2 Samuel 21 commentary

Every affliction arises from sin, and should lead us to repent and humble ourselves before God; but some troubles especially show that they are sent to bring sin to remembrance. God's judgments often look a great way back, which requires us to do so, when we are under his rebukes. It is not for us to object against the people's smarting for the sin of their king; perhaps they helped him. Nor against this generation suffering for the sin of the last. God often visits the sins of the fathers upon the children, and he gives no account of any matters. Time does not wear out the guilt of sin; nor can we build hopes of escape upon the delay of judgments. If we cannot understand all the reasons of Providence in this matter, still we have no right to demand that God should acquaint us with those reasons. It must be right, because it is the will of God, and in the end it will be proved to be so. Money is no satisfaction for blood. It should seem, Saul's posterity trod in his steps, for it is called a bloody house. It was the spirit of the family, therefore they are justly reckoned with for his sin, as well as for their own. The Gibeonites did not require this out of malice against Saul or his family. It was not to gratify any revenge, but for the public good. They were put to death at the beginning of harvest; they were thus sacrificed to turn away the wrath of Almighty God, who had withheld the harvest-mercies for some years past, and to obtain his favour in the present harvest. In vain do we expect mercy from God, unless we do justice upon our sins. Executions must not be thought cruel, which are for the public welfare.

That a guilty land should enjoy many years of plenty, calls for gratitude; and we need not wonder misused abundance should be punished with scarcity; yet how few are disposed to ask of the Lord concerning the sinful cause, while numbers search for the second causes by which he is pleased to work! But the Lord will plead the cause of those who cannot or will not avenge themselves; and the prayers of the poor are of great power. When God sent rain to water the earth, these bodies were buried, for then it appeared that God was entreated for the land. When justice is done on earth, vengeance from heaven ceases. God is pacified, and is entreated for us through Christ, who was hanged on a tree, and so made a curse for us, to do away our guilt, though he was himself guiltless.

These events seem to have taken place towards the end of David's reign. David fainted, but he did not flee, and God sent help in the time of need. In spiritual conflicts, even strong saints sometimes wax faint; then Satan attacks them furiously; but those who stand their ground and resist him, shall be relieved and made more than conquerors. Death is a Christian's last enemy, and a son of Anak; but through Him that triumphed for us, believers shall be more than conquerors at last, even over that enemy.

CHAPTER 21

2Sa 21:1-9. The Three Years' Famine for the Gibeonites Cease by Hanging Seven of Saul's Sons.

1. the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites--The sacred history has not recorded either the time or the reason of this massacre. Some think that they were sufferers in the atrocity perpetrated by Saul at Nob (1Sa 22:19), where many of them may have resided as attendants of the priests; while others suppose it more probable that the attempt was made afterwards, with a view to regain the popularity he had lost throughout the nation by that execrable outrage.

2. in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah--Under pretense of a rigorous and faithful execution of the divine law regarding the extermination of the Canaanites, he set himself to expel or destroy those whom Joshua had been deceived into sparing. His real object seems to have been, that the possessions of the Gibeonites, being forfeited to the crown, might be divided among his own people (compare 1Sa 22:7). At all events, his proceeding against this people was in violation of a solemn oath, and involving national guilt. The famine was, in the wise and just retribution of Providence, made a national punishment, since the Hebrews either assisted in the massacre, or did not interpose to prevent it; since they neither endeavored to repair the wrong, nor expressed any horror of it; and since a general protracted chastisement might have been indispensable to inspire a proper respect and protection to the Gibeonite remnant that survived.

6. Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul--The practice of the Hebrews, as of most Oriental nations, was to slay first, and afterwards to suspend on a gibbet, the body not being left hanging after sunset. The king could not refuse this demand of the Gibeonites, who, in making it, were only exercising their right as blood-avengers; and, although through fear and a sense of weakness they had not hitherto claimed satisfaction, yet now that David had been apprised by the oracle of the cause of the long-prevailing calamity, he felt it his duty to give the Gibeonites full satisfaction--hence their specifying the number seven, which was reckoned full and complete. And if it should seem unjust to make the descendants suffer for a crime which, in all probability, originated with Saul himself, yet his sons and grandsons might be the instruments of his cruelty, the willing and zealous executors of this bloody raid.

the king said, I will give them--David cannot be charged with doing this as an indirect way or ridding himself of rival competitors for the throne, for those delivered up were only collateral branches of Saul's family, and never set up any claim to the sovereignty. Moreover, David was only granting the request of the Gibeonites as God had bidden him do.

8. the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel--Merab, Michal's sister, was the wife of Adriel; but Michal adopted and brought up the boys under her care.

9. they hanged them in the hill before the Lord--Deeming themselves not bound by the criminal law of Israel (De 21:22, 23), their intention was to let the bodies hang until God, propitiated by this offering, should send rain upon the land, for the want of it had occasioned the famine. It was a heathen practice to gibbet men with a view of appeasing the anger of the gods in seasons of famine, and the Gibeonites, who were a remnant of the Amorites (2Sa 21:2), though brought to the knowledge of the true God, were not, it seems, free from this superstition. God, in His providence, suffered the Gibeonites to ask and inflict so barbarous a retaliation, in order that the oppressed Gibeonites might obtain justice and some reparation of their wrongs, especially that the scandal brought on the name of the true religion by the violation of a solemn national compact might be wiped away from Israel, and that a memorable lesson should be given to respect treaties and oaths.

2Sa 21:10, 11. Rizpah's Kindness unto the Dead.

10. Rizpah ... took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock--She erected a tent near the spot, in which she and her servants kept watch, as the relatives of executed persons were wont to do, day and night, to scare the birds and beasts of prey away from the remains exposed on the low-standing gibbets.

2Sa 21:12-22. David Buries the Bones of Saul and Jonathan in Their Father's Sepulcher.

12. David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, &c.--Before long, the descent of copious showers, or perhaps an order of the king, gave Rizpah the satisfaction of releasing the corpses from their ignominious exposure; and, incited by her pious example, David ordered the remains of Saul and his sons to be transferred from their obscure grave in Jabesh-gilead to an honorable interment in the family vault at Zelah or Zelzah (1Sa 10:2), now Beit-jala.

15-22. Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel--Although the Philistines had completely succumbed to the army of David, yet the appearance of any gigantic champions among them revived their courage and stirred them up to renewed inroads on the Hebrew territory. Four successive contests they provoked during the latter period of David's reign, in the first of which the king ran so imminent a risk of his life that he was no longer allowed to encounter the perils of the battlefield.

Then there was a famine - Of this famine we know nothing; it is not mentioned in any part of the history of David.

Because he slew the Gibeonites - No such fact is mentioned in the life and transactions of Saul; nor is there any reference to it in any other part of Scripture.

The remnant of the Amorites - The Gibeonites were Hivites, not Amorites, as appears from Jos 11:19 : but Amorites is a name often given to the Canaanites in general, Gen 15:16; Amo 2:9, and elsewhere.

Wherewith shall I make the atonement - It is very strange that a choice of this kind should be left to such a people. Why not ask this of God himself?

Seven men of his sons - Meaning sons, grandsons, or other near branches of his family. It is supposed that the persons chosen were principal in assisting Saul to exterminate the Gibeonites. But where is the proof of this?

Five sons of Michal - whom she brought up - Michal, Saul's daughter, was never married to Adriel, but to David, and afterwards to Phaltiel; though it is here said she bore ילדה yaledah, not brought up, as we falsely translate it: but we learn from 1Sam 18:19, that Merab, one of Saul's daughters, was married to Adriel.

Two of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. have Merab, not Michal; the Syriac and Arabic have Nadab; the Chaldee has properly Merab; but it renders the passage thus: - And the five sons of Merab which Michal the daughter of Saul brought up, which she brought forth to Adriel the son of Barzillai. This cuts the knot.

In the beginning of barley harvest - This happened in Judea about the vernal equinox, or the 21st of March.

