2 Samuel 21

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase shanah acharei shanah ('year after year') emphasizes the relentless, cumulative nature of the famine -- this was not a single bad harvest but a sustained crisis that finally drove David to inquire of the LORD. The expression beit ha-damim ('house of bloodshed' or 'bloodstained house') is a compound noun marking Saul's dynasty with the stain of unprovoked violence. The Gibeonites were a Hivite people who secured a peace treaty with Israel through deception (Joshua 9), but once the oath was sworn, it was binding. Saul's attack on them -- unrecorded elsewhere in the narrative -- violated this ancient covenant, and the land itself bears the consequence.

Translator Notes

1. The narrator interrupts the dialogue with a parenthetical explanation, signaling that the original audience needed reminding about who the Gibeonites were and why this mattered. The phrase yeter ha-Emori ('remnant of the Amorites') identifies them as indigenous Canaanite inhabitants -- 'Amorite' is used broadly here for pre-Israelite peoples. The critical legal fact is nishbe'u lahem ('they had sworn to them'): the oath was binding regardless of how it was obtained (Joshua 9). Saul's qin'ah ('zeal') is presented ambiguously -- it may have been genuine nationalistic fervor or a pretext for ethnic violence. Either way, the narrator frames it as a violation of sworn covenant.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. David's question is remarkably open-ended -- he does not propose terms but asks the wronged party to name their price. The verb kipper ('to atone') carries heavy ritual weight: it is the word used for the high priest's actions on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16) and for ransom payments that cover bloodguilt (Exodus 30:15-16). David treats the Gibeonite grievance as a sacred debt requiring formal expiation. The phrase nachalat YHWH ('inheritance of the LORD') refers to the people and land of Israel -- the famine affects the entire covenant community, and only the Gibeonites' satisfaction can lift it.

Translator Notes

1. The Gibeonites' first statement rejects monetary compensation -- ein li kesef ve-zahav ('there is no silver or gold for me') means this is not a debt that money can settle. Their second statement, ein lanu ish lehamit be-Yisra'el ('it is not for us to kill a man in Israel'), acknowledges their limited standing: as non-Israelites they cannot execute an Israelite on their own authority. They are positioning David to offer what they cannot demand. David's response -- mah attem omrim e'eseh lakhem ('whatever you say I will do for you') -- is an extraordinary blank check from a king, effectively ceding judicial authority to a subject people.

Translator Notes

1. The Gibeonites describe Saul with two verbs: killanu ('he consumed us, he finished us off') from kalah, meaning total destruction, and dimmah lanu ('he plotted against us, he devised for us') from damah, suggesting deliberate planning rather than spontaneous violence. The phrase nishmadnu mehityatsev ('we would be annihilated from having a standing place') reveals the scope of Saul's campaign: it was not a single incident but an attempt at complete elimination. The word hityatsev ('to station oneself, to have standing') carries both physical and legal connotations -- Saul wanted to remove the Gibeonites from any recognized place in Israel's territory.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb hoqa'nu (Hiphil of yaqa) is one of the most debated in the Hebrew Bible. Its precise meaning is uncertain -- proposals include 'to hang, to impale, to dislocate, to expose' -- but the context demands a public execution followed by display of the bodies. The phrase la-YHWH ('before the LORD') gives the act a ritual dimension: this is not mere revenge but a sacral reckoning performed in the LORD's presence. The location, giv'at Sha'ul ('Gibeah of Saul'), is Saul's own hometown and capital -- the execution takes place on his home ground. The phrase bechir YHWH ('the LORD's chosen one') is deeply ironic: it could refer to Saul (once chosen, now rejected) or to David. The ambiguity stings either way. David's reply -- ani etten ('I myself will give them') -- is three words of devastating finality.

Translator Notes

1. The verb chamal ('to spare, to have compassion') indicates emotional restraint as much as legal exemption -- David felt the pull to include Mephibosheth but held back because of the oath. The threefold identification -- Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul -- underscores the tension: Mephibosheth is simultaneously a member of the guilty house and a beneficiary of David's covenant with Jonathan. The phrase shevuat YHWH ('the oath of the LORD') elevates the agreement between David and Jonathan beyond personal friendship into the realm of sacred obligation. This oath was established in 1 Samuel 20:42 and already honored in 2 Samuel 9 when David brought Mephibosheth to his table.

