READ: 2 Sam. 21:1-14: … And after that, God heeded the prayer for the land …
After the end of Sheba’s rebellion, another difficult period arises. There is a famine for three years! This forces David to seek the face of the LORD. We have not seen David take this kind of action in a long time. In the famine, David senses the direct punishment of the LORD on the entire nation. However, he cannot trace it back to a specific action on his part.
The LORD answers that Saul sought to exterminate the inhabitants of Gibeon. But Gibeon, as a pagan city, had been promised by oath through Joshua to be spared (Josh. 9:19). It was the murder of innocent people (6th commandment) that went against the sworn oath, thereby dishonoring God’s name (3rd commandment).
The LORD does not hold this guiltless. He does not let this sin go unpunished but uses the famine to remind David of his negligence in restoring honor and justice.
David then asks the Gibeonites how atonement can be made so that they are appeased. They do not ask for the lives of Israelites but demand seven men from Saul’s descendants, as Saul was responsible for this wrongdoing.
David agrees to this but spares Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, because of his oath to Jonathan. The seven men are handed over to the Gibeonites, who kill them and hang them before the LORD.
God’s wrath is only appeased once the bodies are buried. Before that, Rizpah spends months watching over the hanged bodies of her sons. Only after hearing about this does David arrange for their burial, including the bones of Saul and Jonathan, in a new grave.
This story again shows David as a fallible theocratic king, reinforcing the call for the coming of his greater Son.
Do you see that an oath brings a great obligation?
Sing: Ps. 25:4