2 Samuel 21:1

“Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year, etc.] That is, three years running, one after another; some think this, though here related, was before the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba, and not after, and there are several things which may incline to it, as that the sin of Saul should otherwise be so long unpunished, and that the bones of Saul and Jonathan were not sooner removed, here related; and that there should be so many battles the Philistines after they were subdued, as recorded in this chapter; and in one of the Jewish f348 writings it is said, that this was the year after Saul was slain; though, in other copies of the same book, it is said to be thirty…”

“THE THREE YEARS' FAMINE FOR THE GIBEONITES CEASE BY HANGING SEVEN OF SAUL'S SONS. (Sa2 21:1-9) the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites--The sacred history has not recorded either the time or the reason of this massacre. Some think that they were sufferers in the atrocity perpetrated by Saul at Nob (Sa1 22:19), where many of them may have resided as attendants of the priests; while others suppose it more probable that the attempt was made afterwards, with a view to regain the popularity he had lost throughout the nation by that execrable outrage.”

“There is no note of time whatever, nor any clue as to what part of David’s reign the events of this chapter ought to be assigned. Enquired of the Lord - Hebrew “sought the face of the Lord,” quite a different phrase from that so often used in Judges (e. g. Judges 1:1) and the Books of Samuel, and probably indicating that this chapter is from a different source; an inference agreeing with the indefinite “in the days of David,” and with the allusion to the slaughter of the Gibeonites, which has not anywhere been narrated. And for his bloody house - literally, “the house of blood,” i. e., the house or family upon which rests the guilt of shedding innocent blood. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Then - The things related here and 2Sa. 24:1-25, are by the best interpreters conceived to have been done long before Absalom's rebellion. And this opinion is not without sufficient grounds: first, this particle, then, is here explained, in the days, that is, during the reign of David: which general words seem to be added as an intimation that these things were not done after the next foregoing passages, for then the sacred writer would rather have added, after these things, as it is in many other places. Secondly, here are divers passages which it seems improbable to ascribe to the last years of David's reign: such as first, that Saul's sin against the Gibeonites should so long remain…”

“21:1–24:25 The final chapters of 2 Samuel are a coda, a concluding section that summarizes the important themes from the preceding material. These chapters are thematic, not chronological, and not all the events described here happened at the end of David’s reign (e.g., 22:1). The materials are arranged according to a common Hebrew literary device, a chiasm (mirror-image): A: Saul’s sin against the Gibeonites and its collective punishment (21:1-14); B: David’s heroes and their exploits (21:15-22); C: David’s Psalm (22:1-51); C′: David’s Psalm (23:1-7); B′: David’s heroes and their exploits (23:8-39); A′: David’s sin against the census taboo and its collective punishment (24:1-25). A chiasm…”

“am 2986, bc 1018, An, Ex, Ex, Is, 473 a famine: Gen 12:10, Gen 26:1, Gen 41:57, Gen 42:1, Gen 43:1; Lev 26:19, Lev 26:20, Lev 26:26; Kg1 17:1, Kg1 18:2; Kg2 6:25, Kg2 8:1; Jer. 14:1-18 inquired: Heb. sought the face, etc of the Lord: Sa2 5:19, Sa2 5:23; Num 27:21; Sa1 23:2, Sa1 23:4, Sa1 23:11; Job 5:8-10, Job 10:2; Psa 50:15, Psa 91:15 It is: Jos 7:1, Jos 7:11, Jos 7:12 Saul: Sa1 22:17-19 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 21:2”

“Three Years' Famine. - A three years' famine in the land, the occasion of which, as Jehovah declared to the king, was Saul's crime with regard to the Gibeonites, was expiated by David's delivering up to the Gibeonites, at their own request, seven of Saul's descendants, who were then hung by them upon a mountain before Jehovah. This occurrence certainly did not take place in the closing years of David's reign; on the other hand, it is evident from the remark in Sa2 21:7, to the effect that Mephibosheth was spared, that it happened after David had received tidings of Mephibosheth, and had taken him to his own table ( Sa2 9:1-13). This is mentioned here as a practical illustration, on the one…”