2 Samuel 21:2

2 vocatis ergo Gabaonitis rex dixit ad eos porro Gabaonitae non sunt de filiis Israhel sed reliquiae Amorreorum filii quippe Israhel iuraverant eis et voluit Saul percutere eos zelo quasi pro filiis Israhel et Iuda

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 facta est quoque fames in diebus David tribus annis iugiter et consuluit David oraculum Domini dixitque Dominus propter Saul et domum eius et sanguinem quia occidit Gabaonitas

2 vocatis ergo Gabaonitis rex dixit ad eos porro Gabaonitae non sunt de filiis Israhel sed reliquiae Amorreorum filii quippe Israhel iuraverant eis et voluit Saul percutere eos zelo quasi pro filiis Israhel et Iuda

3 dixit ergo David ad Gabaonitas quid faciam vobis et quod erit vestri piaculum ut benedicatis hereditati Domini

4 dixeruntque ei Gabaonitae non est nobis super argento et auro quaestio contra Saul et contra domum eius neque volumus ut interficiatur homo de Israhel ad quos ait quid ergo vultis ut faciam vobis

5 qui dixerunt regi virum qui adtrivit nos et oppressit inique ita delere debemus ut ne unus quidem residuus sit de stirpe eius in cunctis finibus Israhel