2 Samuel 21

BLIVRE · Chapter 21/24

1E nos dias de Davi houve fome por três anos consecutivos. E Davi consultou ao SENHOR, e o SENHOR lhe disse: É por Saul, e por aquela casa de sangue; porque matou aos gibeonitas.

2Então o rei chamou aos gibeonitas, e falou-lhes. (Os gibeonitas não eram dos filhos de Israel, mas sim do resto dos amorreus, aos quais os filhos de Israel fizeram juramento; mas Saul havia procurado matá-los com motivo de zelo pelos filhos de Israel e de Judá).

3Disse, pois Davi aos gibeonitas: Que vos farei, e com que expiarei para que abençoeis à herança do SENHOR?

4E os gibeonitas lhe responderam: Não temos nós queixa sobre prata nem sobre ouro com Saul, e com sua casa: nem queremos que morra homem de Israel. E ele lhes disse: O que vós disserdes vos farei.

5E eles responderam ao rei: Daquele homem que nos destruiu, e que tramou contra nós, para nos exterminar sem deixar nada de nós em todo aquele termo de Israel;

6Deem-se a nós sete homens de seus filhos, para que os enforquemos ao SENHOR em Gibeá de Saul, o escolhido do SENHOR. E o rei disse: Eu os darei.

7E perdoou o rei a Mefibosete, filho de Jônatas, filho de Saul, pelo juramento do SENHOR que havia entre eles, entre Davi e Jônatas filho de Saul.

8Mas tomou o rei dois filhos de Rispa filha de Aiá, os quais ela havia dado à luz de Saul, a saber, a Armoni e a Mefibosete; e cinco filhos de Mical filha de Saul, os quais ela havia dado à luz de Adriel, filho de Barzilai meolatita;

9E entregou-os em mãos dos gibeonitas, e eles os enforcaram no monte diante do SENHOR: e morreram juntos aqueles sete, os quais foram mortos no tempo da colheita, nos primeiros dias, no princípio da colheita das cevadas.

10Tomando logo Rispa filha de Aiá um saco, estendeu-o sobre um penhasco, desde o princípio da colheita até que choveu sobre eles água do céu; e não deixou a nenhuma ave do céu assentar-se sobre eles de dia, nem animais do campo de noite.

11E foi dito a Davi o que fazia Rispa filha de Aiá, concubina de Saul.

12Então Davi foi, e tomou os ossos de Saul e os ossos de Jônatas seu filho, dos homens de Jabes de Gileade, que os haviam furtado da praça de Bete-Seã, de onde os haviam pendurado os filisteus, quando os filisteus mataram a Saul em Gilboa:

13E fez levar dali os ossos de Saul e os ossos de Jônatas seu filho; e juntaram também os ossos dos enforcados.

14E sepultaram os ossos de Saul e os de seu filho Jônatas em terra de Benjamim, em Selá, no sepulcro de Quis seu pai; e fizeram tudo o que o rei havia mandado. Depois se aplacou Deus com a terra.

15Quando os filisteus voltaram a fazer guerra a Israel, Davi desceu com os seus servos, e lutaram contra os filisteus; e Davi se cansou.

16Nisso, Isbi-Benobe, que era dos filhos do gigante, e que cuja lança pesava trezentos siclos de bronze, estando ele cingido com uma espada nova, pretendeu ferir Davi.

17Mas Abisai, filho de Zeruia, o socorreu, feriu o filisteu, e o matou. Então os homens de Davi lhe juraram, dizendo: “Nunca mais sairás conosco à batalha, para que não apagues a lâmpada de Israel.”

18Outra segunda guerra houve depois em Gobe contra os filisteus; então Sibecai, husatita, feriu a Safe, que era dos filhos do gigante.

19Outra guerra houve em Gobe contra os filisteus, na qual Elanã, filho de Jaaré-Oregim de Belém, feriu a Golias geteu, a haste de cuja lança era como um lançador de tear.

20Depois houve outra guerra em Gate, de onde houve um homem de grande altura, o qual tinha doze dedos nas mãos, e outros doze nos pés, vinte e quatro em todos: e também era dos filhos do gigante.

21Este desafiou a Israel, e foi morto por Jônatas, filho de Simeia irmão de Davi.

22Estes quatro lhe haviam nascido ao gigante em Gate, os quais caíram pela mão de Davi e pela mão de seus servos.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A three-year famine leads David to discover it is punishment for Saul's breaking of an ancient treaty with the Gibeonites. Seven of Saul's descendants are handed over for reparation, and Rizpah, mother of two of them, keeps a moving vigil over their bodies. The chapter ends with battles against Philistine giants.

