Verses 10-14
3. David’s honoring of Saul and Jonathan 21:10-14
The writer did not mention how much time elapsed between the execution of Saul’s descendants and the coming of rain.
"Leaving corpses without burial, to be consumed by birds of prey and wild beasts, was regarded as the greatest ignominy that could befall the dead . . ." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, p. 462.]
David’s action ended the famine, and God again blessed Israel with rain and fertility. David also proceeded to give Saul and Jonathan honorable burials. [Note: See my note on the significance of burial in the ancient Near East at 1 Samuel 31.]
Because Saul had been unfaithful to Israel’s covenant with the Gibeonites, God punished the nation with famine (lack of fertility). When David, who followed the Mosaic Law, righted this wrong, God restored fertility to the land. God reduced Saul’s line from one of the most powerful-looking men in Israel, Saul, to one of the weakest-looking, Mephibosheth. David’s faithfulness to his covenant with Jonathan shows he was a covenant-keeping king like Yahweh. Saul, on the other hand, broke Israel’s covenant with the Gibeonites.
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