2Sa 21:1 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.
And for his bloody house - literally, “the house of blood,” the house or family upon which rests the guilt of shedding innocent blood. Which answer must in a good measure relieve the mind of David, if he was fearful it was for his sins.
Then there was a famine - Of this famine we know nothing; it is not mentioned in any part of the history of David. There is no note of time whatever, nor any clue as to what part of David’s reign the events of this chapter ought to be assigned.
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. This action was contrary to the oath that Joshua and all Israel had given them not to slay them, but save them alive, Jos_9:15 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a treaty with them, to let them live. And the rulers of the congregation swore to them.
a famine in the days of David three years, year after year - That is, three years running, one after another.
In the days of David - The things related here and 2Sa. 24:1-25, are by some scholars to have been done long before Absalom's rebellion. And this opinion is not without sufficient grounds. There are divers passages which it seems improbable to ascribe to the last years of David's reign: such as 1) 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 where David is charged with the blood of the house of Saul, 2Sa_16:8 The LORD has returned on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. And the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son. And behold, you are taken in your mischief, because you are a man of blood! 2) that David should not remove the bones of Saul and Jonathan to their proper place, 'till that time. 3) that the Philistines should wage war with David again and again, 2Sa_21:15 so long after he had fully subdued them, 2Sa_8:1 And it happened afterward, David struck the Philistines and humbled them. And David took The Bridle of the Metropolis out of the hand of the Philistines 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. The reason why these matters are likely 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, to put those things together which belong to one matter, though they happened at separate times.
2Sa 21:2 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.)
The remnant of the Amorites - The Gibeonites were Hivites, not Amorites, as appears from Jos_9:7 and Jos_11:19: but Amorites is a name often given to the Canaanites in general, Gen_15:16; Amo_2:9, and elsewhere. The Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel; originally, though they were proselyted to the Jewish religion, and were employed in the menial services of the sanctuary.
2Sa 21:3 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?
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?
2Sa 21:4 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.
No silver, nor gold - Money payments as a compensation for blood-guilt were very common among many nations. The law, too, in Num_35:31-32, presupposes the existence of the custom which it prohibits. In like manner the speech of the Gibeonites implies that such a payment as they refuse would be a not unusual proceeding. This shall not be the ransom or atonement; it was not silver and gold Saul took from them, but the lives of their brethren, and therefore they insist upon life for life:
Neither shalt thou kill any man in Israel - They mean that it is not against the nation of Israel, but against the individual Saul and house of Saul, that they cry for vengeance. The demand for Saul’s sons is exactly similar to that which dictated David’s own expression in 2Sa_24:17, “against me, and against my father’s house.”
2Sa 21:5 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,
the man that consumed us - meaning Saul, who lessened their number by cruel oppressions of some, and by taking away the lives of others:
that devised against us - who had formed schemes for banishing them out of the land; perhaps at the same time that he put away mediums and those that had familiar spirits out of the land, under the same pretence for zeal for the glory of God, and the good of the people of the land, 1Sa_28:3 And Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned him and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away the mediums and the spirit-knowers out of the land.
2Sa 21:6 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.
Seven men of his sons - Meaning sons, grandsons, or other near branches of his family. They settled upon this number, either because they were seven, and no more of the Gibeonites, whom Saul slew (Jewish tradition says two hewers of wood, two drawers of water, a keeper (of a synagogue), a scribe, and a servant); but perhaps the true reason was, they knew there were no more besides Mephibosheth, for whom David had a great respect, and therefore required no more
Seven men - Seven was a sacred number, denoting the performance of a work of God., see examples in Num_23:1, Num_23:29, and is therefore brought in on this occasion when the judicial death of the sons of Saul was a religious act intended to appease the wrath of God for the violation of an oath. The number seven is reckoned full and complete.
Whom the Lord did choose - Rather, “the Lord’s chosen,” or elect. The same phrase is applied to Moses Psa_106:23 And He said that He would destroy them, if Moses His chosen had not stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, so that He should not destroy them to the Israelites Isa_43:20 The beasts of the field shall honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen and to Christ Isa_42:1 Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; My Elect, in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit on Him; He shall bring out judgment to the nations.
we will hang them up unto the Lord - not to gratify a revengeful spirit of theirs, but in honor to the justice of God, and to appease his wrath:
in Gibeah of Saul - which was Saul's native place, and where he always lived; so that to hang them there was to the greater disgrace of him and his family.
2Sa 21:7 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.
2Sa 21:8 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:
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, not brought up, as we falsely translate it: but we learn from 1Sa_18:19, that Merab, one of Saul’s daughters, was married to Adriel.
Five sons of Michal - Michal had no children to the day of her death, nor was she the wife of Adriel, but Merab her sister, 1Sa_18:19; wherefore these sons were not whom she "bare", as the word used signifies, but, as we rightly render it, whom she "brought up" or educated, so the Targum, her sister being dead; and so the Jews say, Merab brought them forth, and Michal brought them up, therefore they were called by her name.