Translator Notes

1. This verse names the seven: two sons of Rizpah (Saul's concubine) and five sons attributed to Michal. The textual problem is significant: 1 Samuel 18:19 says Adriel married Merab, not Michal, and 2 Samuel 6:23 says Michal died childless. Many Hebrew manuscripts and the Syriac Peshitta read 'Merab' here instead of 'Michal,' and this is likely the original reading. We retain 'Michal' as it stands in the Masoretic Text but note the probable textual corruption. The Meholathite designation connects Adriel to Abel-meholah, in the Jordan Valley. Note that this Mephibosheth (son of Rizpah) is a different person from the Mephibosheth (son of Jonathan) spared in verse 7.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase vayyippelu shiv'atam yachad ('the seven of them fell together') uses naphal ('to fall') -- the same verb used for Saul's death by falling on his sword in 1 Samuel 31:4. Saul's descendants fall just as he fell. The timing -- techillat qetsir se'orim ('the beginning of barley harvest') -- places the execution in late April or early May, at the start of the dry season. This is significant because the bodies will be exposed through the entire summer until the early rains come (verse 10), meaning Rizpah's vigil will last months. The barley harvest also connects to the book of Ruth (Ruth 1:22), creating an intertextual link between two very different stories set in the same season.

Translator Notes

1. This is one of the most powerful images in all of Scripture, conveyed entirely without dialogue. Rizpah performs three actions: she takes sackcloth (the garment of mourning and protest), she spreads it on the rock (making the execution site her dwelling), and she keeps vigil (driving off scavengers). The phrase mittechillat qatsir ad nittakh mayim alehem min ha-shamayim ('from the start of harvest until water was poured on them from the sky') spans from late April to the early rains in October or November -- potentially five to six months of continuous vigil. The verb nittakh ('was poured out') suggests a heavy, decisive rain, perhaps understood as a sign that God had accepted the atonement and ended the drought-famine. Rizpah's endurance is staggering: she guards decomposing bodies against vultures during the heat of day and against jackals and wild dogs through the night, for months, alone, with no authority to change anything -- only the power to refuse to abandon the dead.

Translator Notes

1. The passive vayyuggad ('it was told') leaves the informant unnamed -- someone brought word to David of Rizpah's vigil. The narrator identifies her one final time as pilegesh Sha'ul ('Saul's concubine'), reminding the reader of her lowly status: she was not a wife but a secondary partner, with minimal standing in the royal household. Yet her act of faithfulness is what moves the king to act. The verse is a hinge -- everything that follows (the recovery of Saul's and Jonathan's bones, the proper burial) flows from David's learning of Rizpah's vigil.

Translator Notes

1. This verse reaches back to 1 Samuel 31:11-13, completing an arc that spans two books. The men of Jabesh-gilead had conducted a daring nighttime raid to recover the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, burned them, and buried the bones under a tamarisk tree. The verb ganvu ('they stole') characterizes their act as a covert operation -- they took what the Philistines considered war trophies. David now reclaims these bones for a royal burial in the ancestral tomb. The phrase ba'alei Yavesh Gil'ad ('the lords/citizens of Jabesh-gilead') uses ba'alim in its civic sense of leading citizens or elders. Beth-shan (later Scythopolis) sat at the junction of the Jezreel and Jordan Valleys -- a strategic Philistine outpost where they displayed conquered enemies.

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayya'al ('he brought up') carries the sense of elevation -- both physical (transporting bones from the Jordan Valley up to the Benjamin hill country) and honorific (restoring dignity to the dead). The phrase ha-muqa'im ('those who had been exposed/executed') uses the passive participle of the same rare verb yaqa from verse 6, linking the seven executed descendants back to the Gibeonite demand. David's act encompasses both sets of remains: the old bones of Saul and Jonathan, and the recently exposed bones of the seven. All of Saul's dead are gathered together.

Translator Notes

1. The burial at Zela (tsela, a town in Benjamin mentioned in Joshua 18:28) in the tomb of Kish brings Saul home to his father's grave -- a final act of dynastic honor. The phrase vayye'ater Elohim la-arets ('God was entreated for the land') is the theological resolution of the entire chapter: the famine ends because God accepts the atonement. The verb atar (Niphal, 'to be entreated, to let oneself be prevailed upon') implies that God was moved by the totality of what happened -- the Gibeonite justice, Rizpah's vigil, David's act of honorable burial. The word acharei-khen ('after that') marks the turning point: everything before was crisis, everything after is restoration.

Translator Notes

1. The narrative shifts abruptly from the Gibeonite episode to a collection of Philistine battle accounts. The verb vayya'af ('he grew faint, he was exhausted') signals David's physical decline -- the giant-killer of chapter 17 is now aging and vulnerable. This detail sets up the near-death experience in the next verse and the decision in verse 17 that David must no longer go into battle. The phrase vayyered David ('David went down') indicates descent from the hill country to the Philistine lowlands.