Rizpah - took sackcloth - Who can read the account of Rizpah's maternal affection for her sons that were now hanged, without feeling his mind deeply impressed with sorrows?

Did God require this sacrifice of Saul's sons, probably all innocent of the alleged crime of their father? Was there no other method of averting the Divine displeasure? Was the requisition of the Gibeonites to have Saul's sons sacrificed to God, to be considered as an oracle of God? Certainly not; God will not have man's blood for sacrifice, no more than he will have swine's blood. The famine might have been removed, and the land properly purged, by offering the sacrifices prescribed by the law, and by a general humiliation of the people.

Until water dropped upon them - Until the time of the autumnal rains, which in that country commence about October. Is it possible that this poor broken-hearted woman could have endured the fatigue, (and probably in the open air), of watching these bodies for more than five months? Some think that the rain dropping on them out of heaven means the removal of the famine which was occasioned by drought, by now sending rain, which might have been shortly after these men were hanged; but this by no means agrees with the manner in which the account is introduced: "They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. And Rizpah - took sackcloth, and spread it for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest, until water dropped upon them out of heaven." No casual or immediately providential rain can be here intended; the reference must be to the periodical rains above mentioned.

Took the bones of Saul - The reader will recollect that the men of Jabesh-gilead burned the bodies of Saul and his sons, and buried the remaining bones under a tree at Jabesh. See 1Sam 31:12, 1Sam 31:13. These David might have digged up again, in order to bury them in the family sepulcher.

Moreover the Philistines had yet war - There is no mention of this war in the parallel place, 1Chr 20:4, etc.

David waxed faint - This circumstance is nowhere else mentioned.

Being girded with a new sword - As the word sword is not in the original, we may apply the term new to his armor in general; he had got new arms, a new coat of mail, or something that defended him well, and rendered him very formidable: or it may mean a strong or sharp sword.

That thou quench not the light of Israel - David is here considered as the lamp by which all Israel was guided, and without whom all the nation must be involved in darkness. The lamp is the emblem of direction and support. Light is used in this sense by Homer: - Ουδε τι Πατροκλῳ γενομην φαος, αυδ' ἑταροισι Τοις αλλοις, οἱ δη πολεες δαμεν Ἑκτορι διῳ.

Iliad, lib. xviii. ver. 102. "I have neither been a Light to Patroclus nor to his companions, who have been slain by the noble Hector."

A battle - at Gob - Instead of Gob, several editions, and about forty of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., have Nob; but Gezer is the name in the parallel place, 1Chr 20:4.

Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim - slew - Goliath the Gittite - Here is a most manifest corruption of the text, or gross mistake of the transcriber; David, not Elhanan, slew Goliath. In 1Chr 20:5, the parallel place, it stands thus: "Elhanan, the son of Jair, slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear-staff was like a weaver's beam." This is plain; and our translators have borrowed some words from Chronicles to make both texts agree. The corruption may be easily accounted for by considering that ארגים oregim, which signifies weavers, has slipped out of one line into the other; and that בית הלחמי beith hallachmi, the Beth-lehemite, is corrupted from את לחמי eth Lachmi; then the reading will be the same as in Chronicles. Dr. Kennicott has made this appear very plain in his First Dissertation on the Hebrew Text, p. 78, etc.

On every hand six fingers - This is not a solitary instance: Tavernier informs us that the eldest son of the emperor of Java, who reigned in 1648, had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot. And Maupertuis, in his seventeenth letter, says that he met with two families near Berlin, where sedigitism was equally transmitted on both sides of father and mother. I saw once a young girl, in the county of Londonderry, in Ireland, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, but her stature had nothing gigantic in it. The daughters of Caius Horatius, of patrician dignity, were called sedigitae, because they had six fingers on each hand. Volcatius, a poet, was called sedigitus for the same reason. See Pliny's Hist. Nat., lib. xi., cap. 43.

There are evidently many places in this chapter in which the text has suffered much from the ignorance or carelessness of transcribers; and indeed I suspect the whole has suffered so materially as to distort, if not misrepresent the principal facts. It seems as if a Gibeonite has had something to do with the copies that are come down to us, or that the first fourteen verses have been inserted from a less authentic document than the rest of the book. I shall notice some of the most unaccountable, and apparently exceptionable particulars: -

1. The famine, 2Sam 21:1, is not spoken of anywhere else, nor at all referred to in the books of Kings or Chronicles; and, being of three years' duration, it was too remarkable to be omitted in the history of David.

2. The circumstance of Saul's attempt to exterminate the Gibeonites is nowhere else mentioned; and, had it taken place, it is not likely it would have been passed over in the history of Saul's transgressions. Indeed, it would have been such a breach of the good faith by which the whole nation was bound to this people, that an attempt of the kind could scarcely have failed to raise an insurrection through all Israel.

3. The wish of David that the Gibeonites, little better than a heathenish people, should bless the inheritance of the Lord, is unconstitutional and unlikely.

4. That God should leave the choice of the atonement to such a people, or indeed to any people, seems contrary to his established laws and particular providence.

5. That he should require seven innocent men to be hung up in place of their offending father, in whose iniquity they most likely never had a share, seems inconsistent with justice and mercy.

6. In 2Sam 21:8, there is mention made of five sons of Michal, which she bore (ילדה yaledah) unto Adriel. Now,

1. Michal was never the wife of Adriel, but of David and Phaltiel.

2. She never appears to have had any children, see 2Sam 6:23; this I have been obliged to correct in the preceding notes by putting Merab in the place of Michal.

7. The seven sons of Saul, mentioned here, are represented as a sacrifice required by God, to make an atonement for the sin of Saul. Does God in any case require human blood for sacrifice? And is it not such a sacrifice that is represented here? Dr. Delaney and others imagine that these seven sons were principal agents in the execution of their father's purpose; but of this there is no proof. Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, certainly had no hand in this projected massacre, he was ever lame, and could not be so employed; and yet he would have been one of the seven had it not been for the covenant made before with his father: But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan - because of the Lord's oath that was between them, 2Sam 21:7.

8. The circumstance of Rizpah's watching the bodies of those victims, upon a rock, and probably in the open air, both day and night, from March to October, or even for a much less period, is, as it is here related, very extraordinary and improbable.

9. The hanging the bodies so long was against an express law of God, which ordained that those who were hanged on a tree should be taken down before sunset, and buried the same day, lest the land should be defiled, (Deu 21:22, Deu 21:23). Therefore,

1. God did not command a breach of his own law.

2. David was too exact an observer of that law to require it.

3. The people could not have endured it; for, in that sultry season, the land would indeed have been defiled by the putrefaction of the dead bodies; and this would, in all likelihood, have added pestilence to famine.

10. The story of collecting and burying the bones of Saul and Jonathan is not very likely, considering that the men of Jabesh-gilead had burned their bodies, and buried the remaining bones under a tree at Jabesh, 1Sam 31:12, 1Sam 31:13; yet still it is possible.

11. Josephus takes as much of this story as he thinks proper, but says not one word about Rizpah, and her long watching over her slaughtered sons.

12. Even the facts in this chapter, which are mentioned in other places, (see 1Chr 20:4, etc.), are greatly distorted and corrupted; for we have already seen that Elhanan is made here to kill Goliath the Gittite, whom it is well known David slew; and it is only by means of the parallel place above that we can restore this to historical truth.

That there have been attempts to remove some of these objections, I know; and I know also that these attempts have been in general without success.

Till I get farther light on the subject, I am led to conclude that the whole chapter is not now what it would be, coming from the pen of an inspired writer; and that this part of the Jewish records has suffered much from rabbinical glosses, alterations, and additions. The law, the prophets, and the hagiographa, including Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, etc., have been ever considered as possessing the highest title to Divine inspiration; and therefore have been most carefully preserved and transcribed; but the historical books, especially Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, have not ranked so high, have been less carefully preserved, and have been the subjects of frequent alteration and corruption. Yet still the great foundation of God standeth sure and is sufficiently attested by his own broad seal of consistency, truth, and holiness.

