Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:1-14

Bird's-eye view

This chapter confronts us with a stark and unsettling reality: national sins have national consequences, and God takes covenant-breaking with deadly seriousness. For three years, Israel suffers under a famine, and David, acting as a true king, understands this is not a meteorological problem but a theological one. He seeks the Lord and discovers the land is under a curse because of an old sin committed by his predecessor, Saul. In his misguided zeal, Saul had attempted to wipe out the Gibeonites, a people with whom Israel had a binding, sworn treaty dating back to the days of Joshua. The rest of the chapter details the process of national atonement. This is not a story of primitive blood vengeance, but of formal, legal, covenantal justice. The Gibeonites, as the wronged party, demand the execution of seven of Saul's male descendants. David, balancing this demand with his own covenant oath to Jonathan, complies. The chapter concludes with the heartbreaking vigil of Rizpah, the mother of two of the executed men, and David's subsequent actions to bring honorable burial to all of Saul's house. Only after justice is done and honor is restored is God entreated for the land, and the famine ends. This is a hard passage, but it teaches us about corporate responsibility, the sanctity of oaths, and the necessity of atonement for sin, pointing us ultimately to the one great sacrifice that truly heals our land.

Outline

Context In 2 Samuel

The final four chapters of 2 Samuel function as an appendix to the main narrative of David's reign. They are not arranged chronologically but rather thematically, providing a series of vignettes that summarize and reflect upon the triumphs and troubles of his kingdom. This story of the Gibeonites is placed here to deal with the lingering consequences of the house of Saul. The civil war is long over, but the covenantal pollution from Saul's reign remains. This account, along with the subsequent stories of giants, David's psalm, and his mighty men, serves to wrap up the old business of the kingdom. It demonstrates David's role as the Lord's anointed, a king who must deal with sin, uphold justice, and secure God's blessing for the people. It is a sobering reminder that even after the primary conflict is resolved, the moral and spiritual cleanup can be a long and costly process.

Key Issues

Covenant Justice for the Land

We live in a radically individualistic age. The idea that the sins of a past leader could bring a curse upon an entire nation strikes us as unfair. But the Bible operates with a different set of assumptions, chief among them the reality of federal headship and corporate responsibility. A nation is a covenantal entity, and its leaders act on its behalf. When Joshua and the elders of Israel made a covenant with the Gibeonites (Josh. 9), they bound all future generations of Israel to that oath. It was a treaty sworn in the name of Yahweh. When King Saul, centuries later, violated that treaty in a fit of carnal, nationalistic zeal, he brought bloodguilt not just upon himself, but upon the entire nation he represented. The land itself was polluted by this treachery.

The famine is God's lawsuit against Israel. It is His megaphone to get their attention. David, to his credit, understands this. He doesn't form a committee on agricultural policy; he inquires of the Lord. The solution is not political or economic, but judicial and theological. Atonement must be made. This chapter is a raw depiction of the biblical principle that sin, especially covenant-breaking, has real-world consequences, and that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 And there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the presence of Yahweh. And Yahweh said, “It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

A three year famine is not a coincidence; it is a judgment. In the covenant God made with Israel, He promised rain and bounty for obedience and drought and famine for disobedience (Deut. 28). David rightly interprets this protracted disaster as a sign of divine displeasure and so he "sought the presence of Yahweh." This is the first and most important duty of a godly ruler. God's answer is specific and direct. The problem is not a current sin of David's, but an old, unresolved sin of Saul's. The guilt is located with "Saul and his bloody house." The term "bloody house" signifies bloodguilt, the stain of unjust killing that cries out for vengeance.

2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the sons of Israel made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah).

The narrator provides the essential backstory. The Gibeonites were not Israelites, but a remnant of the Canaanites whom Israel was supposed to drive out. However, through a clever ruse, they secured a covenant of peace with Joshua (Josh. 9:15). Though made under false pretenses, the oath was sworn in Yahweh's name and was therefore binding. Saul's sin was that he tried to undo this covenant. His motive is described as "zeal," but it was a false zeal. It was a zeal for ethnic and national purity that ran roughshod over the nation's sworn word before God. True zeal is always subordinate to God's revealed law, which includes keeping your promises.

3 Thus David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?”

David approaches the wronged party with humility. He doesn't dictate the terms. He asks two crucial questions. First, "What should I do for you?" This acknowledges their right to restitution. Second, "How can I make atonement?" This acknowledges that the problem is fundamentally God-ward. The goal is that the Gibeonites, the victims of Israel's treachery, might once again "bless the inheritance of Yahweh." When justice is done, even the outsider can call for God's blessing upon God's people. This is a picture of true national restoration.

