Gibeonite Revenge
(2Sa 21:1)KJV 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.
The phrase "bloody house" translates the Hebrew phrase בית הדמים. A related phrase is עיר הדמים "bloody city" in Eze 22:2 and Eze 24:6, 9. Clearly, the term "bloody city" does not refer to the righteous people that were there, such as Jeremiah and Baruch. Rather, it referred to those guilty of bloodshed. Similarly בית מרי "rebellious house" in passages such as Eze 2:5-6 and Eze 3:9 did not refer to every Israelite (for example, it is clear that it did not refer to Ezekiel), but to the disobedient. Moreover, let us note that the word בית "house" does not have to denote a family. For example, בית ישראל "house of Israel" denotes the entire nation of Israel. Based on these observations, we could infer that "bloody house" does not refer to the family of Saul but to the people guilty of bloodshed. Clearly, Saul was part of this house. Now, a closer translation of 2Sa 21:1 would be " ... It is towards Saul and towards the house of blood, because he slew the Gibeonites." Note that the word "his" does not appear with "bloody house" in the original language. Nonetheless, the text does include "because he slew the Gibeonites," indicating that "the bloody house" included those who did the will of Saul and murdered Gibeonites. It is quite possible that as Saul involved family members in his actions, certain men from his family participated in the murder of the Gibeonites. However, among those who were alive at the time of this passage, none was blamed by the Gibeonites in 2Sa 21:4.
(2Sa 21:2)KJV 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.)
Note that 2Sa 21:2 only mentions Gibeonites of Amorite ethnicity. We could understand that by the time of 2Sa 21:2 either no Hivite Gibeonites were left or the Hivite Gibeonites were too few to be mentioned. In the days of Joshua, Israel made a covenant with the Hivites living in Gibeon (Jos 11:19, 9:7). Clearly, the covenant applied also to those in Gibeon of different ethnicity. By the time of 2Sa 21:2, the Amorites were left. The disappearance of the Hivites could testify to troubles that they went through. Since 2Sa 21:2 mentions that Saul sought to kill the Gibeonites, it might be that Saul exterminated the Gibeonites of Hivite ethnicity. This would make his trespass even more flagrant, in that he killed the descendants of the very people group with whom the covenant had been made.
(2Sa 21:3)KJV 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?
(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.
(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,
(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.
(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.
The passage does not say anything about David seeking the Lord concerning what he should do for the Gibeonites. Instead, it states that "David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you?" (2Sa 21:3). Literally, the answer of the Gibeonites in 2Sa 21:4 is: "There is no silver or gold for me with Saul and with his house, and there is no man in Israel to put to death for us." In this way, they indicated that Saul and his house did not owe them money and that none of those who had mistreated them was still alive. However, the Gibeonites were seeking to bring judgment on Saul. Literally, what they said in 2Sa 21:5-6 is: "The man who consumed us ... let him be given to us by seven men of his sons ... " In other words, from their viewpoint, executing seven sons of Saul was like executing Saul. However, the Scripture says that "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin" (De 24:16). Thus, the request of the Gibeonites indicates that they did not follow the law. However, it is apparent that the Israelites themselves were not (good) followers of the law, for David and his counselors seemed unaware of the fact that the law did not allow sons to be put to death for the sins of their fathers. The fact that David agreed to the request of the Gibeonites could be explained as follows. First, he wanted to please the Gibeonites. Moreover, understanding the passage to take place after the rebellion of Absalom and the rebellion of Sheba (who was a Benjamite, as stated in 2Sa 20:1), it may be that the descendants of Saul had been against David during these rebellions. In fact, the Scripture mentions explicitly a man of the house of Saul that was very hostile to David at that time (2Sa 16:5-13). Moreover, immediately following this passage, 2Sa 22:1 speaks about David being delivered from the hand of his enemies and the hand of Saul. Thus, it may be that David considered some of Saul's descendants to be worthy of death anyways. However, since Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, probably did not rebel, the statement that the king spared him (2Sa 21:7) indicates that David was motivated primarily by a desire to give the Gibeonites what they asked for, not by an impulse to punish rebellious people. He was seeking reconciliation with the Gibeonites.