Then - The things related here and chap.24:1 - 25, are by the best interpreters conceived to have been done long before Absalom's rebellion. And this opinion is not without sufficient grounds: first, this particle, then, is here explained, in the days, that is, during the reign of David: which general words seem to be added as an intimation that these things were not done after the next foregoing passages, for then the sacred writer would rather have added, after these things, as it is in many other places. Secondly, here are divers passages which it seems improbable to ascribe to the last years of David's reign: such as first, that Saul's sin against the Gibeonites should so long remain unpunished. And indeed that this was done, and Saul's seven sons hanged by David's order before that time, seems to be intimated by that passage, 2Sam 16:8, where he is charged with the blood of the house of Saul: for which there was not the least colour 'till this time. Secondly, that David should not remove the bones of Saul and Jonathan to their proper place, 'till that time. Thirdly, that the Philistines should wage war with David again and again, ver.15, &c. so long after he had fully subdued them, chap.8:1, and that David in his old age should attempt to fight with a Philistine giant, or that his people should suffer him to do so. Fourthly, that David should then have so vehement a desire to number his people, chap.24:1, which being an act of youthful vanity, seems not at all to agree with his old age, nor with that state of deep humiliation in which he then was. And the reason why these matters are put here out of their proper order, is plainly this, because David's sin being once related, it was very convenient that David's punishments should immediately succeed: this being very frequent in scripture - story, to put those things together which belong to one matter, though they happened at several times. He flew - Which was not only an act of cruelty, but also of perfidiousness, because it was a public violation of that solemn oath given to them by Joshua and the princes, in the name of all the Israelites, of that and succeeding generations. "But why did not God punish Saul whilst he was alive for this, but his children, and the Israelites of this age?" First, God did severely punish Saul for this and his other sins. Secondly, as God may justly inflict temporal punishments upon any offender, either in his person, or in his posterity, when he pleaseth; so it is meet he should take his own time for it; and it is folly in us to quarrel with God for so doing. Thirdly, the Israelites might sundry ways make themselves guilty of Saul's sin, tho' it be not particularly mentioned, advising or encouraging him to it; or, assisting him in the execution of it. And whereas many of the people were probably innocent of that crime, yet they also were guilty of many other sins, for which God might punish them, though he took this occasion for it.

Sought - That is, he sought how he might cut them off with some colour of justice, aggravating their faults, and punishing them worse than they deserved; oppressing them with excessive labours, and intending by degrees to wear them out.

I will - Having doubtless consulted God in the matter; who as he had before declared Saul's bloody house to be the causes of this judgment, so now commanded that justice should be done upon it, and that the remaining branches of it should be cut off; as sufficiently appears from hence, that God was well pleased with the action; which he would not have been, if David had done it without his command; for then it had been a sinful action of David's, and contrary to a double law of God, Deut 21:23 24:16.

Spared - For the Gibeonites desiring only such a number, it was at David's choice whom to spare. Of Jonathan - This is added, to distinguish him from the other Mephibosheth, ver.8.

Spread it - As a tent to dwell in: being informed that their bodies were not to be taken away speedily, as the course of the law was in ordinary cases, but were to continue there until God was intreated, and removed the present judgment. On the rock - In some convenient place in a rock, near adjoining. Until water - Until they were taken down: which was not to be done 'till God had given rain as a sign of his favour, and a mean to remove the famine, which was caused by the want of it. Thus she let the world know, that her sons died not for any sin of their own, not as stubborn and rebellious sons, whose eye had despised their mother: but for their father's sin, and therefore her mind could not be alienated from them by their hard fate.

David - Who heard it with so much approbation, that he thought fit to imitate her piety, being by her example provoked to do what hitherto he had neglected, to bestow an honourable interment on the remains of Saul and Jonathan, and, with them, upon those that are now put to death, that the honour done to them herein, might be some comfort to this disconsolate widow.

The bones - Having first burnt off the flesh which remained upon them when they were taken down. Compare 1Sam 31:10, &c.

After that - After those things were done which were before related; that is, after they were hanged up: for by that God was pacified, and not by their burial.

After this - After the battle last mentioned.

Born to the giant in Gath - These giants were probably the remains of the sons of Anak, who, tho' long feared, fell at last.

THen there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD . And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites .

When? Either, First, After Absalom's and Sheba's Rebellion, as it is here related. Or rather, Secondly, In some other time before. It is well known and confessed, that the Particle, then, doth not always note that the thing was done in that order in which it is mentioned; but is oft of an indefinite signification; as also that the Scripture in its Histories and Relations, doth not always observe the order of time, but the order of things, putting that after, which was done before, as occasion requires. And so it seems to be here. The things related here and chap. 24. are by the most and best Interpreters conceived to have been done long before Absalom's Rebellion. And this opinion is not without sufficient grounds: First, This Particle then, is here explained, in the days, i. e. during the Life and Reign of David: which general and indefinite words seem to be added as an intimation that these things were not done after the next foregoing passages, for then the Sacred Writer would rather have added, after these things, or some such expression, as it is 2 Chron. 32. 1. and in many other places. Secondly, Here are divers passages which it seems very improbable to ascribe to the last Years of David's Reign: such as these, First, That Saul's sin against the Gibeonites should so long remain unpunished. And indeed that this was done, and Saul's seven Sons hanged by David's order before that time, seems plainly to be intimated by that passage 2 Sam. 16. 8. where he is charged with the blood of the house of Saul: for which there was not the least colour till this time. Secondly, That David should not remove the Bones of Saul and Ionathan to their proper place, here v. 12, 13, 14. till that time. Thirdly, That the Philistines should wage War with David again and again, v. 15, &c. so long after he had fully subdued them, chap. 8. 1. and that David in his old age should attempt to fight with a Philistine Giant, or that his people should suffer him to do so. Fourthly, That David should then have so vehement a desire to number his people, chap. 24. 1, &c. which being an act of youthful heat and vanity, seems not at all to agree with his old age, nor with that state of deep humiliation, and great affliction in which he then was. And the reason why these matters are put here out of their proper order, is plainly this, because David's sin being once related, it was very convenient that David's punishments inflicted for it should immediately succeed: this being very frequent in Scipture-story, to put those things together which belong to one matter, though they happened at several times. And this is the more considerable, because it tends to the clearing of that great difficulty 2 Sam. 15. 7.

Concerning the reason of his displeasure, and this judgment.

Which was not onely an act of cruelty, but also of perfidiousness and perjury, because it was a direct and publick violation of that Solemn Oath given to them for their security by Ioshua and the Princes, in the name of all the Israelites, of that, and of succeeding Generations, and consequently a great scandal to the true Religion, and the professors of it, and a mean to discourage others from embracing it, as the Gibeonites had done. Quest. Why did not God punish Saul [illegible: 1 word] he was alive for this fault, but his innocent Children, and David and the Israelites of this age? Ans. First, God did severely punish Saul for this and his other sins. Secondly, As God may justly inflict Temporal punishments upon any offender, either in his person, or in his posterity, when he pleaseth; so it is meet he should take his own time for it; and it is folly and wickedness in us to quarrel with God for so doing. Thirdly, The Israelites might sundry ways make themselves guilty of Saul's sin, tho it be not particularly mentioned in Scripture, advising or encouraging him to it; or, by assisting him in the execution of it; or, by conniving at it; or, by rejoycing in it, for some worldly advantage which they received, or expected from it; or, by not repairing the injuries which Saul had done them, as far as they might. And some of these ways David himself might be involved in the guilt: although indeed this evil fell principally upon the people. And whereas many of the people probably were innocent of that crime, yet they also were guilty of many other sins, for which God might punish them, though he took this occasion for it. And it may be further observed, That God is pleased many times severely to punish lesser delinquents, and to suffer the greater for the present to go unpunished; and that not onely to manifest his own Sovereign power and liberty, but also to give the World thereby assurance of a future Judgment, and Punishments reserved for the next life.

