2 Samuel 21:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we are told about the wrong Saul did to the Gibeonites long before this, though the earlier history of his reign did not mention it. We would not know of it here either, except that God now called it to account. The Gibeonites were part of the remaining Amorites (2 Samuel 21:2). They had used a trick to make peace with Israel, and Joshua had publicly promised to protect them. In Joshua 9, it was agreed that their lives would be spared, though they would lose their land and freedom, so they would serve Israel in a lower position.

There is no sign that the Gibeonites broke their side of the covenant. They did not refuse service, and they did not try to recover their land or rights. Saul, however, acted as if he were defending Israel’s honor, as though it would be shameful to leave any native people among them. Under that pretense, he tried to wipe them out and killed many of them. He may have wanted to show himself wiser than the judges before him, and more devoted to the public good. He may even have thought he was using his royal authority to cancel earlier agreements and overturn solemn treaties.

Perhaps he meant this harsh treatment of the Gibeonites to make up for his earlier mercy toward the Amalekites. Some think he attacked the Gibeonites at the same time he removed the mediums and spiritists (1 Samuel 28:3). Or perhaps many of them were known for their devotion to God, and Saul aimed at them when he killed the priests, who were their leaders. What made this sin especially serious was that he did not only spill innocent blood, he also broke the solemn oath that bound the nation to protect them. This is part of what brought ruin on Saul’s house, for it was a bloody house.

Later, Israel was punished with a severe famine because of Saul’s sin. Even in the land of Israel, a fertile land, and even during David’s glorious reign, there was a famine. It was not so severe at first that everyone immediately saw the cause, but it lasted for three years. If one year’s crop fails, the next year often makes up for it. But if it fails for three years in a row, it is a heavy judgment. Wise people should hear God’s warning in such trouble and turn from misused plenty.

David asked God about the famine. Even though he himself was a prophet, he still had to seek God’s answer in God’s appointed way. When we are under God’s discipline, we should ask what the dispute is about: “Lord, show me why you are contending with me.” It is strange that David did not ask sooner, not until the third year. Still, perhaps he did not first think it was a special judgment for a particular sin. Even good people are often slow and careless in doing their duty. We stay in ignorance and error because we delay asking.

God answered at once, though David had been slow to ask: “It is for Saul.” God’s judgments often reach far back, and that means we must look back too when he corrects us. We should not object that the people suffer for their king’s sin, because they may have helped in it, or that one generation suffers for the sins of the last. God often visits the sins of fathers on children, and his judgments are very deep. He gives no one an account of his ways. Time does not erase guilt, and delayed judgment does not promise safety. There is no time limit against God’s claims. He may punish whenever he chooses.

Then vengeance was taken on Saul’s house to turn away God’s wrath from the land, which was already suffering for Saul’s sin. David, likely by God’s direction, put the matter before the Gibeonites themselves and asked them what satisfaction should be given for the wrong done to them (2 Samuel 21:3). For many years they had stayed silent. They had not appealed to David, and they had not troubled the kingdom with complaints or demands. Now, at last, God spoke for them, as in “I heard not, for you will hear” (Psalm 38:14-15). Their patience was rewarded with the honor of judging their own case. David gave them full freedom to set the terms: “Whatever you say, I will do” (2 Samuel 21:4), so that atonement could be made and they could bless the inheritance of the Lord (2 Samuel 21:3).

It is a sad thing for any family or nation to have the prayers of the oppressed against them. The cost of just restitution is well spent if it restores the blessing of people who were nearly destroyed. Job says, “My servant Job, whom you have wronged, will pray for you” (Job 29:13), and then God will be reconciled. Those do not understand themselves who do not value the prayers of the poor and despised.

The Gibeonites asked that seven of Saul’s descendants be put to death, and David agreed. They did not ask for silver or gold (2 Samuel 21:4). Money is no proper payment for blood. The law says that blood calls for blood (Numbers 35:31-33), and people value life too little if they would sell the blood of their relatives for silver and gold. The Gibeonites now had a good chance to gain their freedom in return for the wrong done to them, according to the justice of the law about injuries to a servant (Exodus 21:26). But they did not insist on that. Though the covenant had been broken on Israel’s side, they would not break it on theirs. They were Nethinim, that is, given for service to God and Israel, and they did not want to seem tired of that service.

