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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
S E C O N D S A M U E L
CHAP. XXI.
The date of the events of this chapter is uncertain. I incline to think
that they happened as they are here placed, after Absalom’s and Sheba’s
rebellion, and towards the latter end of David’s reign. That the
battles with the Philistines, mentioned here, were long after the
Philistines were subdued, appears by comparing
The numbering of the people was just before the fixing of the place of
the temple (as appears
and that was towards the close of David’s life; and, it should seem,
the people were numbered just after the three years’ famine for the
Gibeonites, for that which is threatened as “three” years’ famine
is called “seven” years
three more, with the year current, added to those three. We have here,
I. The Gibeonites avenged,
1. By a famine in the land,
2. By the putting of seven of Saul’s posterity to death
(ver. 2-9),
care, however, being taken of their dead bodies, and of the bones of
Saul,
II. The giants of the Philistines slain in several battles,
| A Famine in Israel; The Gibeonites Avenged. | B. C. 1021. |
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1 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 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, What ye shall say, 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 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.
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.
Here
I. Were are told of the injury which Saul had, long before this, done
to the Gibeonites, which we had no account of in the history of his
reign, nor should we have heard of it here but that it came now to be
reckoned for. The Gibeonites were of the remnant of the Amorites
(v. 2),
who by a stratagem had made peace with Israel, and had the public faith
pledged to them by Joshua for their safety. We had the story
where it was agreed
(v. 23)
that they should have their lives secured, but be deprived of their
lands and liberties, that they and theirs should be tenants in
villanage to Israel. It does not appear that they had broken their part
of the covenant, either by denying their service or attempting to
recover their lands or liberties; nor was this pretended; but Saul,
under colour of zeal for the honour of Israel, that it might not be
said that they had any of the natives among them, aimed to root them
out, and, in order to that, slew many of them. Thus he would seem wiser
than his predecessors the judges, and more zealous for the public
interest; and perhaps he designed it for an instance of his royal
prerogative and the power which as king he assumed to rescind the
former acts of government and to disannul the most solemn leagues. It
may be, he designed, by this severity towards the Gibeonites, to atone
for his clemency towards the Amalekites. Some conjecture that he sought
to cut off the Gibeonites at the same time when he put away the witches
or perhaps many of them were remarkably pious, and he sought to destroy
them when he slew the priests their masters. That which made this an
exceedingly sinful sin was that he not only shed innocent blood, but
therein violated the solemn oath by which the nation was bound to
protect them. See what brought ruin on Saul’s house: it was a bloody
house.
II. We find the nation of Israel chastised with a sore famine, long
after, for this sin of Saul. Observe,
1. Even in the land of Israel, that fruitful land, and in the reign of
David, that glorious reign, there was a famine, not extreme (for then
notice would sooner have been taken of it and enquiry made into the
cause of it), but great drought, and scarcity of provisions, the
consequence of it, for three years together. If corn miss one year,
commonly the next makes up the deficiency; but, if it miss three years
successively, it will be a sore judgment; and the man of wisdom will by
it hear God’s voice crying to the country to repent of the abuse of
plenty.
2. David enquired of God concerning it. Though he was himself a
prophet, he must consult the oracle, and know God’s mind in his own
appointed way. Note, When we are under God’s judgments we ought to
enquire into the grounds of the controversy. Lord, show me wherefore
thou contendest with me. It is strange that David did not sooner
consult the oracle, not till the third year; but perhaps, till then, he
apprehended it not to be an extraordinary judgment for some particular
sin. Even good men are often slack and remiss in doing their duty. We
continue in ignorance, and under mistake, because we delay to enquire.
3. God was ready in his answer, though David was slow in his enquiries:
It is for Saul. Note, God’s judgments often look a great way
back, which obliges us to do so when we are under his rebukes. It is
not for us to object against the people’s smarting for the sin of their
king (perhaps they were aiding and abetting), nor against this
generation’s suffering for the sin of the last God often visiteth
the sins of the fathers upon the children, and his judgments are a
great deep. He gives not account of any of his matters. Time does
not wear out the guilt of sin; nor can we build hopes of impunity upon
the delay of judgments. There is no statute of limitation to be pleaded
against God’s demands. Nullum tempus occurrit Deo—God may
punish when he pleases.
III. We have vengeance taken upon the house of Saul for the turning
away of God’s wrath from the land, which, at present, smarted for his
sin.
1. David, probably by divine direction, referred it to the Gibeonites
themselves to prescribe what satisfaction should be given them for the
wrong that had been done them,
v. 3.