Marginal references: Heb. sought the face of, &c.

2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them, (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them , in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah).

i. e. He fought occasions and pretences how he might cut them off with some colour of Law or Justice, diligently searching out and aggravating their faults, and punishing them worse than they deserved; oppressing them with excessive labours, and openly killing some of them, and intending by degrees to wear them out.

e Conceiving, or rather, pretending that it was not for the honour, nor comfort, nor advantage of Gods people, to nourish any of that viperous brood in their Bosoms; and that howsoever Ioshua and the Princes which then were, had by their fraud been drawn into an Oath to preserve them, Iosh. 9. 15. yet in truth that Oath was contrary to Gods command, Exod. 23. 32. Deut. 7. 2. and therefore (as he thought) not to be observed. This was his pretence: but how little Zeal he had for God, or for the publick good of his people, is evident by the whole course of his life: and therefore it is more than probable he had some particular motive or design in the case: either, because some of them had highly provoked him, for whose sake he would be revenged of the whole race: or, because they being cut off, their Estates might be forfeited to the Crown: or, for some other reason now unknown.

Marginal references: Josh. 9. 3, 16, 17.

3 Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites , What shall I do for you ? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD ?

To some of the chief of them, who were to impart it to the rest.

What satisfaction do you expect or require for the injuries formerly done to you?

That by your acknowledgment of satisfaction received, the guilt and curse may be removed from the Land and People of God, and by this means, as also by your Prayers, God may be reconciled, and may restore his Blessing of plenty to us, which hitherto he hath denied us.

4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver or gold of Saul, nor of his house, neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel . And he said, What you shall say , that will I do for you.

Except Saul's Family, as it here follows.

To wit, in any reason, and as far as Gods Law will permit.

Marginal references: Or, It is not silver nor gold that we have to do with Saul or his house, neither pertains it to us to kill, &c.

5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel ,

That we should be either killed, or banished from the Land of Israel; which is as bad as death to us, because here and here onely God is truly worshipped and enjoyed. Whereby it seems divers of them were hearty Proselytes, and Godly persons; and therefore God is more severe in punishing the injuries done to them. Compare 1 Sam. 26. 19.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] us off.

6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul , whom the LORD did chuse . And the king said, I will give them .

To vindicate his honour, which was injured by Saul's violation of the Oath and Covenant of God, and to appease his wrath.

Saul's Countrey, 1 Sam. 10. 26. and 11. 4. for their greater shame.

This is added to [illegible: 1 word] Saul's offen[illegible: 1+ letters]e, that it was committed not onely against them, but also against the Lord who had chosen and advanced him, and therefore did little deserve this from Saul's hand, to have his Laws broken, and his Name dishonoured by perjury.

Having doubtless consulted God in the matter; who as he had before declared Saul's Bloody House to be the causes of this Judgment, so now commanded that Justice should be done upon it, and that the remaining Branches of it should be cut off; as sufficiently appears from hence, that God was satisfied and well pleased with the action; which he would not have been, if David had done it without his command; for then it had been a sinful action of David's, and contrary to a double Law of God, Deut. 21. 23. and 24. 16. which none but God himself could dispence with.

Marginal references: Or, chosen of the LORD.

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan , the son of Saul, because of the LORDS oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

For the Gibeonites desiring onely such a number, without designing the persons, it was at David's choice whom to spare. Or, he prevailed with the Gibeonites that they did not demand him; and with the Lord, that he might not be one of those who were devoted to destruction.

This is expresly added, to distinguish him from the other Mephibosheth, v. 8.

Marginal references: 1 Sam. 18. 3. and 20. 8, 42. and 23. 18.

8 But the king took the two sons of Rispah , the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni, and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite .

Saul's Concubine, v. 11. and chap. 3. 7.

Or, of Michal's sister, to wit, Merob: for Michal had no Children, 2 Sam. 6. 23. nor was she Married to this Adriel, but to Phalti or Phaltiel the son of Laish, 1 Sam. 25. 44. and 2 Sam. 3. 15. and Merob her sister was Married to this very Adriel the Meholathite, 1 Sam. 18. 19. And it must be remembred, that the Hebrew Language is very short, and full of Elipses or defects of words, which yet may be easily understood from the sense. Particularly, relative words are oft lacking, and to be supplied, as Goliah is put for Goliah's brother, here v. 19. and Uncle for Uncle's son, Jer. 32. 7, 12. Or, the Sons of Merob are called the sons of Michal, to wit, by adoption; or, the near Kindred and next Heirs of Michal, and brought up by her. For upon that and such like accounts the title of Son is oft given in Scripture, as Gen. 48. 5. Exod. 2. 10. Deut. 25. 5, 6. Ruth. 1. 11, 12. and 4. 17. Quest. But why then are not these called the sons of Merob? Ans. Because they were better known by their Relation to Michal, who was David's Wife, and, it may be alive at this time, and having no Children of her own, took these and bred them up as her own; when Merob was▪ now a more obscure person, and possibly dead many Years before this.

For so this Hebrew Verb, which primarily and properly signifies to bear, is sometimes used, as Gen. 50. 23. Ruth 4. 17. because the Education of Children is a kind of bearing of them, as requiring frequently no less care and pains than the hearing doth; whence it is that Nurses are reputed as Mothers, and sometimes go under that name both in Sacred and Prophane Writers. See Ruth 4. 16, 17. and compare Gen. 16. 2. and 30. 3. Numb. 11. 12. Gal. 4. 19.

Of Abel-meholah in the Tribe of Benjamin. Iudg. 7. 22. So he is here called by way of distinction from Barzillai the Gileadite, chap. 19. 31.

Marginal references: Or, Michal's sister, v. 19.; Heb. bare to Adriel.

9 And he delivered them into the hand of the Gibeonites , and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD : and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest .

Quest. How could David do this, when he had Sworn that he would not cut off Saul's seed, 1 Sam. 24. 21, 22. Ans. Because he had special warrant and direction from God about it, who, as all confess, can dispence with mens Oaths, and with his own Laws when he sees it fit. And that he did so here, is manifest, because God was pleased with it, and removed the Judgment upon it, whereas otherwise David had been guilty of the same sin with Saul, to wit, of the breach of his Oath and Covenant, for which this Famine was inflicted. See the note on 1 Sam. 24. 22.

Or, in an hill, in or near Gibeah; in a conspicuous place for their greater infamy, and for the caution and terror of others who should make any attempt upon the Gibeonites for the future.

As a Sacrifice offered up to God to appease his wrath: or, unto the Lord, as was said v. 6.

i. e. Died: for so the word, to fall, is oft used, as Exod. 19. 21. 1 Chro. 21. 14. Psal. 91. 7. Ier. 39. last. Hos. 5. 5. or, were executed.

Which was before the Wheat-harvest.

Marginal references: Josh 10. 26.

10 ¶ And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock d, from the beginning of harvest, until water dropped upon them out of heaven , and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day , nor the beasts of the field by night.

As a Tent to dwell in: being informed that their Bodies were not to be taken away speedily, as the course of the Law was in other and ordinary cases, Deut. 21. 23. but were to continue there until, God was intreated, and did remove the present Judgment. And God was herein pleased to dispence with his own Law, that it might plainly appear that these were not put to death by David for politick reasons, as that he and his Sons might be freed from competitors, which doubtless David's Enemies were ready to suggest; but by Gods special command, who was pleased to execute this Judgment upon them, as partly and principally for the punishment of Saul's sin; so secondarily for the stablishing of David's Throne to himself and to his seed for ever, as he had promised.

i. e. Until they were taken down: which was not to be done till God had given Rain as a sign of his favor, and a mean to remove the Famine, which was caused by the want of it.

i. e. On their Carkasses.

