2 Samuel 21:1-11

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:8

Michal . It was Merab who became the wife of Adriel the Meholathite ( 1 Samuel 18:19 ). Michal was childless (see 2 Samuel 6:23 ). Whom she brought up for. This is one of the many cases of untrustworthiness in the renderings of the Authorized Version. We have noticed a very flagrant instance before in 2 Samuel 5:21 . The object of these mistranslations is always the same, namely, to remove some verbal discrepancy in the Hebrew text. The Hebrew says here "five sons of Michal, whom she... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:8-14

( GIBEAH .) Rizpah. "And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth," etc. (verse. 10; 2 Samuel 3:7 ). The days of harvest had come; but not the fruits of harvest. The heaven was brass, and the earth iron ( Deuteronomy 28:23 ). The misery of famine was accompanied by a sense of Divine wrath on account of sin. The guilt of blood was on the land, and especially on "the house of Saul," for the destruction of the Gibeonites. Nothing would satisfy the demand of the sorrowing... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:9

The beginning of barley harvest. The barley became ripe in April, about the time of the Passover ( Deuteronomy 16:9 ). The wheat was not. ripe till Pentecost. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:10

Rizpah … took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock; rather, against the rock, so as to form a little hut or shelter to protect her from the glaring blaze of the sunshine. The word "upon" has led many commentators to suppose that she used it as a bed; but this is not the meaning of the Hebrew, though given by the Vulgate. The sackcloth was the loose wrapper or cloak which formed the outer dress of mourners. As regards the bodies of those crucified or impaled, the Law required that... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:10

A mother's love and grief. This verse is part of a narrative full of difficulty and darkness. It stands out a bright light in the midst of the darkness—a grand exhibition of a mother's love. I. A MOTHER 'S LOVE IS MUCH TRIED . Not often as Rizpah's was; but always in some way or other; as: 1 . By the conduct of her children. 2 . By the conduct of others towards them. 3 . By their troubles. 4 . By their deaths; especially when untimely or by violence; and... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 2 Samuel 21:1

There is no note of time whatever, nor any clue as to what part of David’s reign the events of this chapter ought to be assigned.Enquired of the Lord - Hebrew “sought the face of the Lord,” quite a different phrase from that so often used in Judges (e. g. Judges 1:1) and the Books of Samuel, and probably indicating that this chapter is from a different source; an inference agreeing with the indefinite “in the days of David,” and with the allusion to the slaughter of the Gibeonites, which has... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 2 Samuel 21:2

The way in which the writer here refers to the history of the league with the Gibeonites Joshua 9:0 shows that the Book of Joshua was not a part of the same work as the Books of Samuel.Of the Amorites - The Gibeonites were Hivites Joshua 9:7; Joshua 11:19; and in many enumerations of the Canaanite nations the Hivites are distinguished from the Amorites. But “Amorite” is often used in a more comprehensive sense, equivalent to “Canaanite” (as Genesis 15:16; Deuteronomy 1:27), and denoting... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 2 Samuel 21:4

No silver, nor gold ... - Money payments as a compensation for blood-guilt were very common among many nations. The law, too, in Numbers 35:31-32, presupposes the existence of the custom which it prohibits. In like manner the speech of the Gibeonites implies that such a payment as they refuse would be a not unusual proceeding.Neither ... shalt thou kill any man in Israel - They mean that it is not against the nation of Israel, but against the individual Saul, that they cry for vengeance. The... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 2 Samuel 21:6

Seven men - Seven was a sacred number not only with the Hebrews but with other Oriental nations Numbers 23:1, Numbers 23:29, and is therefore brought in on this occasion when the judicial death of the sons of Saul was a religious act intended to appease the wrath of God for the violation of an oath Numbers 25:4.Whom the Lord did choose - Rather, “the Lord’s chosen,” or elect. The same phrase is applied to Moses Psalms 106:23, to the Israelites Isaiah 43:20, and to Christ Isaiah 42:1. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 2 Samuel 21:7

The Lord’s oath - The calamity brought upon Israel by Saul’s breach of the oath to the Gibeonites would make David doubly careful in the matter of his own oath to Jonathan. read more

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