And David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. he put the Gibeonites to death. What I am trying to show you by going through these different places is that there is plenty of law that King David could have looked back on. WebA famine lasting three years hit Israel during the earlier half of David 's reign at Jerusalem. At the time the Israelites under Joshua invaded the Promised Land of Canaan, most of the inhabitants rose up in arms against them. We are getting toward the end of King David's life. I don't know a great deal about this particular segment of those biblical people called the Hittites. He says to watchbe aware, be awake, be vigilant; know what your spiritual state is. Let me ask God about this. This does not make any sense. Without checking out their story; without surveying the geographical situation; most of all, without consulting the Lord and waiting for His guidance, Joshua went impulsively ahead and signed a binding, lasting agreement with the Gibeonites. When asked about the time of the end; when questioned about the signs that would precede His Second Coming, our blessed Lord instinctively cautioned: "Take heed that no man deceive you." Wherever he turned, he harassed them. The soul who sins shall die. Ezekiel 18:19-20 indicates that guilt for sin is not transferable, but the consequences can often touch several generations. After 7-10 years of war, David has solidified his empire Mar 2, 2022. If you look at a map in the back of your Bible which has something to do with the conquest of Israel, you will see that Gilgal is right over the Jordan River, just on the eastern side of the land. Vote Up He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. The rains did not come after the Days of Unleavened Bread when these seven men were executed. He says that He visits the iniquity upon them. Israel plagued by allowing the deception Why are they where they were? Even so, maybe there were even worse problems, perhaps, and David was blind to them for three years. There is less bloodshed, and there will not be much opportunity like in Gentile nations for these blood feuds to last for years and generations. 1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. This indicates that God was not pleased, whatsoever, with how this situation was resolved by David. Rizpah, Lord Alfred Tennyson in 1878. They had remembered it for 40 or 50 years. And David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. He resolved properlynot without a lot of death, with 70,000 dead in that plague, but at least he had the repentant attitude by the time it was over. God affirms that the famine is punishment for Sauls massacre of the Gibeonites, who had been protected by a treaty since the Israelites first invaded the Promised Land ( Joshua 9:127 ). God punished the whole nation for breaking the covenant. The Bible does not provide us the details of this killing. But, are these people telling the truth? Guilt for sin is not hereditary. He enslaved them all, and made them wood cutters and menial laborers at the Tabernacle. This cultural thing about wanting our heroes flawed is so deeply ingrained in us that we cannot imagine anyone going through life without sin. I will do it." He did not do anything to directly intervene. Then Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David. He could have done whatever he wanted. Why did Herod like to listen to John the Baptist, who criticized Herods lifestyle? Jamieson, Fausset and Brown comments: 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, though brought to the knowledge of the true God, were not, it seems, free from this superstition. Only after three days did they discover that their "far-distant" allies were really next-door neighbors! We would like to make a covenant with you.". but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah. He did not do a thing that a king or judge should do. I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. The Gibeonites take the young men and essentially lynch them, leaving the bodies of Sauls sons and grandsons to rot, exposed and humiliated in the presence of God at a local shrine. God took the initiative in this matter, by afflicting the nation of Israel with a famine because the house of Saul had put the Gibeonites to death. This meant the latter harvest has passed, and maybe another month or so went by. We see in this little vignette that innocent people die; grief lingers forever; idolatry is committed; and the curse of famine continues; another harvest fails; and the land remains defiled; everything stinks of death. If we think that we have it all figured out, I am sorry, we do not. 2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the He had to sit there and judge people with all the little things they constantly brought up to him that seemed to need his decision on. It is not genetic. Pagan cultures were killed because they were pagan cultures and they were making war on Gods people. He asked me, "How does this incident square with what God says in Ezekiel 18:19-20?". You didn't do it. He had to plead to God for clearing and forgiveness, for cleaning up, because he knew it was not in himself to do that. He tried to come up with a compromise, and that was basically, "Whatever you want, you can have." In 2 Samuel 21:1-14, we see that Saul committed an awful crime, and this caused famine in Israel. Two years is a long time. Exodus 20:4-6 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. According to a May 2007 George Barna Poll, 63% of Americans, mostly professing Christians, believe that Jesus sinned during His physical life! Nearly two-thirds of American professing Christians believe that their Savior sinned. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. In 1 Samuel 10, Saul first tries to kill David by straight up pinning him to the wall with his spear, but David dodges twice. Most people living in modern, Western culture better identify with flawed heroes, rather than perfect heroes. