Bible Study 2 Samuel 21
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2 Samuel 21 · WEB

Gibeonite Vengeance; Rizpah's Vigil; Philistine Giants Slain

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In the days of David, there was a famine for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, "It is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he killed the Gibeonites."
2The king called the Gibeonites and said to 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 to them, but Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah);
3therefore David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?"
4The Gibeonites said to him, "It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel." He said, "What do you say that I should do for you?"
5They said to the king, "The man who consumed us and who devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel,
6let seven men of his sons be delivered to us and we will hang them up to Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Yahweh." The king said, "I will give them."
7But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Yahweh'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 bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
9He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Yahweh; and the seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.
10Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured on them from the sky. She didn't allow the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night.
11It was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Saul's concubine, had done.
12David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa;
13and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.
14They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father; and they did all that the king commanded. After that, God was entreated for the land.
15The Philistines had war again with Israel, and David went down and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. David grew faint,
16and Ishbi-benob, who was of the sons of the giant, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, being clothed with new armor, thought to kill David.
17But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall not go out any more with us to battle, that you don't quench the lamp of Israel."
18It came to pass after this that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the sons of the giant.
19There was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite's brother, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
20There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was born to the giant.
21When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, killed him.
22These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
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Summary

A three-year famine is traced to Saul's violation of Israel's ancient oath to the Gibeonites; David makes atonement by handing over seven of Saul's descendants to be executed. Rizpah, a concubine of Saul, then performs one of the most moving acts in the entire book — keeping watch over the exposed bodies for months through the heat and rain, driving away birds and beasts. Her vigil moves David to gather the bones of Saul and Jonathan and give them proper burial, which ends the famine. The chapter closes with four vignettes of Philistine giants slain by David's warriors, and a poignant note that David himself is now too precious to risk in battle — "the lamp of Israel."

Themes

  • Corporate guilt and atonement — unresolved national sin brings ongoing consequences
  • Maternal love and loyalty — Rizpah's silent, costly witness
  • The importance of honorable burial — bodies matter to God's people
  • David as the aging king: cherished but increasingly vulnerable

Key verses

  • 2 Sam 21:10 — “Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured on them from the sky. She didn't allow the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night.”
  • 2 Sam 21:17 — “You shall not go out any more with us to battle, that you don't quench the lamp of Israel.”
  • 2 Sam 21:3 — “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?”

Context & background

The Gibeonites were descendants of the Hivites who had tricked Joshua into a peace treaty (Joshua 9). Their city Gibeon is modern El-Jib, about 9 km northwest of Jerusalem (West Bank). Saul's massacre of them — not directly recorded in Samuel — likely occurred during his campaigns to purify Israel and may be connected to the events at Nob (1 Sam 22). Gibeah of Saul (modern Tell el-Ful, northern Jerusalem suburbs, West Bank) was Saul's capital. Beth Shan (modern Beit She'an, northern Israel's Jordan Valley, near the modern city of Beit She'an) was where the Philistines had hung Saul's body after the battle of Gilboa (1 Sam 31:10). Zela in Benjamin — the burial site — is of uncertain location but was somewhere in the West Bank hill country near modern Jerusalem. Rizpah's vigil from barley harvest (April) until rains fell (October-November) lasted approximately six months — an extraordinary act of maternal devotion.

Cross-references

  • 1 Sam 31:8-13 — The men of Jabesh Gilead recovered Saul's body from Beth Shan — referenced in v. 12
  • Hebrews 2:14-15 — Christ destroys the power of death; our bodies matter to God because he raised Jesus
  • Joshua 9:3-27 — The original treaty with the Gibeonites that Saul violated
  • Numbers 35:33 — "Blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land... except by the blood of him who shed it"
  • Ruth 1:16-17 — Another woman's extraordinary loyalty crossing boundaries of death — echoing Rizpah's devotion

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    What was the cause of the three-year famine, and what did the Gibeonites demand?

  2. Observe

    How long did Rizpah's vigil last and what was its effect on David?

  3. Interpret

    What does this chapter assume about corporate guilt?

  4. Interpret

    Rizpah never speaks; why is her silent vigil so powerful?

  5. Apply

    What habit does David model in verse 1?

  6. Apply

    What does "the lamp of Israel" (v. 17) teach about callings carried for others?

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