Shmuel Bais 21:2

2 And HaMelech called the Giveonim, and said unto them; (now the Giveonim were not of the Bnei Yisroel, but of the remnant of the Emori; and the Bnei Yisroel had sworn unto them; and Sha’ul sought to annihilate them in his kinot (zeal) for the Bnei Yisroel and Yehudah.)

Shmuel Bais 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 ) .

Shmuel Bais 21:2 In-Context

1 1 Then there was a ra’av (famine) in the days of Dovid shalosh shanim, shanah after shanah; and Dovid inquired of Hashem. And Hashem answered, It is on account of Sha’ul, and for his bais hadamim, because he slaughtered the Giveonim.

2 And HaMelech called the Giveonim, and said unto them; (now the Giveonim were not of the Bnei Yisroel, but of the remnant of the Emori; and the Bnei Yisroel had sworn unto them; and Sha’ul sought to annihilate them in his kinot (zeal) for the Bnei Yisroel and Yehudah.)

3 Therefore Dovid said unto the Giveonim, What shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the kapporah, that ye may bless the nachalat Hashem?

4 And the Giveonim said unto him, We will have no kesef nor zahav of Sha’ul, nor of his bais; neither for us shalt thou kill any ish in Yisroel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.

5 And they answered HaMelech, The ish that consumed us, and that plotted against us that we should be made shmad from remaining in any of the territories of Yisroel,