From which she might preserve her self and them by divers methods.

Marginal references: Chap. 3[illegible: 1+ letters].; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] not.

11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah the concubine of Saul had done.

Who heard it with so much approbation, that he thought [illegible: 1+ letters]it to imitate her Piety, being by her example provoked to do what hitherto he had neglected, to bestow an honourable Interment upon the remains of Saul and Ionathan, and, with them, upon those that were now put to death, that the honour done to them herein, might be some comfort to this dejected and disconsolate Widow.

13 And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.

Having first burnt off the flesh which remained upon them when they were taken down. Compare 1 Sam. 31. 10, &c.

14 And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son, buried they in the countrey of Benjamin in Zelah , in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded: and after that God was intreated for the land.

A place in Benjamin, mentioned Ios. 18. 28.

After those things were done which were before related; i. e. after they were hanged up: for by that God was pacified, and not by their burial. So the relative belongs to the remoter antecedent. Or, if this relate to what was last mentioned, the meaning is, that God was pleased to restore the Blessing of plenty to the Land.

15 ¶ Moreover, the Philistines had yet war again with Israel , and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines, and David waxed faint.

These Wars though here related, were transacted long before this time: of which see the notes on v. 1. For it is no way probable, either, that the Philistines being so fully and perfectly subdued by David, chap. 8. 1. should in his days be in a capacity of waging War with the Israelites: or, that David in his old age would undertake to fight with a Giant, or that his people would permit him to do so.

16 And Ishbi benob, which was of the sons of the giant , (the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight) he being girded with a new sw[illegible: 1+ letters]rd , thought to have slain David.

So called by way of eminen[illegible: 1+ letters]y. Or, of Rapha, a Giant so called.

See 1 Sam. 17. 5.

Or rather, with a new Girdle or Belt: For, First, This was the usual habit of Soldiers, 1 Sam. 18. 4. 2 Sam. 18. 11. and 20. 8. 1 King. 2. 5. Isa. 5. 27. and, when it was of an extraordinary fashion and price, an Ensign of dignity and command in the Army, Ezek. 23. 15. So this may be mentioned to note, that this was the first time either of his going out to fight, or of his advancement to some eminent place in the Army: which made him desirous to signalize himself with some great action. Secondly, This supplement is more natural and usual, the word girdle being easie supplied from the word being girded: such Ellipses of conjugate words being frequent in the Hebrew Tongue, as Numb. 11. 14. Psal. 76. 12. Matth. 20. 12. Thirdly, The newness of the Sword seems to have no emphasis nor significancy for the present purpose; seeing an old and tried Sword would seem more considerable for his encouragement, than one new and unproved.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word]; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] staff, or, [illegible: 1 word] head.

17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battel, that thou quench not the † light of Israel .

Lest thou be slain, and thereby thy people be ruined. Good Kings are in Scripture justly called the Light of their people, as 1 King. 11. 36. and 15. 4. Psal. 132. 17. because the beauty and glory, the conduct and direction, the comfort, and safety, and welfare of a People depends upon them, and comes from them.

Marginal references: Chap. 18. 3.; ‡ Heb. candle, or, lamp.

18 And it came to pass after this , that there was again a battel with the Philistines at Gob : then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.

After the Battel last mentioned.

Or, in Gezer, as it is 1 Chron. 20. 4. whereby it seems Gob and Gezer were Neighbouring places, and the Battel fought in the confines of both.

One of David's Worthies, 1 Chron. 11. 29.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters] Chro. 20. 4.; Or, Rapha.

19 And there was again a battel in Gob, with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite , the staff of whose spear was like a weavers beam .

Another of David's worthy and valiant Commanders.

The relative word Brother, is not in the Hebrew Text, but is fitly supplied out of the parallel place, 1 Chron. 20. 5▪ where it is expressed. And such defects of relatives are not unusual in Scripture. Thus the word Wife is understood, Matth. 1▪ 6. Ioh. 19. 25. and Father or Mother, Mar. 15. 40, 47. Compare with Mar. 16. 1. and Luk. 24. 10. and Son, Matth. 4. 21. Mar. 2. 14. Ioh. 21. 15. and Brother, Luk. 6. 16. Compare with Iud. v. 1. And such Ellipses do also frequently occur in profane Authors. Although the place may be, and is otherwise rendred Elhanan the son of Iaare-oregim, slew Beth-halachmi or Lachmi, (as he is called by way of abbreviation, 1 Chron. 20. 5. which is very frequent in the Hebrew▪ Tongue), who was (which words are frequently understood in the Hebrew Text) with (so eth is oft rendred, as hath been noted before) Goliath the Gittite, i. e. in his Company, bred up with him to the War, and related to him as his Brother. Or, he slew Beth-halachmi a Goliath (or, another Goliath) of Gath, or the Gittite. So the name of the Giant was Beth-halachmi, who may be here called Goliath, not onely for his near relation to him, being his Brother, but for his exact resemblance of him in Feature, or in Stature and Strength, or in Courage and Military Skill; as Iohn the Baptist was called Elias, for the like reason. Peradventure also, after the death of the first and famous Goliath the Gittite, 1 Sam. 17. that name was either given to him by others, or taken by himself.

In thickness. See 1 Sam. 17. 7.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters]ee 1 Chro. [illegible: 1 word]. 5.

20 And there was yet a battel in Gath , where was a man of great stature ▪, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number, and he also was born to the giant.

i. e. In the Territory of the City of Gath. Which circumstance intimates, that this, and consequently the other Battels here described, were fought before David had taken Gath out of the hands of the Philistines, which he did 2 Sam. 8. 1. compare with 1 Chron. 18. 1. and therefore not in the last days of David, as some conceive from their mention in this place. ▪ Or, a man of Middin or Madon, as the LXX render it, so called from the place of his birth, as Goliath is said to be of Gath for the same reason.

Marginal references: Or, Rapha.

22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David , and by the hand of his servants.

Either, because they were slain by his conduct, and counsel, or con[illegible: 1+ letters]urrence; for he contributed by his hand to the death of one of them, whilst maintaining a fight with him, he gave Abishai the easier opportunity of killing him, ver. 16, 17. or because what is done by the inferior Commanders, is commonly ascribed to the General, both in Sacred and Prophane Writers.

IV. Close of David’s Reign - 2 Samuel 21-24

After the suppression of the rebellion headed by Sheba, David spent the remaining years of his reign in establishing the kingdom upon a firmer basis, partly by organizing the army, the administration of justice, and the general government of the realm, and partly by making preparations for the erection of the temple, and enacting rules for the service of the Levites; that he might be able to hand over the government in a firm and satisfactory state to his youthful son Solomon, whom the Lord had appointed as his successor. The account of these regulations and enactments fills up the whole of the last section of the history of David’s reign in the first book of Chronicles. But in the book before us, several other things - (1) two divine punishments inflicted upon Israel, with the expiation of the sins that occasioned them (2Sa 21:1-14, and 2 Samuel 24); (2) David’s psalm of praise for deliverance out of the hand of all his enemies (2 Samuel 22), and his last prophetic words (2Sa 23:1-7); and (3) a few brief notices of victorious acts performed in the wars with the Philistines (2Sa 21:15-22), and a longer list of David’s heroes (2 Samuel 23:8-39) - form, as it were, a historical framework for these poetical and prophetic portions. Of the two divine visitations mentioned, the pestilence occasioned by the numbering of the people (2 Samuel 24) occurred undoubtedly in the closing years of David’s reign; whereas the famine, and the expiation connected with it (2Sa 21:1-14), happened most probably at an earlier period, and are merely introduced here because no fitting opportunity had presented itself before. The kernel and centre of this last section of the history of David is to be found unquestionably in the psalm of thanksgiving in 2 Samuel 22, and the prophetic announcement of an exalted and blessed king. In the psalm of thanksgiving David looks back at the close of his life upon all the mercy and faithfulness which he had experienced throughout his reign, and praises the Lord his God for the whole. In his “last words” he looks forward into the time to come, and on the strength of the promise which he has received, of the eternal duration of the dominion of his house, sees in spirit the just Ruler, who will one day arise from his seed, and take the throne of his kingdom for ever. These two lyrical and prophetic productions of David, the ripest spiritual fruit of his life, form a worthy conclusion to this reign. To this there is appended the list of his heroes, in the form of a supplement (2 Samuel 23:8-39); and finally in 2 Samuel 24 the account of the numbering of the people, and the pestilence which fell upon Israel, as a punishment for this fault on the part of David. This account is placed at the close of the books of Samuel, merely because the altar which was built to expiate the wrath of God, together with the sacrifices offered upon it, served to consecrate the site for the temple, which was to be erected after David’s death, in accordance with the divine promise (2Sa 7:13), by his son and successor Solomon.