They had many years remained silent, had not appealed to David, nor
given the kingdom any disturbance with their complaints or demands; and
now, at length, God speaks for them (I heard not, for thou wilt
hear,
Ps. xxxviii. 14, 15);
and they are recompensed for their patience with this honour, that they
are made judges in their own case, and have a blank given them to write
their demands on: What you shall say, that will I do
(v. 4),
that atonement may be made, and that you may bless the inheritance
of the Lord,
v. 3.
It is sad for any family or nation to have the prayers of oppressed
innocency against them, and therefore the expense of a just restitution
is well bestowed for the retrieving of the blessing of those that
were ready to perish,
Job xxix. 13.
“My servant Job, whom you have wronged, shall pray for you,” says God,
“and then I will be reconciled to you, and not till then.” Those
understand not themselves that value not the prayers of the poor and
despised.
2. They desired that seven of Saul’s posterity might be put to death,
and David granted their demand.
(1.) They required no silver, nor gold,
v. 4.
Note, Money is no satisfaction for blood, see
It is the ancient law that blood calls for blood
(Gen. ix. 6);
and those over-value money and under-value life, that sell the blood of
their relations for corruptible things, such as silver and gold.
The Gibeonites had now a fair opportunity to get a discharge from their
servitude, in compensation for the wrong done them, according to the
equity of that law
If a man strike out his servant’s eye, he shall let him go free for
his eye’s sake. But they did not insist on this; though the
covenant was broken on the other side, it should not be broken on
theirs. They were Nethinim, given to God and his people Israel,
and they would not seem weary of the service.
(2.) They required no lives but of Saul’s family. He had done them the
wrong, and therefore his children must pay for it. We sue the heirs for
the parents’ debts. Men may not extend this principle so far as life,
The children in an ordinary course of law, shall never be put
to death for the parents. But this case of the Gibeonites was
altogether extraordinary. God had made himself an immediate party to
the cause and no doubt put it into the heart of the Gibeonites to make
this demand, for he owned what was done
(v. 14),
and his judgments are not subject to the rules which men’s judgments
must be subject to. Let parents take heed of sin, especially the sin of
cruelty and oppression, for their poor children’s sake, who may be
smarting for it by the just hand of God when they themselves are in
their graves. Guilt and a curse are a bad entail upon a family. It
should seem, Saul’s posterity trod in his steps, for it is called a
bloody house; it was the spirit of the family, and therefore
they are justly reckoned with for his sin, as well as for their own.
(3.) They would not impose it upon David to do this execution: Thou
shalt not for us kill any man
(v. 4),
but we will do it ourselves, we will hang them up unto the Lord
(v. 6),
that if there were any hardship in it, they might bear the blame, and
not David or his house. By our old law, if a murderer had judgment
given against him upon an appeal, the relations that appealed had the
executing of him.
(4.) They did not require this out of malice against Saul or his family
(had they been revengeful, they would have moved it themselves long
before), but out of love to the people of Israel, whom they saw plagued
for the injury done to them: “We will hang them up unto the Lord
(v. 6),
to satisfy his justice, not to gratify any revenge of our own–for the
good of the public, not for our own reputation.”
(5.) The nomination of the persons they left to David, who took care to
secure Mephibosheth for Jonathan’s sake, that, while he was avenging
the breach of one oath, he might not himself break another
(v. 7);
but he delivered up two of Saul’s sons whom he had by a concubine, and
five of his grandsons, whom his daughter Merab bore to Adriel
but his daughter Michal brought up,
v. 8.
Now Saul’s treachery was punished, in giving Merab to Adriel, when he
had promised her to David, with a design to provoke him. “It is a
dangerous matter,” says bishop Hall upon this, “to offer injury to any
of God’s faithful ones; if their meekness have easily remitted it,
their God will not pass it over without a severe retribution, though it
may be long first.”
(6.) The place, time, and manner, of their execution, all added to the
solemnity of their being sacrificed to divine justice.
[1.] They were hanged up, as anathemas, under a peculiar mark of God’s
displeasure; for the law had said, He that is hanged is accursed of
God,
Deut. xxi. 23; Gal. iii. 13.
Christ being made a curse for us, and dying to satisfy for our sins and
to turn away the wrath of God, became obedient to this ignominious
death.
[2.] They were hanged up in Gibeah of Saul
(v. 6),
to show that it was for his sin that they died. They were hanged, as it
were, before their own door, to expiate the guilt of the house of Saul;
and thus God accomplished the ruin of that family, for the blood of the
priests, and their families, which, doubtless, now came in remembrance
before God, and inquisition was made for it,
Yet the blood of the Gibeonites only is mentioned, because that
was shed in violation of a sacred oath, which, though sworn long
before, though obtained by a wile, and the promise made to Canaanites,
yet is thus severely reckoned for. The despising of the oath, and
breaking of the covenant, will be recompensed on the head of those who
thus profane God’s sacred name,
And thus God would show that with him rich and poor meet together. Even
royal blood must go to atone for the blood of the Gibeonites, who were
but the vassals for the congregation.