They asked for no lives except those from Saul’s family. Since Saul had done the wrong, his children must answer for it. In ordinary law, people may sue heirs for a parent’s debts. But no one may carry that idea so far as death, because children must not be put to death for their parents’ sins (Deuteronomy 24:16). This case was entirely unusual. God had made himself an immediate party to the matter, and he no doubt put this request into the Gibeonites’ hearts, since he approved what was done later (2 Samuel 21:14). His judgments are not bound by the same rules as human courts.

Parents should be careful about sin, especially cruelty and oppression, because their poor children may suffer for it later by God’s just hand, even after the parents are dead. Guilt and a curse are a bad inheritance for a family. Saul’s descendants seem to have followed his ways, for this is called a bloody house. That spirit belonged to the family, and so they were rightly held accountable for his sin, as well as for their own.

They would not make David carry out the execution himself. They said, “You shall not kill anyone for us,” but, “we will do it ourselves, and we will hang them before the Lord” (2 Samuel 21:4, 2 Samuel 21:6). If there was any pain or shame in it, they were willing to bear the blame, not David or his family. In the old law, when a murderer was found guilty after a formal appeal, the family who made the charge carried out the execution.

They did not ask for this out of hatred for Saul or his family. If they had wanted revenge, they would have pushed for it much earlier. They asked because they loved the people of Israel and saw that the nation was being struck because of the wrong done to them. “We will hang them before the Lord” (2 Samuel 21:6), to satisfy God’s justice, not to feed personal revenge, and for the good of the whole nation, not for their own honor.

They left the naming of the men to David. He made sure to spare Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, so that while he was dealing with one broken oath, he would not break another (2 Samuel 21:7). But he handed over two of Saul’s sons, whom Saul had by a concubine, and five of his grandsons, whom Merab, Saul’s daughter, bore to Adriel, though Michal brought them up (2 Samuel 21:8; 1 Samuel 18:19). Saul’s earlier deceit was also being judged, since he had given Merab to Adriel after promising her to David, apparently to stir trouble. Bishop Hall notes here that it is a dangerous thing to harm God’s faithful people. If their own gentleness has let the matter pass, God will not ignore it forever, even if much time goes by.

The place, time, and manner of their death all made the act more solemn, as a sacrifice to divine justice. They were hanged, which marked them as under God’s curse, since the law said, “A man hung on a tree is cursed by God” (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13). Christ, by taking that cursed death on himself to make satisfaction for our sins and turn away God’s wrath, became obedient even to this shameful death.

They were hanged in Gibeah of Saul (2 Samuel 21:6), which showed clearly that they were dying because of Saul’s sin. It was, as it were, right at their own doorstep, to make up for the guilt of Saul’s house. In this way, God carried out judgment on that family, and the blood of the priests and their families may also have been brought to remembrance before him, with inquiry made into it (Psalm 9:12). Still, only the blood of the Gibeonites is mentioned here, because that blood was shed in breaking a sacred oath. It had been sworn long before, and though the promise had been gained by deceit and had been made to Canaanites, God still called it to account. Those who despise an oath and break a covenant will find that God repays them for profaning his holy name (Ezekiel 17:18, Ezekiel 17:19). This also showed that with God, rich and poor stand on the same level. Even royal blood had to be offered in judgment for the blood of the Gibeonites, who were only servants of the congregation.

They were put to death in harvest time, at the start of the harvest (2 Samuel 21:9, 2 Samuel 21:10). This showed that they were being sacrificed to turn away the anger of God, who had withheld harvest blessings from them for several years, and to win his favor for the present harvest. In the same way, there is no true way to calm God’s anger except by putting our sins to death and dealing firmly with our corrupt desires. We cannot expect mercy from God unless we also do justice against our own sins. Such executions should not be called cruel when they become necessary for the public good. It was better for seven of Saul’s bloody house to die than for all Israel to suffer famine.