Three Years’ Famine. - A three years’ famine in the land, the occasion of which, as Jehovah declared to the king, was Saul’s crime with regard to the Gibeonites, was expiated by David’s delivering up to the Gibeonites, at their own request, seven of Saul’s descendants, who were then hung by them upon a mountain before Jehovah. This occurrence certainly did not take place in the closing years of David’s reign; on the other hand, it is evident from the remark in 2Sa 21:7, to the effect that Mephibosheth was spared, that it happened after David had received tidings of Mephibosheth, and had taken him to his own table (2Sa 9:1-13). This is mentioned here as a practical illustration, on the one hand of the manner in which Jehovah visited upon the house of Saul, even after the death of Saul himself, a crime which had been committed by him; and, on the other hand, of the way in which, even in such a case as this, when David had been obliged to sacrifice the descendants of Saul to expiate the guilt of their father, he showed his tenderness towards him by the honourable burial of their bones.

2Sa 21:1-6

A famine, which lasted for three successive years, induced David to seek the face of Jehovah, i.e., to approach God in prayer and ask the cause of this judgment which had fallen upon the land. The Lord replied, “Because of Saul, and because of the house of blood-guiltiness, because he hath slain the Gibeonites.” The expression “because of the house of blood-guiltiness” is in apposition to “Saul,” and determines the meaning more precisely: “because of Saul, and indeed because of the blood-guiltiness which rests upon his house.” הדּמים בּית signifies the house upon which blood that had been shed still rested as guilt, like הדּמים עיר in Eze 22:2; Eze 24:6, Eze 24:9, and דּמים אישׁ in Psa 5:7; Psa 27:9, etc. Nothing further is known about the fact itself. It is simply evident from the words of the Gibeonites in 2Sa 21:5, that Saul, in his pretended zeal for the children of Israel, had smitten the Gibeonites, i.e., had put them to death. Probably some dissatisfaction with them had furnished Saul with a pretext for exterminating these Amoritish heathen from the midst of the people of God.

2Sa 21:11-14

When this touching care of Rizpah for the dead was told to David, he took care that the bones of the whole of the fallen royal house should be buried in the burial-place of Saul’s family. He therefore sent for the bones of Saul and Jonathan, which the men of Jabesh had taken away secretly from the wall of Beisan, where the Philistines had fastened the bodies, and which had been buried in Jabesh (1Sa 31:10.), and had the bones of the sons and grandsons of Saul who had been crucified at Gibeah collected together, and interred all these bones at Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the family grave of Kish the father of Saul. גּנּב, to take away secretly. בּית־שׁן מּרחב, from the market-place of Bethshan, does not present any contradiction to the statement in 1Sa 31:10, that the Philistines fastened the body to the wall of Bethshan, as the rechob or market-place in eastern towns is not in the middle of the town, but is an open place against or in front of the gate (cf. 2Ch 32:6; Neh 8:1, Neh 8:3,Neh 8:16). This place, as the common meeting-place of the citizens, was the most suitable spot that the Philistines could find for fastening the bodies to the wall. The Chethib תּלוּם is the true Hebrew form from תּלה, whereas the Keri תּלאוּם is a formation resembling the Aramaean (cf. Ewald, §252, a.). The Keri פלשׁתּים שׁמּה is correct, however, as פלשׁתּים, being a proper name, does not take any article. In הכּות בּיום the literal meaning of יום (day) must not be strictly pressed, but the expression is to be taken in the sense of “at the time of the smiting;” for the hanging up of the bodies did not take place till the day after the battle (1Sa 31:8.). - In 2Sa 21:14 the account is abridged, and the bones of the crucified persons are not mentioned again. The situation of Zela is unknown (see at Jos 18:28). After this had been carried out in accordance with the king’s command, God suffered himself to be entreated for the land, so that the famine ceased.

2Sa 21:15-22

Heroic Acts Performed in the Wars with the Philistines. - The brief accounts contained in these verses of different heroic feats were probably taken from a history of David’s wars drawn up in the form of chronicles, and are introduced here as practical proofs of the gracious deliverance of David out of the hand of all his foes, for which he praises the Lord his God in the psalm of thanksgiving which follows, so that the enumeration of these feats is to be regarded as supplying a historical basis for the psalm. 2Sa 21:15-16

The Philistines had war with Israel again. עוד (again) refers generally to earlier wars with the Philistines, and has probably been taken without alteration from the chronicles employed by our author, where the account which follows was attached to notices of other wars. This may be gathered from the books of the Chronicles, where three of the heroic feats mentioned here are attached to the general survey of David’s wars (vid., 1Ch 20:4). David was exhausted in this fight, and a Philistian giant thought to slay him; but Abishai came to his help and slew the giant. He was called Yishbo benob (Keri, Yishbi), i.e., not Yishbo at Nob, but Yishbobenob, a proper name, the meaning of which is probably “his dwelling is on the height,” and which may have been given to him because of his inaccessible castle. He was one of the descendants of Raphah, i.e., one of the gigantic race of Rephaim. Raphah was the tribe-father of the Rephaim, an ancient tribe of gigantic stature, of whom only a few families were left even in Moses’ time (vid., Deu 2:11; Deu 3:11, Deu 3:13, and the commentary on Gen 14:5). The weight of his lance, i.e., of the metal point to his lance, was three hundred shekels, or eight pounds, of brass, half as much as the spear of Goliath (1Sa 17:7); “and he was girded with new armour.” Böttcher has no doubt given the correct explanation of the word חדשׁה; he supposes the feminine to be used in a collective sense, so that the noun (“armour,” כּליו) could be dispensed with. (For parallels both to the words and facts, vid., Jdg 18:11 and Deu 1:41.) ויּאמר, he said (sc., to himself), i.e., he thought.

A Famine in Israel; The Gibeonites Avenged. (b. c. 1021.)

1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord . And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. 2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) 3 Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord ? 4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. 5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, 6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them. 7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the Lord 's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: 9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord : and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

Here I. Were are told of the injury which Saul had, long before this, done to the Gibeonites, which we had no account of in the history of his reign, nor should we have heard of it here but that it came now to be reckoned for. The Gibeonites were of the remnant of the Amorites (v. 2), who by a stratagem had made peace with Israel, and had the public faith pledged to them by Joshua for their safety. We had the story Josh. ix., where it was agreed (v. 23) that they should have their lives secured, but be deprived of their lands and liberties, that they and theirs should be tenants in villanage to Israel. It does not appear that they had broken their part of the covenant, either by denying their service or attempting to recover their lands or liberties; nor was this pretended; but Saul, under colour of zeal for the honour of Israel, that it might not be said that they had any of the natives among them, aimed to root them out, and, in order to that, slew many of them. Thus he would seem wiser than his predecessors the judges, and more zealous for the public interest; and perhaps he designed it for an instance of his royal prerogative and the power which as king he assumed to rescind the former acts of government and to disannul the most solemn leagues. It may be, he designed, by this severity towards the Gibeonites, to atone for his clemency towards the Amalekites. Some conjecture that he sought to cut off the Gibeonites at the same time when he put away the witches (1 Sam. xxviii. 3), or perhaps many of them were remarkably pious, and he sought to destroy them when he slew the priests their masters. That which made this an exceedingly sinful sin was that he not only shed innocent blood, but therein violated the solemn oath by which the nation was bound to protect them. See what brought ruin on Saul's house: it was a bloody house.

