May 21, 2018
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Reading along with us in 2 Samuel? Here’s today’s reading:
2 Samuel 21 (ESV)
Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?” 4 The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” 5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6 let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”....Continue Reading
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13And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.
20And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants.
This is one of the most challenging passages of Scripture to understand. These 7 men are killed to pay a debt owed by Saul. God says specifically that it is Saul’s sin that has brought about the famine. (It is good btw to see David consulting God again) Now God does not tell David or the Gibeonites that this is the prescribed course of action. And yet God is pleased by it in the end. It certainly shows that God cares about justice. That at this time, a life is to be given for a life, or in this case representatives of Saul given for the people Saul killed. It probably is related to the debth of Saul’s disobedience to defy the protection the Israelite had offered Gibeon. But it is strange.
The sadness and compassion expressed in the end is touching. Good hearted people making the best of a bad situation.