The Gibeonites Demand Revenge
21:1 During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, because he murdered the Gibeonites.”
2 Samuel 1-20 were written in chronological order. Chapters 21-24 are appendixes which cover some of the events in David’s life.
Israel experienced a famine for three years. This means there were no spring or fall rains in Israel. This was very unusual, so David asked God about this famine. He most likely used the Urim and Thummin to gain this divine information. The reason for the famine was that King Saul had violated a treaty with the Gibeonites.
21:2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)
The Gibeonites were Canaanites. Four hundred years earlier, Joshua was commanded to exterminate all of the Canaanites in Israel, including all of the Gibeonites. However, the Gibeonites disguised their ambassadors as men from a very distant nation. They made an alliance treaty with Israel. Later, Joshua found out that he had been deceived, but he had already made a treaty with the Gibeonites. Therefore, God expected Israel to keep this treaty, even though they were tricked into it. Saul did not keep the treaty. He and his family killed many of the Gibeonites. This slaughter was mentioned only this one time in Scripture. Therefore, God sent famine on Israel, because they had violated their treaty. God expected Israel to keep their word with other nations.
21:3 David said to the Gibeonites, “What can I do for you, and how can I make amends so that you will bless the Lord’s inheritance?”
King David allowed the Gibeonites to choose their own restitution.
21:4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked, “What then are you asking me to do for you?”
The Gibeonites were not interested in silver or gold from the family members of Saul. They also did not want to put to death any Israelites who were not involved in this slaughter.
21:5 They replied to the king, “As for this man who exterminated us and who schemed against us so that we were destroyed and left without status throughout all the borders of Israel – 21:6 let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, who was the Lord’s chosen one.” The king replied, “I will turn them over.”
There was a good chance that these seven sons were just as guilty as their father in this unwarranted slaughter of the Gibeonites.
21:7 The king had mercy on Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, in light of the Lord’s oath that had been taken between David and Jonathan son of Saul.
David made an oath with Jonathan not to kill his family line, so he left Mephibosheth out of the executions. Most pagan kings would have used this excuse to eliminate the entire family line of Saul, since this line was a threat to the Davidic monarchy. David did not follow the lead of pagan kings on this issue. However, God eliminated the line of Saul for David.
21:8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah whom she had born to Saul, and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab whom she had born to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
Michal was without children of her own, but she may have raised the five sons of her brother-in-law Adriel.
21:9 He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them died together; they were put to death during harvest time – during the first days of the beginning of the barley harvest.
The seven descendants of Saul were executed by the pagan law of lex talionis—eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and life for life. The Mosaic Law also incorporated similar degrees of punishment. God knows the heart of man and uses these kinds of strict punishments in an attempt to restrain evil.
21:10 Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on them, she did not allow the birds of the air to feed on them by day, nor the wild animals by night.
According to the Mosaic Law, bodies were not to hang overnight. However, the Gibeonites were not under the law. Therefore, Rizpah had to camp on this execution site to keep the birds from eating the flesh of the corpses. As soon as the fall rains came, then the curse was over and the bodies could be taken down.
21:11 When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done, 21:12 he went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the leaders of Jabesh Gilead. (They had secretly taken them from the plaza at Beth Shan. It was there that Philistines publicly exposed their corpses after they had killed Saul at Gilboa.)
After the fall rains returned, David removed the bodies from the leaders of Jabesh Gilead.
21:13 David brought the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son from there; they also gathered up the bones of those who had been executed.
David gathered up all of the bodily remains.
21:14 They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin at Zela in the grave of his father Kish. After they had done everything that the king had commanded, God responded to their prayers for the land.
The bodies were buried and God began to answer prayers once again. Israel was under a conditional Mosaic Covenant, so they were blessed for obedience and cursed for disobedience.
Israel Engages in Various Battles with the Philistines
21:15 Another battle was fought between the Philistines and Israel. So David went down with his soldiers and fought the Philistines. David became exhausted.
This is a second appendix of the life of David. As David grew older, he no longer had the strength, vitality, and stamina of his youth.
21:16 Now Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, had a spear that weighed three hundred bronze shekels, and he was armed with a new weapon. He had said that he would kill David.
Ishbi-Benob was one of the descendants of the Rapha. The Rapha were either giants or very large men who descended from the Anakim. Rapha was a son of the giant Goliath. He wanted to avenge his father’s death by killing David, who was an old man at this time.
21:17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to David’s aid, striking the Philistine down and killing him. Then David’s men took an oath saying, “You will not go out to battle with us again! You must not extinguish the lamp of Israel!”
General Abishai was the brother of General Joab and the nephew of King David. He was a very strong and powerful warrior. He came and saved David from being killed. The Israelite army asked David not to fight anymore. If he would happen to die at this time, there would not be a capable ruler in Israel to replace him.
21:18 Later there was another battle with the Philistines, this time in Gob. On that occasion Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of Rapha.
This third appendix mentioned another battle where Sibbekai killed another Philistine giant.
21:19 Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
This fourth appendix listed another battle where Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath. The words “brother of” are not in the original Hebrew, so skeptics claim that this is a bible contradiction. Either this was a copyist error, or there were two giants named Goliath. This could have been Goliath Jr., who was named after his father Goliath. Every culture uses the identical names for different individuals, so this is not a bible contradiction. The writer could have added this appendix to clear up the issue.
21:20 Yet another battle occurred in Gath. On that occasion there was a large man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all! He too was a descendant of Rapha.
The fifth appendix recorded another encounter with a giant during a battle in Gath.
21:21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, killed him.
Jonathan was the nephew of King David. Like his uncle, he killed the taunting giant.
21:22 These four were the descendants of Rapha who lived in Gath; they were killed by David and his soldiers.
The Philistine giants used their physical strength and physical power for evil. All of the giants of the Philistines were finally exterminated. The giants were so ungodly and so violent, that God did not allow their race to continue.