Barzillai the Meholathite - Barzillai is here called the Meholathite, to distinguish him from Barzillai the Gileadite, spoken of in a former chapter, 2Sa_17:27.
The king took - David granted the request, because, according to the law in Num_35:33 So you shall not defile the land in which you are . For blood defiles the land. And the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of him that shed it, blood-guiltiness when resting upon the land could only be expiated by the blood of the criminal. In delivering up the members of Saul's house for whom they asked, he spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul, for the sake of the bond of friendship which he had formed with Jonathan on oath (1Sa_18:3; 1Sa_20:8, 1Sa_20:16), and gave up to the Gibeonites two sons of Rizpah, a concubine of Saul (vid., 2Sa_21:11 and 2Sa_3:7), and five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel of Meholah.
2Sa 21:9 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.
In the beginning of barley harvest - This happened in Judea about the vernal equinox, or the 21st of March. One source says the barley harvest (about the middle or toward the end of April) was earlier than the wheat harvest.
before the Lord - is either the same as "unto the Lord", 2Sa_21:6; to make atonement to the Lord, and in his sight; or it denotes that it was done publicly before the sun, and in the sight of it; for it cannot mean before the ark, the symbol of the divine Presence, for that was not there:
they hanged them in the hill before the Lord — Deu_21:22-23 And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and if he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree. But you shall surely bury him that day (for he that is hanged is accursed of God), so that your land may not be defiled, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance. Deeming themselves not bound by the criminal law of Israel, 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 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.
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.
Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth - Both as a token of mourning for her sons, and as fittest to defend from the weather, the heat by day of cold by night:
spread it for her upon the rock - the hill on which her sons were hanged; this she spread as a canopy or tent to sit under, and be covered with it; not to cover the bodies with it, but herself, and where she sat to mourn the loss of her sons, and to watch their bodies, that they might not be devoured by birds and breasts of prey.
Until water dropped upon them - According to the law in Deu_21:22, the bodies should have been taken down and buried the same day: but these men suffered not for their own personal sins, but for the sins of others, and to avert a public calamity, and therefore must hang till that was removed; nor were they executed by men bound by that law. The law of Deu_21:22-23 had no application whatever to the case before us, where the expiation of guilt that rested upon the whole land was concerned. In this instance the expiatory sacrifices were to remain exposed before Jehovah, till the cessation of the plague showed that His wrath had been appeased.
2Sa 21:11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
2Sa 21:12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:
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 1Sa_31:12, 1Sa_31:13. These David might have digged up again, in order to bury them in the family sepulcher.
2Sa 21:13 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.
2Sa 21:14 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.
they performed all that the king commanded - that is, David's messengers and servants did; they fetched the bones of Saul and Jonathan from Jabeshgilead, and buried them with those of his seven sons hanged, in the burying place of his father Kish. Jewish tradition says that by David's order Saul's coffin was carried through every tribe, and men, women, and children, came out and expressed concern:
after that God was entreated for the land - not after the burial of the said persons, but after the seven men were hanged up; by this the wrath of God was appeased, which was seen by his sending rain and fruitful seasons, so that the famine ceased. For by their hanging God was pacified, and not by their burial.
2Sa 21:15 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.
Moreover the Philistines had yet war – Two views are presented. One says this happened early in David’s reign but is only listed here. The other says it happened later in his reign.
Moreover the Philistines had yet war - This, like the preceding paragraph 2Sa_21:1-14, is likely a detached and unconnected extract. It is probably taken from some history of David’s wars, apparently the same as furnished the materials for 2 Sam. 5; 8; 23:8-39. There is no direct clue to the time when the events here related took place, but it was probably quite in the early part of David’s reign, while he was still young and active, after the war described in 2 Sam. 5. The Book of Chronicles places these Philistine battles immediately after the taking of Rabbah of the Ammonites 1Ch_20:4-8, but omits David’s adventure 2Sa_21:15-17.
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.
David waxed faint - in the battle, not able to bear the fatigues of war, and wield his armor as before, not through fear, but through feebleness. According to Josephus, it was through weariness in pursuing the enemy put to flight, which the following person perceived, and turned upon him. This circumstance is nowhere else mentioned.
David went down - to the borders of the Philistines, perceiving they were preparing to make war against him:
2Sa 21:16 And Ishbibenob, 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.
Sons of the giant - He was one of the descendants of Raphah, 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 (Deu_2:11; Deu_3:11, Deu_3:13).
Sons of the giant - The “giant” here 2Sa_21:18, 2Sa_21:20, 2Sa_21:22 is “ha-Raphah,” whence, the “Rephaim” Gen_14:5; Deu_2:11. The sons of Ha-raphah, or Rephaim, are different from the “Nephilim,” or Giants Gen_6:4; Num_13:33. The sons of Anak were not strictly Rephaim, but Nephilim.