II. We find the nation of Israel chastised with a sore famine, long after, for this sin of Saul. Observe, 1. Even in the land of Israel, that fruitful land, and in the reign of David, that glorious reign, there was a famine, not extreme (for then notice would sooner have been taken of it and enquiry made into the cause of it), but great drought, and scarcity of provisions, the consequence of it, for three years together. If corn miss one year, commonly the next makes up the deficiency; but, if it miss three years successively, it will be a sore judgment; and the man of wisdom will by it hear God's voice crying to the country to repent of the abuse of plenty. 2. David enquired of God concerning it. Though he was himself a prophet, he must consult the oracle, and know God's mind in his own appointed way. Note, When we are under God's judgments we ought to enquire into the grounds of the controversy. Lord, show me wherefore thou contendest with me. It is strange that David did not sooner consult the oracle, not till the third year; but perhaps, till then, he apprehended it not to be an extraordinary judgment for some particular sin. Even good men are often slack and remiss in doing their duty. We continue in ignorance, and under mistake, because we delay to enquire. 3. God was ready in his answer, though David was slow in his enquiries: It is for Saul. Note, God's judgments often look a great way back, which obliges us to do so when we are under his rebukes. It is not for us to object against the people's smarting for the sin of their king (perhaps they were aiding and abetting), nor against this generation's suffering for the sin of the last God often visiteth the sins of the fathers upon the children, and his judgments are a great deep. He gives not account of any of his matters. Time does not wear out the guilt of sin; nor can we build hopes of impunity upon the delay of judgments. There is no statute of limitation to be pleaded against God's demands. Nullum tempus occurrit Deo—God may punish when he pleases.

III. We have vengeance taken upon the house of Saul for the turning away of God's wrath from the land, which, at present, smarted for his sin.

1. David, probably by divine direction, referred it to the Gibeonites themselves to prescribe what satisfaction should be given them for the wrong that had been done them, v. 3. They had many years remained silent, had not appealed to David, nor given the kingdom any disturbance with their complaints or demands; and now, at length, God speaks for them (I heard not, for thou wilt hear, Ps. xxxviii. 14, 15); and they are recompensed for their patience with this honour, that they are made judges in their own case, and have a blank given them to write their demands on: What you shall say, that will I do (v. 4), that atonement may be made, and that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord, v. 3. It is sad for any family or nation to have the prayers of oppressed innocency against them, and therefore the expense of a just restitution is well bestowed for the retrieving of the blessing of those that were ready to perish, Job xxix. 13. "My servant Job, whom you have wronged, shall pray for you," says God, "and then I will be reconciled to you, and not till then." Those understand not themselves that value not the prayers of the poor and despised.

2. They desired that seven of Saul's posterity might be put to death, and David granted their demand. (1.) They required no silver, nor gold, v. 4. Note, Money is no satisfaction for blood, see Num. xxxv. 31-33. It is the ancient law that blood calls for blood (Gen. ix. 6); and those over-value money and under-value life, that sell the blood of their relations for corruptible things, such as silver and gold. The Gibeonites had now a fair opportunity to get a discharge from their servitude, in compensation for the wrong done them, according to the equity of that law (Exod. xxi. 26), If a man strike out his servant's eye, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. But they did not insist on this; though the covenant was broken on the other side, it should not be broken on theirs. They were Nethinim, given to God and his people Israel, and they would not seem weary of the service. (2.) They required no lives but of Saul's family. He had done them the wrong, and therefore his children must pay for it. We sue the heirs for the parents' debts. Men may not extend this principle so far as life, Deut. xxiv. 16. The children in an ordinary course of law, shall never be put to death for the parents. But this case of the Gibeonites was altogether extraordinary. God had made himself an immediate party to the cause and no doubt put it into the heart of the Gibeonites to make this demand, for he owned what was done (v. 14), and his judgments are not subject to the rules which men's judgments must be subject to. Let parents take heed of sin, especially the sin of cruelty and oppression, for their poor children's sake, who may be smarting for it by the just hand of God when they themselves are in their graves. Guilt and a curse are a bad entail upon a family. It should seem, Saul's posterity trod in his steps, for it is called a bloody house; it was the spirit of the family, and therefore they are justly reckoned with for his sin, as well as for their own. (3.) They would not impose it upon David to do this execution: Thou shalt not for us kill any man (v. 4), but we will do it ourselves, we will hang them up unto the Lord (v. 6), that if there were any hardship in it, they might bear the blame, and not David or his house. By our old law, if a murderer had judgment given against him upon an appeal, the relations that appealed had the executing of him. (4.) They did not require this out of malice against Saul or his family (had they been revengeful, they would have moved it themselves long before), but out of love to the people of Israel, whom they saw plagued for the injury done to them: "We will hang them up unto the Lord (v. 6), to satisfy his justice, not to gratify any revenge of our own—for the good of the public, not for our own reputation." (5.) The nomination of the persons they left to David, who took care to secure Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake, that, while he was avenging the breach of one oath, he might not himself break another (v. 7); but he delivered up two of Saul's sons whom he had by a concubine, and five of his grandsons, whom his daughter Merab bore to Adriel (1 Sam. xviii. 19), but his daughter Michal brought up, v. 8. Now Saul's treachery was punished, in giving Merab to Adriel, when he had promised her to David, with a design to provoke him. "It is a dangerous matter," says bishop Hall upon this, "to offer injury to any of God's faithful ones; if their meekness have easily remitted it, their God will not pass it over without a severe retribution, though it may be long first." (6.) The place, time, and manner, of their execution, all added to the solemnity of their being sacrificed to divine justice. [1.] They were hanged up, as anathemas, under a peculiar mark of God's displeasure; for the law had said, He that is hanged is accursed of God, Deut. xxi. 23; Gal. iii. 13. Christ being made a curse for us, and dying to satisfy for our sins and to turn away the wrath of God, became obedient to this ignominious death. [2.] They were hanged up in Gibeah of Saul (v. 6), to show that it was for his sin that they died. They were hanged, as it were, before their own door, to expiate the guilt of the house of Saul; and thus God accomplished the ruin of that family, for the blood of the priests, and their families, which, doubtless, now came in remembrance before God, and inquisition was made for it, Ps. ix. 12. Yet the blood of the Gibeonites only is mentioned, because that was shed in violation of a sacred oath, which, though sworn long before, though obtained by a wile, and the promise made to Canaanites, yet is thus severely reckoned for. The despising of the oath, and breaking of the covenant, will be recompensed on the head of those who thus profane God's sacred name, Ezek. xvii. 18, 19. And thus God would show that with him rich and poor meet together. Even royal blood must go to atone for the blood of the Gibeonites, who were but the vassals for the congregation. [3.] They were put to death in the days of harvest (v. 9), at the beginning of harvest (v. 10), to show that they were thus sacrificed for the turning sway of that wrath of God which had withheld from them their harvest-mercies for some years past, and to obtain his favour in the present harvest. Thus there is no way of appeasing God's anger but by mortifying and crucifying our lusts and corruptions. In vain do we expect mercy from God, unless we do justice upon our sins. Those executions must not be complained of as cruel which have become necessary to the public welfare. Better that seven of Saul's bloody house be hanged than that all Israel be famished.

The Death of Saul's Sons. (b. c. 1021.)

10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. 11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa: 13 And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged. 14 And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.