The text of 2Sa 21:4 includes ויאמרו לו הגבענים "and the Gibeonites said unto him," involving the preposition ל translated "unto," while 2Sa 21:5 has ויאמרו אל המלך "and they answered the king," involving the preposition אל. Note that the preposition אל does not imply a face to face conversation, as can be seen in Ex 18:6-7. Since 2Sa 21:5 has ויאמרו אל המלך instead of ויאמרו למלך, it follows that 2Sa 21:5 may have happened in a different occasion, sometime after 2Sa 21:4. Based on this observation, a possible interpretation of the passage is as follows. David did not ask the Gibeonites to decide on the spot what they should ask for. Then, the Gibeonites took some time to consider what they should ask. When they made a decision, they sent to the king their answer. At that time, the dialogue was not face to face, so David did not have to reply immediately. He had time to think about it and talk to his counselors.
(2Sa 21:8)MKJV But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
(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.
The sons of Rizpah must have been at least forty years old, since Saul had died about forty years earlier. Given that Saul reigned forty years, their age could have been considerably above forty. It is plain that at the time of their death they had children, and possibly even grandchildren. As for the sons of Michal, they were probably younger, but likely about forty years old. Their age could be roughly estimated as follows. First, note that Rizpah had been a concubine of Saul (2Sa 3:7). Since one would expect the most important descendants of Saul to be mentioned first, and since the sons of Michal are mentioned after the sons of the concubine, it would appear that the text does not mention here the daughter of Saul that had become David's wife. Rather, in 2Sa 21:8, מיכל בת שאול "Michal daughter of Saul" must be a daughter of a concubine of Saul. In support of this remark is the fact that 1Sa 25:44(43) uses the phrase מיכל בתו אשת דוד "Michal, his daughter, David's wife"; the phrase "David's wife" would seem redundant if there was only one daughter of Saul with the name Michal. Additionally, concerning Michal the daughter of Saul that was David's wife, 2Sa 6:23 states that she did not have children. Consistent with these remarks is the observation that earlier, at the time of 2Sa 9:1, when looking for descendants of the legitimate children of Saul, David found only Mephibosheth (2Sa 9:3). Mephibosheth can be identified with Meribbaal, the person mentioned in genealogies through whom Saul had descendants in subsequent generations (1Ch 8:33-40, 9:39-44). (As for identifying Mephibosheth with Meribbaal, note that מפיבשת "Mephibosheth" means "from the mouth of shame," which fits מריב בעל "Meribbaal," which can be translated "from the pleading of Baal.") The reason David could not find more descendants of the legitimate children of Saul appears to be that the Philistines killed them (cf. 2Sa 4:4). At this point, it is plain that Michal in 2Sa 21:8 is not David's wife. Michal of 2Sa 21:8 bore children to עדריאל בן ברזלי המחלתי "Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite." One possibility is that Adriel of 2Sa 21:8 is the same as עדריאל המחלתי "Adriel the Meholathite" of 1Sa 18:19. If this possibility is adopted, since Adriel had been the husband of Merab the daughter of Saul (1Sa 18:19), it may be that she died some time after he married her, and afterwards he took Michal. The fact that the phrase "David's wife" is not redundant in 1Sa 25:44(43) indicates that at that time it was possible to confuse Michal the wife of David with the other Michal, suggesting that they had roughly the same age; note that 1Sa 25:44(43) took place before David's reign. It follows that in 2Sa 21:8, the five sons of Michal were about forty years old.
(2Sa 21:10)KJV 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.
The Gibeonites were not following the law. According to the law, the bodies had to be buried: "if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance" (De 21:22-23). So, the fact that the bodies were not buried was another sign that the land was defiled. In view of 2Sa 21:11, it may be that David was unaware that the bodies had not been buried.
(2Sa 21:11)KJV 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:
(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.
We do not read that the Lord "was intreated for the land" in verse 9, after the seven men were executed, but in verse 14, after the men were buried.
Overall, the following remarks could be made about this passage. David reigned over the entire Israel for 33 years (1Ki 2:11). Understanding this passage to take place towards the end of the reign of David, it becomes apparent that for about 30 years nothing had been done to deal with the injustice done to the Gibeonites. A period of 30 years would have been more than adequate to address this issue. Apparently, however, nothing had been done. The shedding of innocent blood defiles a land (Nu 35:33). Moreover, a defiled land troubles its inhabitants, as stated in Lev 18:25 and Hos 4:2-3. Taking in account also that in those days the people were provoking the Lord to anger (2Sa 24:1), the years of famine should not be too surprising, for famine is among the judgments for disobedience mentioned in the law (Lev 26:19, De 28:23).
