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2 Samuel 21:1

Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

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.)

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?

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.

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,

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

11

And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

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:

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.

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 entreated for the land.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

21

And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah the brother of David slew him.

22

These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

2 Samuel 21:1

21:1 the days of David. The chronological history of David’s life and reign is given in I Samuel 16–II Samuel 20. The last four chapters of II Samuel are in the nature of appendices.

2 Samuel 21:1

21:1 slew the Gibeonites. Joshua had made a firm commitment to the Gibeonites four hundred years earlier (Joshua 9:15), and Saul and his sons had broken that treaty. This act is not recorded elsewhere in Scripture, but apparently had grievously displeased the Lord.

2 Samuel 21:6

21:6 of his sons. It is probable that these seven sons were as guilty as their father in the unwarranted slaughter of the Gibeonites (II Samuel 21:1-6), which had resulted in a divinely-sent famine on Israel. Note the mention of “Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites” in II Samuel 21:1.

2 Samuel 21:8

21:8 five sons of Michal. Michal was without children of her own (II Samuel 6:23), but apparently raised the five sons of Adriel, her brother-in-law, who had been married to her sister Merab (I Samuel 18:19).

2 Samuel 21:19

21:19 slew the brother of Goliath. Since the words “the brother of” are not in the original (and, therefore, are italicized in most printings of the King James Version), critics have alleged a contradiction here with the story of David and Goliath (I Samuel 17:4,7,50). It is more reasonable, however, to assume an ancient copyist omission here, especially in view of the more complete description given in the parallel passage, as follows: “And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver’s beam” (I Chronicles 20:5). Another (less likely) resolution would be the possibility that this Goliath was the son of the Goliath slain by David, and that both Goliath (Jr.) and his brother Lahmi were slain by Elhanan. In either case, there is no contradiction.

2 Samuel 21:22

21:22 born to the giant. The campaign described in these verses apparently marked the final extermination of the giants of Canaan.

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