2 Samuel
Chapter 21
APPENDIX
Blood Vengeance
There was a famine during the reign of David for three consecutive years, and David consulted the Lord. The answer was: “There is blood guilt on Saul and his family because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
The Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but descendants of the Amorites. Although the Israelites had sworn to spare them, Saul had attempted to wipe them out on behalf of the people of Israel and Judah.
David called the Gibeonites and asked them: “What shall I do for you? And how shall I repay you that you may bless the people of the Lord?”
The Gibeonites answered him: “Our quarrel with Saul and his family is not over silver or gold, nor is it our task to put any Israelite to death.” The king asked again: “Tell me then what I shall do for you.”
They replied: “That man slaughtered us and planned our destruction so that we would no longer occupy any place in Israel.
Surrender seven of his sons to us so that we may hang them up before the Lord at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord.” To this, the king said: “I will surrender them.”
David spared Meribbaal, son of Jonathan, Saul’s son, because of the oath David and Jonathan took before the Lord.
But he took the two sons of Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul—Armoni and Meribbaal; and the five sons of Merob, daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel, son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, who hanged them on the mountain of the Lord, where all seven perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Then Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock from the beginning of harvest until rain fell on them from the heavens. She did not allow the birds of the air to come on them by day or the beasts of the field by night.
When David was told what Rizpah, Aiah’s daughter and Saul’s concubine, had done,
he asked the men of Jabesh-Gilead for the bones of Saul and those of his son Jonathan. (They had taken them from the wall of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had nailed them when they killed Saul on Gilboa.)
So David had brought up from there the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan, and the bones of those who had been hanged were gathered.
All of them were buried in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish, their father. When all that the king had commanded was done, God pitied the land.
Battle Against the Philistines
The Philistines waged war again with Israel, and David went down with his servants to fight against them. When David grew tired,
Dadu, one of the descendants of the giants whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze and who had put on a new sword, thought of killing David.
But Abishai, son of Zeruiah, came to his help, attacking and killing the Philistine. Then David’s men urged him: “You shall not join us anymore in battle lest the lamp of Israel be extinguished.”
After this, there was more fighting with the Philistines at Gob; there, Sibbecai, the Hushathite, slew Saph, one of the descendants of the giants.
There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob where Elhanan, son of Jair, the Bethlehemite, slew Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was the size of a weaver’s beam.
In another encounter at Gath, there was a massive man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, numbering twenty-four. He, too, was a descendant of the giants.
When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, son of Shimei, David’s brother, slew him.
All four descendants of the giants fell by the hand of David and his guards.
Commentaries
Blood Vengeance.
The Gibeonites serve as an example of a Canaanite group that was peacefully integrated into the new inhabitants; they allied with Israel and, in return, were granted the right to live and perform specific services (Jos 9). Saul, driven by his fanatical exclusivism, committed a serious violation of the laws of that time, and it is reasonable to expect that this crime should be rectified. What is less sensible, however, is that vengeful justice should be carried out on Saul’s descendants. The law during that period held the entire family responsible for the actions of its members. A positive aspect of that law was that it reinforced community bonds and acted as a deterrent to criminals; a negative aspect, in our view, is that it can punish innocent people. Blood crimes demand bloodshed, and relatives, in order of closeness, must seek revenge—that’s the social institution of goelato. When people turn a blind eye, God hears the cry of blood and enforces or demands justice. The oracle interprets ongoing hunger as a divine claim.
In some cases, monetary compensation was accepted, while in others, it was forbidden. Once the Lord has intervened, execution becomes an act in his honor; the victims are offered to him as a form of consecration to the Lord of life. The victims may be left for wild beasts or birds; later laws require that the bodies be removed before sunset (Dt 21:22ff), and the bodies of those executed are buried in a common grave.
Battle Against the Philistines.
This marks the start of a series of appendices that aim to complete David’s story. The campaigns against the Philistines are part of the early stage of his reign (chapter 5). The four exploits and their patterns are similar, almost like a list of honorable mentions. The most interesting detail is the return of Goliath of Gath, who is killed this time by Elhanan, not David. Goliath was probably near Jerusalem.