The famine drew attention to what had been done by Saul and by those guilty of bloodshed. Saul did not shed blood by himself. There were others who supported him in this and carried out his plans, some of high rank and some of low rank. It would seem likely that poor descendants of those involved in the bloodshed were affected directly by the famine. Moreover, as seen in this passage, the famine also brought trouble to the descendants of Saul. Thus, the statement found in 2Sa 21:1 that the famine was "towards Saul and towards the house of blood" could be interpreted both as saying that the famine drew attention to what had been done, and that it was bringing trouble to those who had been involved in the bloodshed. Trouble came to them indirectly, in that their descendants were affected. Now, the Lord did not ask in 2Sa 21:1 that some of the descendants of Saul be executed. However, he knew in advance that this would happen. We read in this passage that David sought the Lord concerning the reason of the famine. However, we do not read that David sought the Lord about the way in which he should respond or whether some people had to be executed. In fact, the passage seems to indicate the opposite, that David did not seek the Lord about these things. Indeed, if David were following closely the Lord in this matter, the commandment of De 21:22-23 would have not been broken. The Lord would have moved David somehow to ensure that the men received proper burial after their execution. What we read instead is that many days passed before David become aware that the men were not buried (2Sa 21:10). Since David was a godly man, the reason he did not seek God's guidance could be that he and his counselors were confident that they knew how to deal with the situation at hand.
It is rather clear that the seven men that were executed were not innocent. If they were innocent, their execution should have made things worse, given that the famine came because innocent blood had been shed. On the contrary, we read that after the men were buried, the Lord "was intreated for the land" (2Sa 21:14). This statement and the fact that the Lord did not condemn the execution, indicate that these men were actually worthy of death for sins of their own, though not for the sins of Saul, for sons could not be put to death for the sins of the fathers. Since they were not executed earlier, it would seem that the sins leading to their death were either hidden or recent. They had the opportunity to rebel against David during the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba. One way in which those who rebelled could have done things worthy of death was by killing people thought to be faithful to David. When David returned to power, he was inclined to be gracious towards those who had been hostile to him (2Sa 19:21-23). This might explain why they were not executed earlier. We could say then that the famine drew attention also to the sins of the descendants of Saul. Another remark that could be made is that the Lord was entreated in the sense that the famine ended. The land was not healed at that time. After the seven men were executed, the land did not receive a sign that things were made right but one more thing happened indicating that it was defiled, that thing being that the bodies were not buried. A plain indication that the land was not healed at that time is that the Lord sent later a plague (2Sa 24:15).
The Gibeonites did not seem too concerned about justice. Their actions indicate that they were seeking revenge. Most likely, the death of the seven men did not bless the Gibeonites in any tangible way. However, this is the thing they asked for. What people ask for may not be what they need. More than anything else, the Gibeonites were in need to know the God of Israel (Ps 67:1-3). They should have asked for teachers to teach them God's word. Now, the execution of the seven men illustrates the fact that people may not always carry out justice right. There is no indication that the men were tried before their execution. In their own eyes, probably, they were dying because they were descendants of Saul. Nonetheless, the Scripture makes it very clear that everyone will be judged fairly in the end, at the last judgment. "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing ... " (Ec 12:14). He "will render to every man according to his deeds" (Ro 2:6). Everyone will know why he is condemned on that "day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God" (Ro 2:5). The famine and the events that came with it illustrate the fact that God will not acquit the wicked (Ex 23:7, 34:7, Na 1:3). These things also testify about the mercy of the Lord, for reminders of his justice can move people to repentance and reconciliation with God.
Finally, let us note that the nations living in Israel were given the task of working on the construction materials of the temple (1Ch 22:2, 2Ch 2:17-18 (2:16-17), 1Ki 9:20-21, 2Ch 8:7-8). It is interesting to notice, however, that this did not happen before reconciliation was sought with the Gibeonites.