Here we have, I. Saul's sons not only hanged, but hanged in chains, their dead bodies left hanging, and exposed, till the judgment ceased, which their death was to turn away, by the sending of rain upon the land. They died as sacrifices, and thus they were, in a manner, offered up, not consumed all at once by fire, but gradually by the air. They died as anathemas, and by this ignominious usage they were represented as execrable, because iniquity was laid upon them. When our blessed Saviour was made sin for us he was made a curse for us. But how shall we reconcile this with the law which expressly required that those who were hanged should be buried on the same day? Deut. xxi. 23. One of the Jewish rabbin wishes this passage of story expunged, that the name of God might be sanctified, which, he thinks, is dishonoured by his acceptance of that which was a violation of his law: but this was an extraordinary case, and did not fall within that law; nay, the very reason for that law is a reason for this exception. He that is thus left hanged is accursed; therefore ordinary malefactors must not be so abused; but therefore these must, because they were sacrificed, not to the justice of the nation, but for the crime of the nation (no less a crime than the violation of the public faith) and for the deliverance of the nation from no less a judgment than a general famine. Being thus made as the off-scouring of all things, they were made a spectacle to the world (1 Cor. iv. 9, 13), God appointing, or at least allowing it.

II. Their dead bodies watched by Rizpah, the mother of two of them, v. 10. It was a great affliction to her, now in her old age, to see her two sons, who, we may suppose, had been a comfort to her, and were likely to be the support of her declining years, cut off in this dreadful manner. None know what sorrows they are reserved for. She may not see them decently interred, but they shall be decently attended. She attempts not to violate the sentence passed upon them, that they should hang there till God sent rain; she neither steals nor forces away their dead bodies, though the divine law might have been cited to bear her out; but she patiently submits, pitches a tent of sackcloth near the gibbets, where, with her servants and friends, she protects the dead bodies from birds and beasts of prey. Thus, 1. She indulged her grief, as mourners are too apt to do, to no good purpose. When sorrow, in such cases, is in danger of growing excessive, we should rather study how to divert and pacify it than how to humour and gratify it. Why should we thus harden ourselves in sorrow? 2. She testified her love. Thus she let the world know that her sons died, not for any sin of their own, not as stubborn and rebellious sons, whose eye had despised to obey their mother; if that had been the case, she would have suffered the ravens of the valley to pick it out and the young eagles to eat it, Prov. xxx. 17. But they died for their father's sin and therefore her mind could not be alienated from them by their hard fate. Though there is not remedy, but they must die, yet they shall die pitied and lamented.

III. The solemn interment of their dead bodies, with the bones of Saul and Jonathan, in the burying-place of their family. David was so far from being displeased at what Rizpah had done that he was himself stirred up by it to do honour to the house of Saul, and to these branches of it among the rest; thus it appeared that it was not out of any personal disgust to the family that he delivered them up, and that he had not desired the woeful day, but that he was obliged to do it for the public good. 1. He now bethought himself of removing the bodies of Saul and Jonathan from the place where the men of Jabesh-Gilead had decently, but privately and obscurely, interred them, under a tree, 1 Sam. xxxi. 12, 13. Though the shield of Saul was vilely cast away, as if he had not been anointed with oil, yet let not royal dust be lost in the graves of the common people. Humanity obliges us to respect human bodies, especially of the great and good, in consideration both of what they have been and what they are to be. 2. With them he buried the bodies of those that were hanged; for, when God's anger was turned away, they were no longer to be looked upon as a curse, v. 13, 14. When water dropped upon them out of heaven (v. 10), that is, when God sent rain to water the earth (which perhaps was not many days after they were hung up), then they were taken down, for then it appeared that God was entreated for the land. When justice is done on earth vengeance from heaven ceases. Through Christ, who was hanged on a tree and so made a curse for us, to expiate our guilt (though he was himself guiltless), God is pacified, and is entreated for us: and it is said (Acts xiii. 29) that when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, in token of the completeness of the sacrifice and of God's acceptance of it, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulchre.

The Giants Subdued. (b. c. 1020.)

15 Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint. 16 And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel. 18 And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant. 19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. 20 And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. 21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him. 22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

We have here the story of some conflicts with the Philistines, which happened, as it should seem, in the latter end of David's reign. Though he had so subdued them that they could not bring any great numbers into the field, yet as long as they had any giants among them to be their champions, they would never be quiet, but took all occasions to disturb the peace of Israel, to challenge them, or make incursions upon them.

I. David himself was engaged with one of the giants. The Philistines began the war yet again, v. 15. The enemies of God's Israel are restless in their attempts against them. David, though old, desired not a writ of ease from the public service, but he went down in person to fight against the Philistines (Senescit, non segnescit—He grows old, but not indolent), a sign that he fought not for his own glory (at this age he was loaded with glory, and needed no more), but for the good of his kingdom. But in this engagement we find him, 1. In distress and danger. He thought he could bear the fatigues of war as well as he had done formerly; his will was good, and he hoped he could do as at other times. But he found himself deceived; age had cut his hair, and, after a little toil, he waxed faint. His body could not keep pace with his mind. The champion of the Philistines was soon aware of his advantage, perceived that David's strength failed him, and, being himself strong and well-armed, he thought to slay David; but God was not in his thoughts, and therefore in that very day they all perished. The enemies of God's people are often very strong, very subtle, and very sure of success, like Isbi-benob, but there is no strength, nor counsel, nor confidence against the Lord. 2. Wonderfully rescued by Abishai, who came seasonably in to his relief, v. 17. Herein we must own Abishai's courage and fidelity to his prince (to save whose life he bravely ventured his own), but much more the good providence of God, which brought him in to David's succour in the moment of his extremity. Such a cause and such a champion, though distressed, shall not be deserted. When Abishai succoured him, gave him a cordial, it may be, to relieve his fainting spirits, or appeared as his second, he (namely, David, so I understand it) smote the Philistine and killed him; for it is said (v. 22) that David had himself a hand in slaying the giants. David fainted, but he did not flee; though his strength failed him, he bravely kept his ground, and then God sent him this help in the time of need, which, though brought him by his junior and inferior, he thankfully accepted, and, with a little recruiting, gained his point, and came off a conqueror. Christ, in his agonies, was strengthened by an angel. In spiritual conflicts, even strong saints sometimes wax faint; then Satan attacks them furiously; but those that stand their ground and resist him shall be relieved, and made more than conquerors. 3. David's servants hereupon resolved that he should never expose himself thus any more. They had easily persuaded him not to fight against Absalom (ch. xviii. 3), but against the Philistines he would go, till, having had this narrow escape, it was resolved in council, and confirmed with an oath, that the light of Israel (its guide and glory, so David was) should never be put again into such hazard of being blown out. The lives of those who are as valuable to their country as David was ought to be preserved with a double care, both by themselves and others.

II. The rest of the giants fell by the hand of David's servants. 1. Saph was slain by Sibbechai, one of David's worthies, v. 18; 1 Chron. xi. 29. 2. Another, who was brother to Goliath, was slain by Elhanan, who is mentioned ch. xxiii. 24. 3. Another, who was of very unusual bulk, who had more fingers and toes than other people (v. 20), and such an unparalleled insolence that, though he had seen the fall of other giants, yet he defied Israel, was slain by Jonathan the son of Shimea. Shimea had one son named Jonadab (2 Sam. xiii. 3), whom I should have taken for the same with this Jonathan, but that the former was noted for subtlety, the latter for bravery. These giants were probably the remains of the sons of Anak, who, though long feared, fell at last. Now observe, (1.) It is folly for the strong man to glory in his strength. David's servants were no bigger nor stronger than other men; yet thus, by divine assistance, they mastered one giant after another. God chooses by the weak things to confound the mighty. (2.) It is common for those to go down slain to the pit who have been the terror of the mighty in the land of the living, Ezek. xxxii. 27. (3.) The most powerful enemies are often reserved for the last conflict. David began his glory with the conquest of one giant, and here concludes it with the conquest of four. Death is a Christian's last enemy, and a son of Anak; but, through him that triumphed for us, we hope to be more than conquerors at last, even over that enemy.