2 Samuel 21:8-14

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:1-9

Here I. Were are told of the injury which Saul had, long before this, done to the Gibeonites, which we had no account of in the history of his reign, nor should we have heard of it here but that it came now to be reckoned for. The Gibeonites were of the remnant of the Amorites (2 Sam. 21:2), who by a stratagem had made peace with Israel, and had the public faith pledged to them by Joshua for their safety. We had the story Josh. 9:1-27, where it was agreed (21-23) that they should have their... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:10-14

Here we have, I. Saul's sons not only hanged, but hanged in chains, their dead bodies left hanging, and exposed, till the judgment ceased, which their death was to turn away, by the sending of rain upon the land. They died as sacrifices, and thus they were, in a manner, offered up, not consumed all at once by fire, but gradually by the air. They died as anathemas, and by this ignominious usage they were represented as execrable, because iniquity was laid upon them. When our blessed Saviour was... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:8

But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah ,.... Saul's concubine, 2 Samuel 3:7 , whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth ; of whom we read nowhere else; after the name of the latter, it is probable, Jonathan's son was called, before mentioned: and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite ; Michal had no children to the day of her death, nor was she the wife of Adriel, but Merab her... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:9

And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites ,.... The two sons of Rizpah and the five sons of Merab, two sons of Saul and five grandsons: and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord ; in the hill at Gibeah, that they might be seen by all that passed by, and serve to deter from such evils, which brought on them that punishment; gibbetings or crucifixions were commonly made on hills and mountains F12 Vid. Lipsium de Cruce, l. 3. c. 13. : the phrase, "before the Lord",... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:10

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth ,.... Both as a token of mourning for her sons, and as fittest to defend from the weather, the heat by day of cold by night: and spread it for her upon the rock ; the hill on which her sons were hanged; this she spread as a canopy or tent to sit under, and be covered with it; not to cover the bodies with it, but herself, and where she sat to mourn the loss of her sons, and to watch their bodies, that they might not be devoured by birds and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:11

And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. Whether this was told out of good will or ill will is not certain; however, it was not disagreeable to David, but served to move pity and compassion in him to the woman, and to stir him up to give an honourable interment to Saul and his sons; and which would show that this fact was not done out of personal pique and revenge to his family, but in obedience to the will of God, and the honour of his name. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:12

And David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabeshgilead ,.... Which, according to Bunting F20 Travels, &c.; p. 122, 143. , was fifty two miles from Jerusalem; though perhaps David did not go thither in person to fetch them, but by his messengers, see 2 Samuel 21:14 , which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa ; the history of all... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:13

And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son ,.... Which had been buried there under an oak, 1 Chronicles 10:12 , and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged ; the seven sons of Saul, who had been lately hanged; who either had hung so long that their flesh was consumed, and the bones dropped upon the ground, from whence they gathered them; or they took them down and burnt the flesh off of them, and took the bones to bury them, which was... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:14

And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son ,.... Together with those who had been hanged: buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah ; a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:28 , in the sepulchre of Kish his father ; the father of Saul, 1 Samuel 9:1 ; and which, according to Fuller F23 Pisgah-Sight, B. 2. c. 12. p. 258. , and the position of it in his map, was not far from the hill on which the seven sons of Saul were hanged: and they performed all that the king... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Samuel 21:8

Five sons of Michal - whom she brought up - Michal, Saul's daughter, was never married to Adriel, but to David, and afterwards to Phaltiel; though it is here said she bore ילדה yaledah , not brought up, as we falsely translate it: but we learn from 1 Samuel 18:19 , that Merab, one of Saul's daughters, was married to Adriel. Two of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. have Merab, not Michal; the Syriac and Arabic have Nadab; the Chaldee has properly Merab; but it renders the passage... read more

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