2 Samuel 21
Today's Passage: 2 Samuel 21
In this passage, we see how seriously God takes covenant promises and justice. There is a famine in the land, so David turns to God and God reveals that Saul had broken a covenant. This covenant was one that was made 400 years before between Joshua and the Gibeonites. They had deceived Joshua into making the covenant, but it was still binding (you can read more about that in Joshua 9:3-27).
David didn’t just inherit the kingdom of Israel, he inherited the consequences of Saul’s decisions. In order to atone for Saul’s sin, the Gibeonites ask for seven sons of Saul to be given for them to execute. This can be really difficult for us to understand. Why would God be okay with the killing of these seven men that did not have anything to do with the killing of the Gibeonites?
At this time in history, what the Gibeonites suggested wasn’t just reasonable, it was borderline kind. Instead of money or an even larger slaughter against Israel, they only wanted justice against Saul through his descendants. Saul absolutely massacred Gibeon. They easily could have asked for much more.
Obviously, we don’t know every aspect of this incident. But we can trust God, and the principle laid out by Abraham in Genesis 18:25, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”
In verse 14 we see that God restored the land to prosperity. God takes covenants very seriously! If God has such a high expectation that men keep their covenants, we can have great confidence that He will keep His covenant with us.
How has this passage challenged you? What did you learn about God from it?
Written By: Kaitlin White
In this passage, we see how seriously God takes covenant promises and justice. There is a famine in the land, so David turns to God and God reveals that Saul had broken a covenant. This covenant was one that was made 400 years before between Joshua and the Gibeonites. They had deceived Joshua into making the covenant, but it was still binding (you can read more about that in Joshua 9:3-27).
David didn’t just inherit the kingdom of Israel, he inherited the consequences of Saul’s decisions. In order to atone for Saul’s sin, the Gibeonites ask for seven sons of Saul to be given for them to execute. This can be really difficult for us to understand. Why would God be okay with the killing of these seven men that did not have anything to do with the killing of the Gibeonites?
At this time in history, what the Gibeonites suggested wasn’t just reasonable, it was borderline kind. Instead of money or an even larger slaughter against Israel, they only wanted justice against Saul through his descendants. Saul absolutely massacred Gibeon. They easily could have asked for much more.
Obviously, we don’t know every aspect of this incident. But we can trust God, and the principle laid out by Abraham in Genesis 18:25, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”
In verse 14 we see that God restored the land to prosperity. God takes covenants very seriously! If God has such a high expectation that men keep their covenants, we can have great confidence that He will keep His covenant with us.
How has this passage challenged you? What did you learn about God from it?
Written By: Kaitlin White
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