[3.] They were put to death in the days of harvest
(v. 9),
at the beginning of harvest
(v. 10),
to show that they were thus sacrificed for the turning sway of that
wrath of God which had withheld from them their harvest-mercies for
some years past, and to obtain his favour in the present harvest. Thus
there is no way of appeasing God’s anger but by mortifying and
crucifying our lusts and corruptions. In vain do we expect mercy from
God, unless we do justice upon our sins. Those executions must not be
complained of as cruel which have become necessary to the public
welfare. Better that seven of Saul’s bloody house be hanged than that
all Israel be famished.
| The Death of Saul’s Sons. | B. C. 1021. |
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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 went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of
Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, which had stolen
them from the street of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had
hanged 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.
Here we have,
I. Saul’s sons not only hanged, but hanged in chains, their dead bodies
left hanging, and exposed, till the judgment ceased, which their death
was to turn away, by the sending of rain upon the land. They died as
sacrifices, and thus they were, in a manner, offered up, not consumed
all at once by fire, but gradually by the air. They died as anathemas,
and by this ignominious usage they were represented as execrable,
because iniquity was laid upon them. When our blessed Saviour was made
sin for us he was made a curse for us. But how shall we reconcile this
with the law which expressly required that those who were hanged should
be buried on the same day?
One of the Jewish rabbin wishes this passage of story expunged, that
the name of God might be sanctified, which, he thinks, is
dishonoured by his acceptance of that which was a violation of his law:
but this was an extraordinary case, and did not fall within that law;
nay, the very reason for that law is a reason for this exception. He
that is thus left hanged is accursed; therefore ordinary malefactors
must not be so abused; but therefore these must, because they were
sacrificed, not to the justice of the nation, but for the crime of the
nation (no less a crime than the violation of the public faith) and for
the deliverance of the nation from no less a judgment than a general
famine. Being thus made as the off-scouring of all things, they
were made a spectacle to the world
God appointing, or at least allowing it.
II. Their dead bodies watched by Rizpah, the mother of two of them,
It was a great affliction to her, now in her old age, to see her two
sons, who, we may suppose, had been a comfort to her, and were likely
to be the support of her declining years, cut off in this dreadful
manner. None know what sorrows they are reserved for. She may not see
them decently interred, but they shall be decently attended. She
attempts not to violate the sentence passed upon them, that they should
hang there till God sent rain; she neither steals nor forces away their
dead bodies, though the divine law might have been cited to bear her
out; but she patiently submits, pitches a tent of sackcloth near the
gibbets, where, with her servants and friends, she protects the dead
bodies from birds and beasts of prey. Thus,
1. She indulged her grief, as mourners are too apt to do, to no good
purpose. When sorrow, in such cases, is in danger of growing excessive,
we should rather study how to divert and pacify it than how to humour
and gratify it. Why should we thus harden ourselves in sorrow?
2. She testified her love. Thus she let the world know that her sons
died, not for any sin of their own, not as stubborn and rebellious
sons, whose eye had despised to obey their mother; if that had
been the case, she would have suffered the ravens of the valley to
pick it out and the young eagles to eat it,
Prov. xxx. 17.
But they died for their father’s sin and therefore her mind could not
be alienated from them by their hard fate. Though there is not remedy,
but they must die, yet they shall die pitied and lamented.
III. The solemn interment of their dead bodies, with the bones of Saul
and Jonathan, in the burying-place of their family. David was so far
from being displeased at what Rizpah had done that he was himself
stirred up by it to do honour to the house of Saul, and to these
branches of it among the rest; thus it appeared that it was not out of
any personal disgust to the family that he delivered them up, and that
he had not desired the woeful day, but that he was obliged to do it for
the public good.
1. He now bethought himself of removing the bodies of Saul and
Jonathan from the place where the men of Jabesh-Gilead had decently,
but privately and obscurely, interred them, under a tree,
1 Sam. xxxi. 12, 13.
Though the shield of Saul was vilely cast away, as if he had not been
anointed with oil, yet let not royal dust be lost in the graves of the
common people. Humanity obliges us to respect human bodies, especially
of the great and good, in consideration both of what they have been and
what they are to be.
2. With them he buried the bodies of those that were hanged;
for, when God’s anger was turned away, they were no longer to be looked
upon as a curse,
When water dropped upon them out of heaven
(v. 10),
that is, when God sent rain to water the earth (which perhaps was not
many days after they were hung up), then they were taken down, for then
it appeared that God was entreated for the land. When justice is
done on earth vengeance from heaven ceases. Through Christ, who was
hanged on a tree and so made a curse for us, to expiate our guilt
(though he was himself guiltless), God is pacified, and is entreated
for us: and it is said
that when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, in
token of the completeness of the sacrifice and of God’s acceptance of
it, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a
sepulchre.
| The Giants Subdued. | B. C. 1020. |
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15 Moreover 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.
