3 Wherefore David H1732 said H559 unto the Gibeonites, H1393 What shall I do H6213 for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, H3722 that ye may bless H1288 the inheritance H5159 of the LORD? H3068
Wherewith shall I come before H6923 the LORD, H3068 and bow H3721 myself before the high H4791 God? H430 shall I come before H6923 him with burnt offerings, H5930 with calves H5695 of a year H8141 old? H1121 Will the LORD H3068 be pleased H7521 with thousands H505 of rams, H352 or with ten thousands H7233 of rivers H5158 of oil? H8081 shall I give H5414 my firstborn H1060 for my transgression, H6588 the fruit H6529 of my body H990 for the sin H2403 of my soul? H5315
For G1063 it is not possible G102 that the blood G129 of bulls G5022 and G2532 of goats G5131 should take away G851 sins. G266 Wherefore G1352 when he cometh G1525 into G1519 the world, G2889 he saith, G3004 Sacrifice G2378 and G2532 offering G4376 thou wouldest G2309 not, G3756 but G1161 a body G4983 hast thou prepared G2675 me: G3427 In burnt offerings G3646 and G2532 sacrifices for G4012 sin G266 thou hast had G2106 no G3756 pleasure. G2106 Then G5119 said I, G2036 Lo, G2400 I come G2240 (in G1722 the volume G2777 of the book G975 it is written G1125 of G4012 me,) G1700 to do G4160 thy G4675 will, G2307 O God. G2316 Above G511 when he said, G3004 G3754 Sacrifice G2378 and G2532 offering G4376 and G2532 burnt offerings G3646 and G2532 offering for G4012 sin G266 thou wouldest G2309 not, G3756 neither G3761 hadst pleasure G2106 therein; which G3748 are offered G4374 by G2596 the law; G3551 Then G5119 said he, G2046 Lo, G2400 I come G2240 to do G4160 thy G4675 will, G2307 O God. G2316 He taketh away G337 the first, G4413 that G2443 he may establish G2476 the second. G1208 By G1722 the which G3739 will G2307 we are G2070 sanctified G37 through G1223 the offering G4376 of the body G4983 of Jesus G2424 Christ G5547 once G2178 for all. And G2532 G3303 every G3956 priest G2409 standeth G2476 daily G2596 G2250 ministering G3008 and G2532 offering G4374 oftentimes G4178 the same G846 sacrifices, G2378 which G3748 can G1410 never G3763 take away G4014 sins: G266 But G1161 this man, G846 after he had offered G4374 one G3391 sacrifice G2378 for G5228 sins G266 for G1519 ever, G1336 sat down G2523 on G1722 the right hand G1188 of God; G2316
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Samuel 21
Commentary on 2 Samuel 21 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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.