Three hundred shekels of brass - About eight pounds. Goliath’s spear’s head weighed “six hundred shekels of iron.”
the weight of whose spear - which must be understood either of the wood of it, or of the head of it, the flaming point of it, as many interpret it; and if so, it was but half the weight of Goliath's spear, unless there was any difference of the weight of iron and of brass, 1Sa_17:7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam. And his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And the shield bearer went in front of him.
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.
Being girded with a new sword - or rather with a new girdle, which might be given him as a mark of honor, or as a token of his having a commission in the army:
2Sa 21:17 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.
That thou quench not the light of Israel - David had become the light of Israel from the fact that Jehovah was his light (2Sa_22:29), or, according to the parallel passage in Psa_18:29, that Jehovah had lighted his lamp and enlightened his darkness, had lifted him out of a state of humiliation and obscurity into one of honor and glory. The light (or lamp) is a figure used to represent the light of life as continually burning, life in prosperity and honor. David's regal life and actions were the light which the grace of God had kindled for the benefit of Israel. This light he was not to extinguish, namely by going into the midst of war and so exposing his valuable life to danger.
That thou quench not the light of Israel - signifying that their glory and prosperity depended on his life, and that, should he be taken away, they should be in affliction and adversity, their honor and their happiness would be at an end. 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.
thou shalt go no more with us to battle - they had persuaded him not to go to the battle with Absalom; they had suffered him to go with them now, he being, no doubt, forward and pressing to it; but now they were resolute, and determined he should never go more:
2Sa 21:18 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.
A battle in Gob - In the parallel passage 1Ch_20:4, “Gezer” is named as the field of this battle. Either it had 2 names, or Gob is a small area located close to Gezer, from which both names would be appropriate for it. 1Ch_20:4 And it happened after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Sippai, of the children of the giant. And they were humbled. However, Gath is named 2Sa_21:20, 2Sa_21:22 in a way to make it probable that Gath was the scene of all the battles. The Septuagint in this verse has Geth (Gath). 2Sa_21:18 And after this there was a battle again with the Philistines in Geth: then Sebocha the Astatothite slew Seph of the progeny of Rapha. (Septuagint)
Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph - who is called Sippai, 1Ch_20:4; he had his name from the lintel of a door, being as high as one, so tall that he could scarce go under one. Sibbechai was one of David's worthies, 1Ch_11:29; perhaps a descendant of Hushah, who sprung from Judah, 1Ch_4:4. According to 1Ch_27:11 The eighth for the eighth month was Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the Zerahites. And in his division were twenty-four thousand., Sibbechai, one of the gibborim of David 1Ch_11:29, was the leader of the eighth division of the army (2Sa_23:27).
2Sa 21:19 And there was again a battle 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 weaver's beam.
slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite - the word "brother" is rightly supplied from 1Ch_20:5; where his name is said to be Lahmi, for not Goliath himself was slain. In 1Ch_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 oregim, which signifies weavers, has slipped out of one line into the other; and that the Beth-lehemite is likely corrupted from Lachmi; then the reading will be the same as in Chronicles.
slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite – Lahmi there may not be the name of Goliath's brother, but, the country name of Elhanan; for the words there may be rendered,"and Elhanan the son of Jair, the Lehemite (i.e. the Bethlehemite), slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite.”
The son of Jaare-oregim - The Hebrew text is manifestly corrupt. First, for “Jaare-oregim,” 1Ch_20:5 gives us the reading Jair. “Oregim” has evidently got in by a transcriber’s error from the line below, where “oregim” is the Hebrew for “weavers.” Again, the word the “Bethlehemite” is doubtful. It is supported by 2Sa_23:24, but it is not found in the far purer text of 1Ch_20:5, but instead of it we find the name of the Philistine slain by Elhanan, “Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite.” It is probable, therefore, that either the words “the Bethlehemite,” are a corruption of “Lahmi,” or that the recurrence of “Lahmi,” and the termination of “Beth-lehemite” has confused the transcriber, and led to the omission of one of the words in each text.
Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim - he was one of David's worthies, 2Sa_23:24; where he is called the son of Dodo, and in 1Ch_20:5, the son of Jair;
2Sa 21:20 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.
2Sa 21:21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him.
Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David - this brother of David is called Shammah, 1Sa_16:9 And Jesse passed Shammah by, but he said, Also the LORD has not chosen this one.; and Shimma, 1Ch_2:13 And Jesse fathered his first-born Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third, this son of his is not Jonadab his son, who was famous for his subtlety as this was for his valor, 2Sa_13:3 And Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of David's brother Shimeah. And Jonadab was a very crafty man.
2Sa 21:22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
These four were born to the giant in Gath - Not necessarily meaning that they were brothers, but that they were all of the race of the Giant, all Rephaim. The word “four” is omitted in the parallel passage, only the three last being mentioned in that chapter. 2Sa 21:22 These four were born descendants of the giants in Geth, the family of Rapha; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants. (Septuagint) These giants, it is highly probable, were the descendants of the Anakim which remained in Gath after they were cut off by Joshua in other places, Jos_11:22. This verse is a postscript, in which the previous verses are summed up.
