
Sent messengers unto them, and summoned them to come to him,

and said unto them;
what is expressed in ( 2 Samuel 21:3 ) ; for what follows is in a parenthesis:

(now the Gibeonites [were] not of the children of Israel;
originally, though they were proselyted to the Jewish religion, and were employed in the menial services of the sanctuary:

but of the remnant of the Amorites;
they were the remains of the old Canaanites, who sometimes in general were called Amorites, otherwise the Gibeonites were called Hivites; see ( Joshua 9:7 ) ( 11:19 ) ;

and the children of Israel had sworn unto them;
by their princes, as Joshua; yet,

and Saul, contrary to this oath, sought to slay them in his zeal to the
children of Israel and Judah);
pretending a great concern for them, for their honour and profit; that these men ought not to live in their cities, and take the bread out of their mouths, and be employed in the service of the sanctuary; but that they ought to be expelled, and even cut off, being the old inhabitants of the land, the Lord ordered to be destroyed; and that though the Israelites had given an oath to the contrary, they were drawn into it by guile and deceit, and therefore not binding upon them; hence he sought by all means to harass and oppress them, and slew many of them, and destroyed them out of their cities, that they might be possessed by Judah and Benjamin; see ( 2 Samuel 4:2 ) , compared with ( Joshua 9:17 ) .

2 Samuel 21:2 In-Context

1 Es war auch eine Teuerung zu Davids Zeiten drei Jahre aneinander. Und David suchte das Angesicht des HERRN; und der HERR sprach: Um Sauls willen und um des Bluthauses willen, daß er die Gibeoniter getötet hat.

2 Da ließ der König die Gibeoniter rufen und sprach zu ihnen. (Die Gibeoniter aber waren nicht von den Kindern Israel, sondern übrig von den Amoritern; aber die Kinder Israel hatten ihnen geschworen, und Saul suchte sie zu schlagen in seinem Eifer für die Kinder Israel und Juda.)

3 So sprach nun David zu den Gibeonitern: Was soll ich euch tun? und womit soll ich sühnen, daß ihr das Erbteil des HERRN segnet?

4 Die Gibeoniter sprachen zu ihm: Es ist uns nicht um Gold noch Silber zu tun an Saul und seinem Hause und steht uns nicht zu, jemand zu töten in Israel. Er sprach: Was sprecht ihr denn, daß ich euch tun soll?

5 Sie sprachen zum König: Den Mann, der uns verderbt und zunichte gemacht hat, sollen wir vertilgen, daß ihm nichts bleibe in allen Grenzen Israels.