Translator Notes

1. The name Yishbo be-Nov may mean 'his dwelling is in Nob' or may be a corrupted personal name -- the text is difficult. The phrase bilidei ha-Raphah ('among the born-ones of the Raphah') identifies him as descended from the Raphah, an ancient race of giants (Rephaim). His spear weighs three hundred shekels of bronze (roughly seven to eight pounds for the head alone), which is half the weight of Goliath's spear (1 Samuel 17:7, at six hundred shekels of iron). The word chadashah ('new') modifies his weapon -- he came equipped for the kill. The verb amar ('he said, he declared') with the infinitive leha-kkot ('to strike') indicates stated intention: this warrior publicly announced he would kill the aging king.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Abishai, David's nephew and one of his most fierce warriors, rescues the king from the giant. The aftermath is a solemn oath: David's men forbid him from further combat. The phrase ner Yisra'el ('the lamp of Israel') is a metaphor for the king as the source of national life and hope. If David dies, the light goes out for the entire nation. The image of a lamp (ner) connects to the promise of a perpetual 'lamp' for David's dynasty (1 Kings 11:36, 15:4, 2 Kings 8:19) -- the men intuitively grasp that David's life is not his own but belongs to the nation and to the covenant future. The verb tekhabeh ('you will extinguish') treats David's death in battle as an act that would quench the nation's fire.

Translator Notes

1. Gob is an otherwise unknown location, possibly a corruption of Gath or a small settlement in the Shephelah. Sibbecai (also spelled Sibbechai) the Hushathite was one of David's elite warriors, listed among the Thirty in 1 Chronicles 11:29. The Hushathite designation connects him to Hushah, a town in Judah. Saph (called Sippai in 1 Chronicles 20:4) is another descendant of the Raphah -- the giant clan. Each of these battle notices follows the same pattern: a Philistine giant is named, his lineage from the Raphah is noted, and an Israelite warrior kills him.

Translator Notes

1. This is one of the most discussed verses in Samuel. The Hebrew states plainly that Elhanan killed Goliath the Gittite, yet 1 Samuel 17 credits David with that feat. The parallel in 1 Chronicles 20:5 harmonizes by reading 'Elhanan son of Jair struck down Lahmi the brother of Goliath.' The KJV inserts 'the brother of' to match Chronicles, but the Hebrew of 2 Samuel has no such phrase. Several explanations have been proposed: (1) Elhanan and David are the same person (Elhanan being David's birth name); (2) this is a different Goliath; (3) the text of Chronicles preserves the original and Samuel is corrupted; (4) there were multiple giant warriors called 'Goliath' as a title. The phrase ya'arei oregim ('forests of weavers') is likely a textual corruption -- Chronicles reads simply ya'ir ('Jair'). The spear 'like a weaver's beam' (kimenor oregim) matches the description of Goliath's spear in 1 Samuel 17:7, reinforcing the connection.

Translator Notes

1. The location shifts to Gath itself, the Philistine city most associated with giants (it was Goliath's hometown). The unnamed warrior's polydactyly -- six digits on each extremity, twenty-four total -- is reported as a physical marker of his giant lineage. The condition (hexadactyly) is a real genetic trait, and its mention here may preserve an authentic detail about the Raphah clan. The phrase ish madon (or middin/madin) is textually uncertain; it may mean 'a man of strife/contention' or be a corruption of middah ('measure, stature'). The parallel in 1 Chronicles 20:6 reads ish middah ('a man of great size'). The refrain gam hu yullad le-ha-Raphah ('he too was born to the Raphah') links all four giant episodes together.

Translator Notes

1. The verb charaph ('to taunt, to defy, to reproach') is the same word used for Goliath's defiance of Israel in 1 Samuel 17:10, 25, 26, 36, 45. The pattern repeats: a giant taunts Israel, and an Israelite champion answers. Jonathan (Yehonatan) son of Shimeah (also called Shammah in 1 Samuel 16:9) is David's nephew -- the giant-killing vocation has passed to the next generation. The name Jonathan ('the LORD has given') is the same as Saul's son Jonathan, creating a quiet echo: the name that belonged to David's beloved covenant-brother now belongs to a warrior in David's family who carries on the fight against Philistine giants.

Translator Notes

1. The summary verse ties all four giant episodes together with a concluding formula. The phrase yulledu le-ha-Raphah be-Gat ('they were born to the Raphah in Gath') confirms that Gath was the stronghold of this giant clan. The final phrase -- vayyippelu ve-yad David u-ve-yad avadav ('they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants') -- credits David even though his men did most of the actual killing. This is royal attribution: the king's victories include his warriors' victories. The verb naphal ('they fell') echoes throughout the chapter: Saul's seven descendants fell (verse 9) and now the four Philistine giants fall. The era of the giants ends not with a single heroic duel but with a team effort, as David's generation of warriors completes the work he began as a shepherd boy with a sling.