2 SAMUEL 21:1 Epilogue. The last four chapters provide an epilogue to David’s story. They contain six episodes, which are not necessarily in chronological order (e.g., the first episode occurred “in the days of David”; 2 Samuel 21:1). The first describes a famine and its connection to Saul’s family.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 SAMUEL—NOTE ON 2 SAMUEL 21:3 The Gibeonites’ request that SEVEN OF HIS SONS be given to them to be put to death ignores the command in Deuteronomy 24:16: “nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers.” The narrator never says that God approved of David’s action here. ⇐ ⇔ ⇒ var imag... [ Continue Reading ]
2 SAMUEL—NOTE ON 2 SAMUEL 21:7 The writer lists the sons of Saul who were handed over to the Gibeonites. MEPHIBOSHETH the son of RIZPAH (Saul’s concubine; see 2 Samuel 3:7) is different from MEPHIBOSHETH son of Jonathan, who was spared. Likewise BARZILLAI, grandfather of five of the hanged men, is n... [ Continue Reading ]
2 SAMUEL—NOTE ON 2 SAMUEL 21:9 The BEGINNING OF BARLEY HARVEST was April. ⇐ ⇔ ⇒ var images = document.getElementsByTagName("img"); for (var i=0, len=images.length, img; i [ Continue Reading ]
2 SAMUEL—NOTE ON 2 SAMUEL 21:10 RIZPAH, mother of two of the men hanged by the Gibeonites, sheltered their bodies from the birds and wild animals (compare 1 Samuel 17:44, 1 Samuel 17:46; Psalms 79:2). According to Deuteronomy 21:22, the bodies of those who are hanged should be buried that same day ... [ Continue Reading ]
2 SAMUEL—NOTE ON 2 SAMUEL 21:15__ This section tells of four fights with Philistine giants. “There was war again” suggests that this is an excerpt from some writing about David’s wars. ⇐ ⇔ ⇒ var images = document.getElementsByTagName("img"); for (var i=0, len=images.length, img; i [ Continue Reading ]
2 SAMUEL—NOTE ON 2 SAMUEL 21:16 The GIANTS are usually identified as the Rephaim, the ancient, pre-Israelite inhabitants of Canaan (e.g., Genesis 15:20; Deuteronomy 2:10, Deuteronomy 2:20; Deuteronomy 3:11). ⇐ ⇔ [ Continue Reading ]
2 SAMUEL—NOTE ON 2 SAMUEL 21:19 ELHANAN... STRUCK DOWN GOLIATH THE GITTITE. Since David killed Goliath of Gath (1 Samuel 17:1), and “Gittite” means someone from Gath, this statement is puzzling. Among the proposed solutions are three that uphold the truthfulness of Scripture: (1) in view of the para... [ Continue Reading ]
2 SAMUEL—NOTE ON 2 SAMUEL 21:21 JONATHAN may be the Jonathan listed as one of David’s 30 mighty men (2 Samuel 23:32). SHIMEI was David’s third eldest brother, not the Shimei of chs. 2 Samuel 16:1 and 2 Samuel 19:1. His name is given in various forms in 1 Samuel 16:9; 1 Samuel 17:13 [ Continue Reading ]