24 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 21 A famine being in the land three years, the Lord was inquired of, to know the reason of it; and it being answered, that it was on account of Saul's slaughter of the Gibeonites, they were summoned by David to know what satisfaction they required for the cruel usage of them, 2 Samuel 21:1; to which they replied, that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year,.... That is, three years running, one after another; some think this, though here related, was before the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba, and not after, and there are several things which may incline to it, as that the sin of Saul should otherwise be so long unpunished,...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
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 1 Chron. xviii. 1 with xx....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king called the Gibeonites,.... Sent messengers unto them, and summoned them to come to him, and said unto them; what is expressed in 2 Samuel 21:3; for what follows is in a parenthesis: (now the Gibeonites [were] not of the children of Israel; originally, though they were proselyted to the Jewish religion, and were employed in the menial...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, what shall I do for you,.... By way of satisfaction for the injuries done them: and wherewith shall I make the atonement; for the offences committed, that so the wrath that was gone forth against the land in a famine might be appeased: that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord? pray for a blessing upon...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And, the Gibeonites said unto him,.... In reply to his motion: we will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; this shall not be the ransom or atonement; it was not silver and gold Saul took from them, but the lives of their brethren, and therefore they insist upon life for life: neither for us shall thou kill any man in Israel; who...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they answered the king,.... Declaring expressly what they would have done: the man that consumed us; meaning Saul, who lessened their number by cruel oppressions of some, and by taking away the lives of others: and that devised against us, [that] we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel; who had formed schemes, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us,.... They settled upon this number, either because they were seven, and no more of the Gibeonites, whom Saul slew, as the Jew say (i); two hewers of wood, two drawers of water, a keeper (of a synagogue), a scribe, and a servant; but perhaps the true reason was, they knew there were no more besides...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,.... As they did not name particular persons, only required seven sons, it was at the option of the king what sons to deliver to them, and therefore kept back Mephibosheth, who is thus described, to distinguish him from a son of Saul's of the same name, after mentioned: because...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah,.... Saul's concubine, 2 Samuel 3:7; whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; of whom we read nowhere else; after the name of the latter, it is probable, Jonathan's son was called, before mentioned: and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites,.... The two sons of Rizpah and the five sons of Merab, two sons of Saul and five grandsons: and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord; in the hill at Gibeah, that they might be seen by all that passed by, and serve to deter from such evils, which brought on them that punishment;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth,.... Both as a token of mourning for her sons, and as fittest to defend from the weather, the heat by day of cold by night: and spread it for her upon the rock; the hill on which her sons were hanged; this she spread as a canopy or tent to sit under, and be covered with it; not to cover the bodies...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. Whether this was told out of good will or ill will is not certain; however, it was not disagreeable to David, but served to move pity and compassion in him to the woman, and to stir him up to give an honourable interment to Saul and his sons; and which would...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabeshgilead,.... Which, according to Bunting (t), was fifty two miles from Jerusalem; though perhaps David did not go thither in person to fetch them, but by his messengers, see 2 Samuel 21:14; which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son,.... Which had been buried there under an oak, 1 Chronicles 10:12; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged; the seven sons of Saul, who had been lately hanged; who either had hung so long that their flesh was consumed, and the bones dropped upon the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son,.... Together with those who had been hanged: buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah; a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:28; in the sepulchre of Kish his father; the father of Saul, 1 Samuel 9:1; and which, according to Fuller (w), and the position of it in his map, was not far from the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel,.... Besides what is before recorded in this and the preceding book; being animated to it partly by the number of giants among them, and partly by the decline of David's life, and it may be chiefly by the insurrections and rebellions in Israel; though some think that these battles were not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Ishbibenob, which [was] of the sons of the giant,.... Of Goliath, or of a giant, of the race of them: the weight of whose spear [weighed] three hundred [shekels] of brass in weight; which must be understood either of the wood of it, or of the head of it, the flaming point of it, as many interpret it; and if so, it was but half the weight of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him,.... Observing him in danger, made haste to his relief: and smote the Philistine, and killed him; it seems as if Abishai engaged with the Philistine, and killed him; but inasmuch as it will bear to be interpreted of David, and since the four giants here and hereafter mentioned are said to fall by the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass after this,.... After the former battle: that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob; in 1 Chronicles 20:4 it is called Gezer; either the place had two names, or these two places were near each other; so that the battle may be said to be fought both at the one and at the other, being fought equally near to both:...