16 And Ishbi-benob, 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.
17 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.
18 And 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.
19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines,
where Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the
brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was
like a weaver’s beam.
20 And 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.
21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the
brother of David slew him.
22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the
hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
We have here the story of some conflicts with the Philistines, which
happened, as it should seem, in the latter end of David’s reign. Though
he had so subdued them that they could not bring any great numbers into
the field, yet as long as they had any giants among them to be their
champions, they would never be quiet, but took all occasions to disturb
the peace of Israel, to challenge them, or make incursions upon
them.
I. David himself was engaged with one of the giants. The Philistines
began the war yet again,
The enemies of God’s Israel are restless in their attempts against
them. David, though old, desired not a writ of ease from the public
service, but he went down in person to fight against the
Philistines (Senescit, non segnescit—He grows old, but not
indolent), a sign that he fought not for his own glory (at this age
he was loaded with glory, and needed no more), but for the good of his
kingdom. But in this engagement we find him,
1. In distress and danger. He thought he could bear the fatigues of war
as well as he had done formerly; his will was good, and he hoped he
could do as at other times. But he found himself deceived; age had cut
his hair, and, after a little toil, he waxed faint. His body
could not keep pace with his mind. The champion of the Philistines was
soon aware of his advantage, perceived that David’s strength failed
him, and, being himself strong and well-armed, he thought to slay
David; but God was not in his thoughts, and therefore in that very
day they all perished. The enemies of God’s people are often very
strong, very subtle, and very sure of success, like Isbi-benob, but
there is no strength, nor counsel, nor confidence against the Lord.
2. Wonderfully rescued by Abishai, who came seasonably in to his
relief,
Herein we must own Abishai’s courage and fidelity to his prince (to
save whose life he bravely ventured his own), but much more the good
providence of God, which brought him in to David’s succour in the
moment of his extremity. Such a cause and such a champion, though
distressed, shall not be deserted. When Abishai succoured him,
gave him a cordial, it may be, to relieve his fainting spirits, or
appeared as his second, he (namely, David, so I understand it)
smote the Philistine and killed him; for it is said
(v. 22)
that David had himself a hand in slaying the giants. David fainted, but
he did not flee; though his strength failed him, he bravely kept his
ground, and then God sent him this help in the time of need, which,
though brought him by his junior and inferior, he thankfully accepted,
and, with a little recruiting, gained his point, and came off a
conqueror. Christ, in his agonies, was strengthened by an angel. In
spiritual conflicts, even strong saints sometimes wax faint; then Satan
attacks them furiously; but those that stand their ground and resist
him shall be relieved, and made more than conquerors.
3. David’s servants hereupon resolved that he should never expose
himself thus any more. They had easily persuaded him not to fight
against Absalom
(ch. xviii. 3),
but against the Philistines he would go, till, having had this narrow
escape, it was resolved in council, and confirmed with an oath, that
the light of Israel (its guide and glory, so David was) should
never be put again into such hazard of being blown out. The lives of
those who are as valuable to their country as David was ought to be
preserved with a double care, both by themselves and others.
II. The rest of the giants fell by the hand of David’s servants.
1. Saph was slain by Sibbechai, one of David’s worthies,
2. Another, who was brother to Goliath, was slain by Elhanan, who is
mentioned
3. Another, who was of very unusual bulk, who had more fingers and toes
than other people
(v. 20),
and such an unparalleled insolence that, though he had seen the fall of
other giants, yet he defied Israel, was slain by Jonathan the son of
Shimea. Shimea had one son named Jonadab
whom I should have taken for the same with this Jonathan, but that the
former was noted for subtlety, the latter for bravery. These giants
were probably the remains of the sons of Anak, who, though long feared,
fell at last. Now observe,
(1.) It is folly for the strong man to glory in his strength.
David’s servants were no bigger nor stronger than other men; yet thus,
by divine assistance, they mastered one giant after another. God
chooses by the weak things to confound the mighty.
(2.) It is common for those to go down slain to the pit who have been
the terror of the mighty in the land of the living,
Ezek. xxxii. 27.
(3.) The most powerful enemies are often reserved for the last
conflict. David began his glory with the conquest of one giant, and
here concludes it with the conquest of four. Death is a Christian’s
last enemy, and a son of Anak; but, through him that triumphed for us,
we hope to be more than conquerors at last, even over that enemy.
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