2 Sa. 21: Gibeonites Avenged

2 Samuel 21:6 "'Let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and exposed before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul—the Lord 's chosen one.' So the king said, 'I will give them to you.'"

So, there's a famine in Israel. And David waits three years before he asks God what the deal is. Seems like a long time. Maybe a famine isn't a famine for three years? Anyway, God tells David that this famine was brought on because of Saul's mistreatment of the Gibeonites...which I don't recall reading about up front, and after some backtracking, I still couldn't find where that was. Anyway. What interests me here is that God wasn't going to come out and tell David the reason for the famine. David had to go to Him.

What else does God do, and, to put it one way, "get away with" without us asking why? God can be confusing, so why don't people ask? Is it just assumed that God knows what he's doing, so who are people to expect any kind of explanation? I guess there's merit in that type of attitude, but it would never stop me from being curious as to what is going on. But this three year delay thing...I wonder if David would wait that long in the future, if this is some kind of lesson for him.

So the Gibeonites ask for seven descendents of Saul to kill in order to square with the house. David goes for it, and its kind of horrific. Is this a case of "Sins of the Fathers?" I think so. Exodus 34 talks about it being visited on the 3rd and fourth generation. And I know what you're saying. What about Deuteronomy 24? Because I asked that too. But what I can gather is that Exodus referred to how God dealt with man...supernaturally. Deuteronomy describes legal matters between men. Anyway, it would be rough to be the trade piece to bring prosperity back to Israel. It still took reburial of Saul and Jonathan along with the seven before God would answer prayer.

And I wonder why, of all the nonsense Saul pulled, that this Gibeon thing would be what brought the famine on Israel?

In spite of the famine's departure, Israel's political house was not in order. They had to fight more Philistines. Including another Goliath, and a guy with hexadactylism. Was it the same Goliath, as in a replay? Or was Goliath a popular name? The Goliath David killed was from Gath, while the one Elhanan killed was a Gittite. Same place? I'unno.