David Avenges the Gibeonites
During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. Jos 7:11-12Gen 12:10Gen 26:11Ki 17:11Ki 18:21Sa 22:17-191Sa 23:111Sa 23:2
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.) Jos 9:3-211Sa 14:441Sa 15:8-92Ki 10:162Ki 10:31Deu 7:16Gen 15:16Luk 9:54-55
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?” 2Sa 20:19Heb 9:221Sa 26:191Sa 2:25Exo 32:30Heb 10:4-12Lev 1:4Mic 6:6-7
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.” 1Pe 1:18-19Psa 49:6-8
“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, 2Sa 21:1Dan 9:26Est 9:24-25Mat 7:2 let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them 1before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” 1Sa 10:241Sa 10:261Sa 11:4Num 25:4-51Sa 10:11Sa 9:16-172Sa 17:232Sa 18:10
“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. 1Sa 18:31Sa 20:151Sa 23:182Sa 4:41Sa 20:82Sa 9:101Sa 20:171Sa 20:42 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 2daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 1Sa 18:192Sa 3:7 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. Rut 1:221Sa 15:332Ki 24:3-42Sa 21:62Sa 6:172Sa 6:21Deu 21:1-9Exo 20:5
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. Deu 21:231Ki 18:41-451Ki 21:272Sa 3:7Jol 2:23Zec 10:1Deu 11:14Deu 21:13
When David was told what Saul’s concubine Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, had done, 2Sa 2:4Rut 2:11-12 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. 1Sa 31:10-13Jos 17:111Ch 10:11Sa 28:41Sa 31:12Sa 1:212Sa 1:62Sa 2:5-7
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. Jos 18:282Sa 24:25Jos 7:261Ki 18:40-411Sa 10:22Sa 3:322Sa 4:12Amo 7:1-6
After they had done everything the king had commanded, God answered their prayers for the land.
Four Battles against the Philistines
(1 Chronicles 20:4–8)
Once again the Philistines waged war against Israel, and David and his servants went down and fought against the Philistines; but David became exhausted. Jos 14:10-112Sa 5:172Sa 5:222Sa 5:25Ecc 12:3Psa 71:91Ch 20:41Pe 1:24-25
Then Ishbi-benob, a descendant of Rapha, 3 whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels 4and who was bearing a new sword, resolved to kill David. 2Sa 21:182Sa 21:201Sa 17:4-51Sa 17:45-512Sa 21:222Sa 5:18Deu 1:28Deu 2:10 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. 1Ki 11:362Sa 18:31Ki 15:4Psa 132:172Sa 14:72Sa 20:6-102Sa 22:192Sa 22:29
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, 5 one of the descendants of Rapha. 1Ch 11:292Sa 21:201Ch 27:112Sa 21:161Ch 20:4-82Sa 21:22
Once again there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair 6the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath 7the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 1Ch 20:51Ch 11:261Sa 17:4-11
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, 2Sa 21:162Sa 21:181Ch 20:6 and when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of David’s brother Shimei 8killed him. 1Sa 16:91Sa 17:101Sa 17:25-261Sa 17:361Ch 2:131Ch 27:321Sa 17:32Ki 19:13
So these four descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants. 1Ch 20:8Rom 8:31Jer 9:23Ecc 9:11Jos 14:12Psa 108:13Psa 118:15Psa 60:12