Explanation

This episode reflects the Old Testament view that breaking solemn oaths (even ones made generations earlier) carries serious consequences for the whole community — the treaty with the Gibeonites dates back to Joshua 9. Rizpah's vigil, protecting the bodies from birds and animals for months, is one of the most touching displays of a mother's love in the Bible, and it moves David to give Saul and Jonathan's bones a proper burial. The battles against the 'sons of the giant' (descendants of Goliath) show that the Philistine threat, though weakened, still lingered.

Fun facts

  • The Gibeonites were descendants of the Amorites who had made a peace pact with Israel through deception in Joshua 9 — a pact Saul broke centuries later, creating this blood debt.
  • One of the giants killed in this chapter, from Gath, had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot (twenty-four in all), a condition known today clinically as polydactyly.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Samuel 21:1The three-year famine is attributed to a guilt from an earlier generation: Saul broke an old oath Israel had made to spare the Gibeonites, and the punishment only appears years later, in the following reign — reflecting the ancient idea that a solemn oath bound not only the one who swore it, but the whole people, for generations.
  2. 2 Samuel 21:2The Gibeonites were not Israelites, but an Amorite people who had received an old oath of protection from Israel — an oath Saul broke by trying to exterminate them.
  3. 2 Samuel 21:3David asks the Gibeonites what he can do to make amends for the wrong suffered and win back their blessing over Israel.
  4. 2 Samuel 21:4The Gibeonites say they want no silver or gold, nor to kill anyone at random in Israel — something more specific lies behind their request.
  5. 2 Samuel 21:5They ask for justice against the one who tried to exterminate them, keeping them from surviving anywhere in Israel.
  6. 2 Samuel 21:6They ask that seven of Saul’s descendants be handed over to be executed before the Lord at Gibeah, and David agrees to hand them over.
  7. 2 Samuel 21:7David spares Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, because of the oath of loyalty he had made with Jonathan, his father.
  8. 2 Samuel 21:8David hands over instead two sons of Rizpah and five grandsons of Saul, sons of Michal’s sister, to be delivered to the Gibeonites.
  9. 2 Samuel 21:9Handing over seven of Saul’s descendants to be “hanged up unto the Lord” — likely impaled or hung as an atoning offering — was the way the Gibeonites asked for the bloodshed to be repaid; the text reports the custom without praising it.
  10. 2 Samuel 21:10Rizpah, mother of two of the executed men, keeps watch over the hanging bodies for months, driving away birds and animals — a vigil of mourning so striking that it reaches David’s ears and leads him to give the whole house of Saul a proper burial.
  11. 2 Samuel 21:11News reaches David of what Rizpah had done, watching over her sons’ bodies for so long.
  12. 2 Samuel 21:12David goes to retrieve the bones of Saul and Jonathan, which the people of Jabesh-gilead had secretly rescued from where the Philistines had hung them.
  13. 2 Samuel 21:13David brings back the bones of Saul and Jonathan, and adds to them the bones of the seven men who had been executed.
  14. 2 Samuel 21:14They bury them all in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul’s father, fulfilling the king’s order — and after that God is moved by prayer for the land, ending the chapter’s famine.
  15. 2 Samuel 21:15The Philistines go to war against Israel again, and David goes down into battle with his men, but grows extremely weary in the fighting.
  16. 2 Samuel 21:16Ishbi-benob, a warrior descended from giants, armed with a heavy spear and a new sword, tries to kill David in that moment of weakness.
  17. 2 Samuel 21:17Abishai saves David by killing the Philistine, and the king’s men swear that he must never again go out personally into battle, being too precious to the people.
  18. 2 Samuel 21:18In another battle against the Philistines, at Gob, Sibbecai kills Saph, another descendant of giants.
  19. 2 Samuel 21:19Here it is Elhanan who kills Goliath the Gittite — the same Goliath from David’s duel in 1 Samuel 17. Scholars disagree: it may be a different Goliath, a copying error in the text, or, as 1 Chronicles 20:5 suggests, a mix-up between Goliath and his brother Lahmi.
  20. 2 Samuel 21:20In a new battle at Gath, a giant warrior appears with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all.
  21. 2 Samuel 21:21This giant taunts Israel, but is killed by Jonathan, David’s nephew, son of his brother Shimeah.
  22. 2 Samuel 21:22The text closes the list saying that these four giants of Gath all fell by the hand of David and his soldiers.

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