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In 2 Samuel 21, we will see the serious cost of sin, the faithfulness of God, and the victory He gives through His King. Most importantly, this difficult chapter points us to Jesus - the innocent One who bore our curse and the conquering King who will defeat every enemy.

For three successive years, the land suffered from famine. Finally, David “inquired of the LORD”—or, more literally, David sought the face of Yahweh. The text does not tell us why David waited three years. But when David sought God, God revealed that this was not merely a weather problem. It was a spiritual and covenant problem.

• Years earlier, Saul had attempted to annihilate the Gibeonites. This slaughter is not recorded elsewhere in Scripture, but God had not forgotten it.
• Gibeon was actually in Benjamin’s tribal territory - the homeland of Saul, and although the Scriptures don’t mention details about Saul killing the Gibeonites, it does mention that Yahweh reveals this injustice in the breaking of the OATH and killing the Gibeonites was the reason for the famine. 
• Further, Yahweh mentions not only Saul, but also his “bloody” family. So it seems likely that Saul’s descendents could have participated in this killing of the Gibeonites, but were never punished for it.

Centuries earlier, during the days of Joshua (about 350 years earlier - see Joshua 9), Israel had sworn an oath to protect the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites had obtained that promise through deception, but once Israel gave its word in the name of Yahweh, that promise had to be honored.

Saul treated an ancient promise as though it no longer mattered. But God took Israel’s word seriously—even generations later.

• Examine the promises we have made. God cares about the marriage covenant. He cares about our business agreements. He cares whether our word can be trusted.

Just as Saul had murdered all the priests of Nob in 1 Samuel 22, Saul attempted to slaughter the neighboring Gibeonites.

This is one of the most difficult passages in 2 Samuel. God identified the bloodguilt resting upon Saul’s house, but the text does not say that God personally selected these seven men or dictated the exact method of execution. David asked the injured Gibeonites what restitution would require, and they requested seven male descendants from Saul’s family.

Within that ancient covenantal setting, this was presented as a public judicial reckoning—not simply a private act of revenge.

To hang them in the presence of Yahweh is likely referring to impalement, where their bodies would be lifted up on a stake, an image of being cursed by God. Rather than a random act of revenge, this would be seen as a judicial act with Yahweh as the ultimate judge handing down the sentence. David agrees, the arrests are made, and the judgment is handed down. 

Notice the contrast: Saul had broken Israel’s oath to the Gibeonites, but David honored his oath to Jonathan. He spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth.

There are two different men named Mephibosheth in this account. Jonathan’s son was spared; another Mephibosheth, a son of Saul and Rizpah, was handed over. (Rizpah was Saul’s concubine and her 2 sons were Saul’s sons. The 5 sons of Merab were Saul’s grandsons.)

Their death sentence was swift. David did not put them to death, but handed them over to the Gibeonites to kill them and hang their bodies on display.

These men are impaled - hung on a tree - under God’s CURSE according to the Scriptures (Deut 21:23). Some scholars believe Rizpah’s vigil may have lasted for months. Imagine the grief, determination and physical exhaustion of this mother.

Deuteronomy 21 commanded that the body of an executed person be buried on the day of death rather than left exposed overnight. Why, then, were these bodies left exposed? The text does not explain it. We should not try to make the difficulty disappear.

Instead, the narrator turns our attention to Rizpah. Her courageous and costly devotion exposed something that remained unfinished—and when David heard about her actions, he responded.

Finally, rain poured down from heaven (a term pointing to God causing the rain to fall) and the famine was finished.

Years earlier, the Philistines had publicly displayed the bodies of Saul and his sons on the wall of Beth-shan. The brave men of Jabesh-gilead recovered the bodies, burned the remains and buried their bones (1 Sam 31:11-13) David now had the bones of Saul and Jonathan brought home. He also gathered the remains of the seven men and gave Saul’s family a proper burial in the tomb of Kish.

• Atonement had been made. And God was receptive to prayer for the land - the famine was OVER and rain continued to fall!

The chapter now moves from the unresolved guilt of Saul’s house to the growing vulnerability of David.

We are not told exactly why David became exhausted. The warrior who once rescued Israel now needed someone to rescue him. Thankfully, David had fierce warriors who fought to defend him - some of whom we are about to be introduced to.

Ishbi-benob was one of the descendants of Rapha (the literal Hebrew term here translated as “giant”)—a line of enormous Philistine warriors associated with Gath. His bronze spearhead weighed approximately 8 pounds. This was a powerful and terrifying opponent, and he intended to kill David. But Abishai came to David’s aid and killed the Philistine. Remember Abishai? He’s the brother of Joab & the nephew of David.

• Do you see how David’s situation had reversed? As a young man, David rescued Israel from a giant.
• Now David was exhausted and had to be rescued from another giant.

You must never again go out with us to battle. David’s life represented more than one soldier. God’s covenant promise and the stability of the nation were connected to this king. His men understood that protecting David meant protecting the lamp God had lit for Israel.

According to this verse, Elhanan killed Goliath of Gath. But 1 Samuel 17 clearly and repeatedly tells us that David killed Goliath. So how do we understand this? The parallel account in 1 Chronicles gives us an important clarification.

The most likely explanation is that the Hebrew text of 2 Samuel suffered an early copying corruption, while Chronicles preserves the clearer reading: Elhanan killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath.

The verse says these four warriors were killed “by David and his soldiers,” even though David did not personally strike the fatal blow in these accounts.

• Their victories were credited to David because he was their king and they fought under his leadership. But David could not win these battles alone. God surrounded him with faithful men who fought beside him, defended him and carried on the mission when David no longer could.

Jesus did not merely tell us how to escape the curse. He became a curse for us. The judgment our sin deserved fell upon Him. The innocent King took the place of the guilty so that everyone who trusts Him could be forgiven, cleansed and given eternal life!

David and his men defeated the giant warriors who threatened Israel. But their victories were temporary. David’s lamp could have been extinguished. David became weary and needed to be rescued.

But Jesus will one day defeat all his enemies - for all time!