It says a bit later that somebody told him what that woman was doing out there protecting the bodies of the slain men of Saul's house for the past six months and it was as though he said, "Oh really? There is a great deal more than what meets the eye. 1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. II Samuel 21:8-9 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. This was obviously later in his life and reign. The Bible implicitly hints at something which caused a feud which was settled only by the blood of Sauls descendants. Saul committed a great crime against Gibeon and the Gibeonites. Instead, the Gibeonites demanded the execution of seven of Saul's sons. WebThe LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. 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. 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. He is beyond us; it does not make any sense. They are going to cause problems. We have a very simple biblical principle here: God is just. However, if they did not participate, they are not going to be given a black mark by God for something that they did not do. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.". WebThe biblical writer confirms this charge by stating that Saul tried to annihilate [ nkah, to inflict a dead blow] them (2 Sam. Joshua 9:25-27 "And now, here we are, in your hands; do with us as it seems good and right to do to us." THE STORY OF JOSEPH - The Gibeonites presented themselves to the invading Israelites, not as nearby neighbors, but as distant foreigners who lived in a far-off land. But, are these people telling the truth? There are so many things I have got to do.". 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. Christ says, Luke 21:34-35 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. If the Gibeonites brought guile and deceit into the land; it was Saul who set the example for deep and devastating delusion. persecuted and killed the Gibeonites men in a covenant relationship with Israel who served at the tabernacle. Joshua and that generation did not do their entire job, and so they were stuck. It is not there in the Scriptures. This is interesting. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is. So he said, "Whatever you say, I will do for you." Joshua 9:14 is the key to Israel's problem. 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. The children of Israel gathered and went across the Jordan River, and set up camp at Gilgal. David may have begun to think about this now, "What is going on here? 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. God did not perform a miracle to end this famine after these men were executed. Nearly two-thirds of American professing Christians believe that their Savior sinned. Then, pray for all you are worth so that your relationship with God and Jesus Christ is strong when the famine hits. So they thought, "Hmm. He got a little weird, throwing spears at David (and Jonathan too, once). 2Samuel 21:1, There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.. * 1 Samuel 18:12 KJV And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul. * 1 Samuel 18:15 KJV Wherefore when S Some interesting similarities to New Testament times occur to me: The fact that David made a covenant with Jonathan regarding Jonathans house (1 Sam 20:14-16), would take precedence over all other reasons not to give up Mephibosheth, I would suppose. WebA three years' famine in the days of David was attributed to God's anger at the unexpiated crime of Saul in slaying the Gibeonites. Evidently, he thought that he could win back his kingdom if he zealously did God's will. Nob. Instead, David brings back twice as many. Rizpah, Lord Alfred Tennyson in 1878. He realized how often, and how far, he strayed from God's way of life. 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. The problem was that God had not told Saul to do this, God had told Joshua to do that. Then, they went after Jericho, and it fell. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. II Samuel 21:14 So they performed all that the king commanded. What should we get out of this? Based on this principle, I think we can be confident that justice was carried out in this very nasty incident, even though we are not told all the details of what happened. 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. They are two separate things. . Gave 7 of Saul's sons to the Gibeonites. It was certainly alive and well in Israel. It's much too heavy any more!" Ezekiel 18:19-20 indicates that guilt for sin is not transferable, but the consequences can often touch several generations. And David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. Once again, God's anointed was compelled to humble himself and his nation before a delegation of these servile Gibeonites. Another possibility is that when Saul slew many of the priests at Nob he also executed many Gibeonites (1 Samuel 22:19). Evidently, that is what he did. So he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, so that they did not kill them. Completely ignoring God's explicit command to spare the Gibeonites, Saul decreed it was time to remove them completely by exterminating them. (4:10). God spared them as a people, but His nation condemned them to endless servitude. Another group, however, argues that as God's anointed king, David did all this, it seems, off the top of his head. So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Notice verse 2 says that Saul tried to strike them down in his zeal (also means jealously or envy) for the people of Israel and Judah. WebThe consequences of Israels covenant with the Gibeonites were not short-term. 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." The Gibeonites left their mark on Israel's history in another wretched incident involving One of the things He specifically mentions is famine, which happens to be the third sealphysical famine, but we remember from Amos that there is a spiritual famine as well. or who shall stand in his holy place? Exodus 21:23-25 But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. The "Great Debate" between Nixon and Kennedy had not occurred yet. There is no indication in II Samuel 21 that David got advice from any of his ministers about how to deal with this situation. THE STORY OF THE GIBEONITES - They had advance warning. So he said, "Whatever you say, I will do for you." I dont think it was a matter of God allowing the Gibeonites to put to death Sauls sons. Except for verse 21, there is very little mention of God in the whole episode. They engaged in battle, and Israel won, but the people and king Saul said, "Look at all this nice livestock! It must have been a satisfactory solution from Gods point of view, because he sent the rain on the land after the measures had been taken. There was no negotiation; there was no calling them on anything. And how do I know this? We are starting to get some of the atmosphere around this event now. Jerusalem is almost directly west a few miles, but it is quite high from the Jordan to the Jerusalem. The Israelites had promised not to Israel plagued by allowing the deception Finally the light came on, and David said, "I had better ask what is going on here. He committed colossal sins that whole nations would be held in contempt for. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land. In the economy of God's providence, however, such tiny events often matter much. Now Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured on them from heaven. Although he had peace at this time, I think he was worried because they just had two successive rebellions, and were almost to the point of victory over King David until they were eliminated. 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. 2. Saul killed a lot of people. Therefore, the world is full of sintheir own sin. And we are supposed to be ready. What did David do to end the famine caused by Saul breaking a treaty with the Gibeonites? Of course, a part of it is being able to look at ourselves and see how dirty, nasty, and rotten we are, and saying, "There is no way that anybody could live in this world without sin; even God's beloved Son.". No one killed king David. He died of old age, at the age of three score and ten (70 years). His son Solomon succeeded him. You might be thinking of 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. How does this all connect with Ezekiel chapter 18? There were no conditions. Then, I am sure, he started to think about other things that were happening, and he started to make some reforms in himself. Had him over to the palace a few times." So, he kept his own covenant, but he did not go any further to figure out from God's law to know what should be done in this situation. He gives them exactly what they want, and look at what happens. Luke 21:36 "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.". I want you to understand where Barry was coming from in writing the note. King David, for example, made huge errors in judgment and committed colossal sins. Now, turn to the episode of King David, which we introduced. It does not matter. 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. 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