2 Samuel 21:1-14

2 Samuel 21:1-14

[1] Then there was a famine  in the days  of David  three  years,  after  year;  and David  enquired  of  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,  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  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  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  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 intreated  for the land. 

What does 2 Samuel 21:1-14 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

In this first subsection the writer reminds the reader that breaking covenants results in God withdrawing the blessing of fertility.