2 Samuel 21:2

2 Entonces el rey mandó llamar a los gabaonitas. No formaban parte de Israel, pero eran todo lo que quedaba de la nación de los amorreos. El pueblo de Israel había jurado no matarlos, pero Saúl, en su celo por Israel y Judá, trató de exterminarlos.

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 David cobra venganza por los gabaonitas
Durante el reinado de David hubo un hambre que duró tres años. Entonces David consultó al Señor
, y el Señor
dijo: «El hambre se debe a que Saúl y su familia son culpables de la muerte de los gabaonitas».

2 Entonces el rey mandó llamar a los gabaonitas. No formaban parte de Israel, pero eran todo lo que quedaba de la nación de los amorreos. El pueblo de Israel había jurado no matarlos, pero Saúl, en su celo por Israel y Judá, trató de exterminarlos.

3 David les preguntó:
—¿Qué puedo hacer por ustedes? ¿Cómo puedo compensarlos para que ustedes vuelvan a bendecir al pueblo del Señor
?

4 —Bueno, el dinero no puede resolver este asunto entre nosotros y la familia de Saúl —le contestaron los gabaonitas—. Tampoco podemos exigir la vida de cualquier persona de Israel.
—¿Qué puedo hacer entonces? —preguntó David—. Solo díganme, y lo haré por ustedes.

5 Ellos respondieron:
—Fue Saúl quien planeó destruirnos, para impedir que tengamos un lugar en el territorio de Israel.