2 Samuel21

A three-year famine prompts David to inquire of the Lord, who reveals it is due to Saul's slaughter of the Gibeonites. To atone, seven of Saul's descendants are hanged by the Gibeonites, after which David ensures their proper burial alongside Saul and Jonathan. Following this, the chapter recounts four separate instances where David's men defeat Philistine giants in battle, including one where David himself is nearly slain but saved.

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The Famine and Saul's Bloodguilt

During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”

At this, David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites, but a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had taken an oath concerning them, but in his zeal for Israel and Judah, Saul had sought to kill them.)

So David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How can I make amends so that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?”

The Gibeonites said to him, “We need no silver or gold from Saul or his house, nor should you put to death anyone in Israel for us.” “Whatever you ask, I will do for you,” he replied.

And they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us to exterminate us from existing within any border of Israel,

let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.

Now the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons whom Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, as well as the five sons whom Merab daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel 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. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Rizpah’s Vigil and Honorable Burial

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain from heaven poured down on the bodies, she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

When David was told what Saul’s concubine Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, had done,

he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies after they had struck down Saul at Gilboa.

So David had the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan brought from there, along with the bones of those who had been hanged.

And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. After they had done everything the king had commanded, God answered their prayers for the land.

Battles Against Philistine Giants

Once again the Philistines waged war against Israel, and David and his servants went down and fought against the Philistines; but David became exhausted.

Then Ishbi-benob, a descendant of Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels and who was bearing a new sword, resolved to kill David.

But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”

Some time later at Gob, there was another battle with the Philistines. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha.

Once again there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

And there was still another battle at Gath, where there was a man of great stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He too was descended from Rapha,

and when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of David’s brother Shimei killed him.

So these four descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants.

Study Notes for 2 Samuel 21

Verse 1

A three-year famine indicated divine judgment against Israel. David’s inquiry reveals that Saul had violated the sacred covenant made centuries earlier between Joshua and the Gibeonites (Joshua 9), incurring national bloodguilt.

Verse 2

The Gibeonites were Amorites protected by an oath the Israelites swore to them. Saul’s attempt to destroy them, motivated by misguided nationalistic zeal, constituted a severe breach of covenant law, which God held the nation accountable for.

Verse 6

The Gibeonites demand seven descendants of Saul be executed by hanging. This public execution, performed at Saul’s hometown (Gibeah), served as a necessary act of atonement to purify the land from the bloodguilt incurred by Saul’s violation (cf. Num 35:33).

Verse 7

David upheld his personal covenant with Jonathan (1 Sam 20:15-17), demonstrating that personal integrity and oath-keeping were paramount, even amidst the painful necessity of national retribution.

Verse 8

The Hebrew text mentions five sons of 'Michal,' though 2 Samuel 6:23 states Michal had no children. Scholars suggest this is either a scribal error for Merab (Saul’s eldest daughter who married Adriel, 1 Sam 18:19) or that Michal adopted and raised Merab’s children.

Verse 10

Rizpah’s intense loyalty and grief led her to protect the bodies from scavengers for months, highlighting the shame of the exposed corpses. This act of devotion eventually moved David to ensure a proper burial for Saul’s family.

Verse 12

David retrieves the bones of Saul and Jonathan from Jabesh-gilead, whose people had risked their lives years earlier to recover the bodies from the Philistines (1 Sam 31:11-13).

Verse 14

The burial of Saul and his family in the ancestral tomb of Kish finally completes the atonement process. Only after this act of restorative justice and honor was God 'intreated for the land,' signaling the end of the famine.

Verse 15

This section serves as a historical appendix, documenting the security of David’s reign through the defeat of the final, massive Philistine giants. David’s participation in battle is still expected, though he is clearly aging.

Verse 17

Abishai saves David, confirming that the king is too old for front-line fighting. David is called 'the light of Israel,' a royal title emphasizing his indispensable role as the spiritual and political head of the nation.

Verse 19

This account appears to conflict with 1 Samuel 17. The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 20:5 clarifies that Elhanan slew Lahmi, the *brother* of Goliath. It is likely that the name 'Goliath' became a generic designation for a giant or that the text preserves a variant tradition.

Verse 22

These four giants were descendants of the Rephaim, an ancient race of formidable stature. Their defeat by David’s men marks the complete subjugation of the Philistine threat during David's reign.

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2 Samuel21

The Famine and Saul's Bloodguilt

Rizpah’s Vigil and Honorable Burial

Battles Against Philistine Giants

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