2 Samuel 21:12-14

12 then David went and took ¹the 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 ²Beth-shan, ³where * the Philistines had hanged them on the day ⁴the 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 ⁵Zela, in the grave of Kish his father; thus they did all that the king commanded, and after that ⁶God was moved by prayer for the land.

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2 Samuel 21:12-14 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 6

1. 1 Samuel 31:11-13
2. Joshua 17:11
3. 1 Samuel 31:10
4. 1 Samuel 31:3, 4
5. Joshua 18:28
6. Joshua 7:26; 2 Samuel 24:25

Footnotes 1

[a]. Lit "exposed"