2 Samuel 21:1

2 Samuel 21:1-11. A Three Years Famine for Saul's massacre of the Gibeonites. The Execution of Saul's sons

1. Then there was a famine Render, And there was a famine. There is no adverb of time marking chronological connexion with the foregoing narrative. In Palestine a famine was the almost certain consequence of a failure of the winter rains, on which both cornfields and pasturage depend. See 1 Kings 18:2; Joel 1:8-20; for famine as the result of drought; and cp. Genesis 12:10; Genesis 26:1; Genesis 42:5; Rth 1:1; 2 Kings 8:1-2.

in the days of David This famine must have occurred after David became acquainted with Mephibosheth (ch. 2 Samuel 9:1 ff.), for it is expressly stated that he spared Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 21:7); and in all probability before Absalom's rebellion, in the account of which we may trace one, if not two allusions to the execution of Saul's sons (ch. 2 Samuel 16:7-8; 2 Samuel 19:28); but its date cannot be fixed more exactly, and the phrase in the days of Davidseems designedly indefinite.

For a discussion of some questions connected with the famine and the surrender of Saul's sons for execution see Additional Note II., p. 234.

inquired of theLord] Sought the face of Jehovah: a phrase not found elsewhere in Samuel, and perhaps indicating that this chapter was taken by the compiler from a different source. Cp. Psalms 24:6; Psalms 27:8. David sought to ascertain the cause of this judgment; for famine was one of the "four sore judgments" of God (Ezekiel 14:21; cp. 1 Kings 8:35-37).

his bloody house His blood-guilty house: upon which rested the guilt of shedding innocent blood. Cp. Psalms 5:6; Ezekiel 22:2. Unexpiated murder "defiled the land," and involved the nation in punishment. See Numbers 35:33-34; Deuteronomy 21:7-9. The Sept. text differs slightly, reading: "Upon Saul and upon his house is blood-guiltiness."

the Gibeonites On Gibeon see note on ch. 2 Samuel 2:12.