History · Chapter 21 of 24

2 Samuel 21

A three-year famine reveals bloodguilt from Saul's slaughter of the Gibeonites, breaking Israel's ancient oath. To make atonement, the Gibeonites ask for seven of Saul's descendants, who are executed. Rizpah keeps a long, faithful vigil over the bodies until David honorably buries them with the bones of Saul and Jonathan, and God answers prayer for the land. The chapter ends with battles in which David's men kill Philistine giants.

What happens in 2 Samuel 21

A famine lasts three years, and when David seeks the LORD, the answer is that Saul slew the Gibeonites, a people Israel had sworn by oath to protect. David asks the Gibeonites how to make atonement; they refuse silver or gold and ask for seven of Saul's male descendants to be executed. David hands over two sons of Rizpah and five of Saul's grandsons, sparing Mephibosheth for his oath to Jonathan; the seven are executed at the beginning of harvest. Rizpah, mother of two, spreads sackcloth on a rock and guards the bodies day and night, keeping off birds and beasts, until the rains come.

Told of her devotion, David gathers the bones of the executed along with those of Saul and Jonathan and buries them honorably in the family tomb, and afterward God is entreated for the land. Then war with the Philistines flares; David grows faint and is rescued by Abishai, and his warriors kill four Philistine giants.

2 Samuel 21 in context

This chapter and the next form an appendix summarizing David's reign rather than following the timeline strictly. The Gibeonite episode reaches back to Joshua 9, where Israel swore protection, and to Saul's later violation of that oath. To ancient Israel, unavenged bloodguilt polluted the land and could bring drought; justice had to be satisfied and covenant honored.

The account is hard for modern readers, yet it insists that broken oaths and shed innocent blood are not trivial to God.

Main themes of 2 Samuel 21

2 Samuel 21 (KJV)

1Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. 2And 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.) 3Wherefore 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? 4And 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, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. 5And 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, 6Let seven men 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. 7But 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. 8But 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: 9And 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. 10And 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. 11And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12And David went 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 had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa: 13And 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. 14And 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. 15Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint. 16And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David. 17But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel. 18And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant. 19And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. 21And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah the brother of David slew him. 22These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

Verses to carry from 2 Samuel 21

“Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.”2 Samuel 21:1

“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.”2 Samuel 21:10

“But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.”2 Samuel 21:17

Reflection

This chapter refuses to treat broken promises and innocent blood as small things, and it honors a grieving mother's faithful watch. Where our sense of justice cries out that a real reckoning is needed, the gospel answers with a cross where God himself provided the atonement. Rest there, and let no promise you make be cheap.

A prayer from 2 Samuel 21