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. Where have you been, David? Therefore, the world is full of sintheir own sin. However, there was a difference between Israel's version and the Gentiles' principle of vengeance or retribution. They fell for it hook, line, and sinker, and they were stuck. And King David rolled over and let this happen. The Israelites had been dealing with the Gibeonites, who were Hivitesand as it says here, they were a part of the Amorite peoplesince the first days in the land under Joshua. He apparently killed II Samuel 21:1-14 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. This is certainly not the David of Psalm 34, where he wrote. They did not inquire. 'Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses [another layer that comes in]; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty. They engaged in battle, and Israel won, but the people and king Saul said, "Look at all this nice livestock! So 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. Saul agreed, and off he went. 2 Samuel 21:2 At this, David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. It is easy to read this story blithely, and to think that David righted some longstanding wrongs that had happened, and then God happily sent rain to the parched land of Israel. Were they participants in killing the Gibeonites? That is basically how it was. Lets be clear from the very beginning, David was kind to Mephibosheth for his father Jonathans sake (2 Samuel 9:1). Mephibosheth was only five ye Whatever the case, it is very plain to me that he did not pay enough attention to this matter of the famine and drought, and the Gibeonites. He simply folded, giving the Gibeonites everything they wanted. The last time Saul did swear not to kill David, Saul swore "by YHWH" not to kill david he broke it many times over since. PHARAOH AND HAMAN - He was distracted by the cares of this world, by the pulls of this, that, and the other thing, and so he gives in and compromises with the people of the land. King David was compelled to hand over his own people to the power of Israel's ongoing enemies. Much later, King Saul ignored this covenant of peace and killed some Gibeonites. 21:1-11 ). You see, famine on the scale like thisthree yearsis a sign from God that things were not copacetic in the land. This famine has been going on for three years, year after year. 1. Community answers are sorted based on votes. I do not know. WebThe Lord answered, Saul and his family of murderers are the reason for this shortage, because he killed the Gibeonites. 2 Samuel 21:1 American Standard Version (ASV) 1 And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Jehovah. Report The Bible barely alludes to the king's mad scheme, but we know that Saul's plot miserably failed. And the Lord said, "There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death. THE BATTLES OF THE LORD And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them. It cut us off from God. For unknown reasons, Joshua and the elders of Israel quickly bit on this proposal. These cagey enemies of God's people were destined to be destroyed, so they devised a simple, but clever scheme to deceive Israel in the hope of saving their own necks. Matt 24:4/Mk 13:5/Lk 21:8. They were probably in middle age, 45-60. Had David been righteous and been crying out to God, God would have heard him. However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.". They decided to fight with the Gibeonites and teach them a lesson. Therefore, there was a different system of justice than what the Gentiles were used to. About two years ago, Barry Watson, our lone member in Namibia, wrote me an email message in which this incident was at the heart of it. Or as the Gibeonites said Saul consumed them and tried to destroy them a people Israel had entered into a covenant with 400 years earlier. Then they answered the king, "As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel, "let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us, and we will hang them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD chose." Joshua 9:14 is the key to Israel's problem. The Bible implicitly hints at something which caused a feud which was settled only by the blood of Sauls descendants. That generation had begun to pass. I am just going to start with the backdrop to the incident. Saul tried to get back his throne from God by doing what he thought was right, what he thought was zealous for God, by getting rid of the foreignersincluding the Gibeonitesthat were among them. They knew all the things God had stipulated about what they were to do when Israel was going to come into the land. They were the five sons of Merab, Saul's daughter. II Samuel 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. Joshua kept his word to the Gibeonites even when it was inconvenient. "Now therefore, you are cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaveswoodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God." It seems as though he was spiritually sleepwalking through this whole thing. Clarify Yet, the Bible specifically says in Hebrews 4:15 that He was without sin. Later, during a wasting famine, David, attempting a political rather than a righteous solution, yielded to the Gibeonites' request that descendants of Saul be hanged to avenge the slaughter. And she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. Go coach! There is a difference. Joshua and that generation did not do their entire job, and so they were stuck. Perhaps trickery will be better than war for us.". Then they replied, It was Saul who planned to destroy us, to keep us from having any place at all in Israel. And he gathered an army and attacked the Amalekites, and delivered Israel from the hands of those who plundered them. And when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man, he took him for himself. The Bible doesnt really say. This is taken from the book Antiquities of the Jews, pg. 7: AFTER this, when the country was greatly afflicted with a Except for verse 21, there is very little mention of God in the whole episode. I dont think it was a matter of God allowing the Gibeonites to put to death Sauls sons. He was distracted. The rest of the Canaanites resented the defection of the Hivites which so greatly weakened the forces for defense, and, headed by Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem, they assembled to wreak vengeance on Gibeon. We have to understand that the people of the land represent the things we need to overcomeour human nature and our problems; the world and its pulls to its ways; and Satan and all the ways that he tries to manipulate us. All it is, was, "We want blood, and anyone from the house of Saul will do.". There is more space given to David's flaws than anyone else in the whole Bible. Numbers 35:34 "Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.'". It was as if David earlier said, "Let's just get this out of the way. They were appeasing their own god to send rain. There were no conditions. Saul, after having disqualified Notice the timing and the manner of the execution. What Saul did was commit another presumptuous sin. Spiritual Strongholds (Part Two): Faithful Trust. David did not come to this with any regal neutrality in the least. What do we do in a time of spiritual famine? It does not require at all times that a person guilty of bloodshed die. We have examples of where that has happened, but he did not do that this time. He sees the hearts of men and the hidden actions of men. Who was the father of Mephibosheth? Back to the Gibeonitesmost people probably did not remember it. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. This incident appears in time sequence toward the end of his life. They did not seek God in this matter. Numbers 35:29-33 And these things shall be a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. And the Gibeonites said to him, "We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us." However, the Gibeonites did. WebAnd the Lord answered, Saul and his family of murderers are the reason for the famine, because he killed the Gibeonites. 2 (The Gibeonites were not Israelites. You do not know. We do not know how long before II Samuel 21 this incident happened. They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. I do not know when God through Samuel stripped him of the kingdom. When the Gibeonites heard that the other nations were going to attack them, they sent a message to Joshua and the people, Help! Completely ignoring God's explicit command to spare the Gibeonites, Saul decreed it was time to remove them completely by exterminating them. Had him over to the palace a few times." This was a long time ago. As we get to about verse 32 in Hebrews 11, Paul says that he does not have time to get to all the other heroes of faith that the Bible gives us. They are going to cause problems. His anger at the There were big problems, and one of them was the consequences and effects of Saul and his bloodthirsty house. Here we find the Gibeonites demand, and King David counter demandsNOT. They probably went from Gibeon by some circuitous route so they did not come directly from the west where they actually lived. Does the Bible encourage the practice of Lent? So they answered Joshua and said, "Because your servants were clearly told that the LORD your God commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you.". 4. But, very few people can relate to sinless perfection. The two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul ( v.8 ) September 01 2013 Now, if we would go through II Samuel 24, that even though David made a huge mistake in chapter 21, he did it right in chapter 24. Instead, they told a story that either ignored the truth completely or, at least, shaded the truth in such a way that it was full of guile and deceit. The choice by Adam and Eve in the garden was a sin, and they paid for it through death. We want them to reflect what a real person would do in extreme or extraordinary circumstances. Joshua 9:3-6 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked craftily [remember that], and went and pretended to be ambassadors. With all the recent rebellions, he was probably worried that his alliances were going to fail, because he may have appeared to weaken. Psalm 34:17-18 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. Leviticus 26:18-20 And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. Perhaps if I go and kill all the Gibeonites like Joshua was supposed to do, maybe God will let me back into the chair.". If what happened against Gibeon occurred during Saul's reign, even if it was in the latter half, it would mean it was at least (if we are in the last decade of King David's reign) that the massacre of Gibeonites occurred 40 or 50 years earlier. Now, turn to the episode of King David, which we introduced. He got a little weird, throwing spears at David (and Jonathan too, once). ", So David went out and said, "There are some things that have needed to be done. It comes as a snare, Christ says, on everybody. It said earlier that they wanted them to be hung before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul. They are still there. Time to retire!" Also David seems to have only spared Mephibosheth only because he made an oath, and not for the fact that he was only five years old and did not participate in killing the Gibeonites? Joshua 9:22-24 Then Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, "Why have you deceived us, saying, 'We are very far from you,' when you dwell near us? Ezekiel 18:19-20 indicates that guilt for sin is not transferable, but the consequences can often touch several generations. Berean Literal Bible Acts 13:21. Nob. Another possibility is that when Saul slew many of the priests at Nob he also executed many Gibeonites (1 Samuel 22:19). I think he was very low. The midrash states that when Saul learned of this, he was angry with his daughter and demanded of her: Why did you deceive me and let my enemy escape? We can't withstand them. He became jealous and he went wacko, basically. This is like offering them reparations for what Saul had done, and they replied that it was not good enough. You might say a whole cycle of generations. This was history now. Notice God declares that the bloodguilt was not just on Saul, but also his house. ", God answered immediately, "It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house. What we do inherit of their sin is consequences. Finally the light came on, and David said, "I had better ask what is going on here. He just let the natural cycles take their course. They have a discussion in the next few verses, and many Israelites want to go ahead and kill these Gibeonites for what they did. And we bear the guilt with them for that. 3. It seems that modern Westerners want their heroes flawed. David asked. Joshua 9:14-16 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the LORD. God!before the Lordin Gibeah of Saul. How much food did Jesus produce? 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