4-5 Then the Gibeonites said to him, “We have no concern of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” So they said to the king, “The man who consumed us and who planned to eradicate us from standing within any border of Israel,

The Gibeonites make it clear this is not about money. Bloodguilt cannot be paid off with silver or gold. They also show remarkable deference to Israel's legal structure. They state that it is not their right to carry out capital punishment in Israel. They are the plaintiffs, but David is the judge and executioner. They then state the nature of Saul's crime with precision. He intended genocide: to "eradicate us from standing within any border of Israel."

6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them before Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Yahweh.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

Here is the demand. Seven of Saul's male descendants are to be executed. The number seven is the number of covenantal completion and perfection; this is to be a full and final satisfaction. They are to be hanged, a form of execution that carried a particular curse (Deut. 21:23). The location is significant: "Gibeah of Saul," his own hometown. The justice is to be done at the very source of the crime. And it is to be done "before Yahweh," as a public act of atonement to turn away God's wrath. David, as the king responsible for justice, agrees.

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the oath of Yahweh which was between them, between David and Saul’s son Jonathan.

David is a man of his word. He is faced with two conflicting obligations: the need to render justice for the broken oath to the Gibeonites, and the need to keep his own oath to Jonathan (1 Sam. 20:15-16). He navigates this by honoring his personal, sworn covenant. He will not solve one problem of oath-breaking by committing another. This demonstrates his integrity and sets him apart from Saul, who treated oaths with contempt.

8-9 So the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. Then he gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Yahweh, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at the beginning of barley harvest.

David finds seven other descendants. Two are direct sons of Saul by his concubine Rizpah. Five are grandsons through his daughter Merab. The sentence is carried out exactly as requested. The timing is poignant. They are executed at the beginning of the barley harvest, the very time when the effects of the famine would be most keenly felt. The atonement is made precisely at the point of need, in the hope that God will now bless the harvest.

10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until it rained on them from the sky; and she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.

This is one of the most moving scenes in all of Scripture. Rizpah, a mother who has lost both her sons to this national judgment, engages in a heroic act of devotion. She begins a vigil over the bodies. This is not a protest against the justice of the act, but a demand for the dignity of the dead. According to the law, the bodies of the hanged were not to be desecrated. She ensures this with her own person, protecting them from scavengers. Her vigil lasts for months, from the spring harvest until the autumn rains finally came, signaling that God's wrath was appeased.

11-12 Then it was told to David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the open square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day the Philistines struck down Saul in Gilboa.

Rizpah's quiet, courageous piety moves the king to action. Her faithfulness to her two sons shames the entire nation's unfaithfulness to the house of Saul. David is prompted to finish the work of reconciliation. He recalls the dishonorable state of Saul and Jonathan's own remains. Their bodies had been desecrated by the Philistines and only rescued by the brave men of Jabesh-gilead. It was time to bring them home.

13-14 And he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. Then they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the grave of Kish his father; thus they did all that the king commanded, and afterwards God was moved by the entreaty for the land.

David brings all the bones together, those of Saul and Jonathan and those of the seven who were just executed. He gives them all an honorable burial in the family tomb of Kish, Saul's father. This act formally ends the hostility between the houses of David and Saul. Justice has been done, and now mercy and honor are shown. It is a complete resolution. And the result is stated plainly: "afterwards God was moved by the entreaty for the land." The curse is lifted. The rains come. Atonement, justice, and reconciliation have healed the land.

Application

First, we must learn that God takes our promises seriously. Our culture treats words as disposable, but God is a covenant-keeping God who expects His people to be a covenant-keeping people. When a nation, a church, or an individual makes a solemn oath, God holds them to it. Breaking faith has consequences that can ripple through generations.

Second, this story shows that godly leadership takes responsibility for the sins of the past. David did not commit the sin, but as king, it was his job to fix it. We cannot simply wash our hands of the sins of our fathers. We are called to confess them and seek to make restitution where possible, so that God might heal our land.

Third, the quiet faithfulness of Rizpah is a lesson for every believer. In the midst of a great national crisis and a personal tragedy, she did the one thing she could do. She acted with honor, love, and courage. Her small act of piety had a nationwide effect. We should never despise the day of small things or underestimate the power of quiet faithfulness in our own spheres of influence.

Finally, this entire bloody episode should make us profoundly grateful for the cross of Jesus Christ. We belong to a bloody house, the house of Adam, and the curse of God is upon us for our covenant-breaking. Justice demanded a payment, a death. But unlike the sons of Saul, who were imperfect substitutes, God provided a perfect substitute in His own Son. Jesus Christ, the true King, was hanged on a tree "before Yahweh" to satisfy the claims of justice completely. He took the full curse for our treachery so that God might be entreated for us, and so that the rains of His grace might fall upon our barren souls. This story, in all its harshness, shows us the terrible price of sin and points us to the glorious, sufficient, and final payment made at Calvary.