Verse 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", is either the same as "unto the Lord", 2 Samuel 21:6 ; to make atonement to the Lord, and in his sight; or it denotes that it was done publicly before the sun, and in the sight of it; for it cannot mean before the ark, the symbol of the divine Presence, for that was not there:
and they fell all seven together ; they were hanged together, and died at one and the same time:
and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days , in the beginning of barley harvest ; which began at the passover, the morrow after the first day of the feast, Leviticus 23:10 ; which was the sixteenth of Nisan, on which day, the Jews say F13 Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 190. 1. , these men were hanged, and which must be about the beginning of our April.
Be the first to react on this!
