answered, I [am he.] Then she said unto him, Hear the words 18 of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask [counsel] at Abel and so they 19 ended [the matter.*] I [am one of them that are] peaceable [and] faithful in Israel, peaceable and loyal; she speaks in the name of the city: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel; a great city, which hath many villages under it, and dependent upon it, here called daughters; why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD this is doing injury to the public. 20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy; I would not voluntarily do the 21 least injury. The matter [is] not so, you have not been rightly informed; but a man of mount Ephraim, a Benjamite, but dwelling at mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, [even] against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.t 22 Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom, and prudently treated with them. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast [it] out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king; he spared all Sheba's confederates, and returned to inform the king of his success. Now Joab [was] over all the host of Israel; he returned with so much merit and popularity, and appeared to have such interest in the soldiers, that David durst not displace him: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over the Cherethites and over the 24 Pelethites: And Adoram [was] over the tribute :‡ and Jeho 23 shaphat the son of Ahilud [was] recorder, or writer of the Chron25 icles: And Sheva, [was] scribe, or secretary of state: and Zadok and Abiathar [were] the priests: And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David; he succeeded Ahithophel as president of the council. 1. REFLECTIONS. no EE the uncertainty of human affairs. David was sooner restored to his kingdom, than fresh troubles arose, like clouds after the rain. We see it often so in private life. Let us therefore not be confident, nor think our mountain stands so As if she had said, Abel is a place so renowned for wisdom, that, if differences arose, the parties came there and left it to their arbitration, and abided by it as an oracle?" or, as in the margin, they plainly spake in the beginning, saying, Surely they will ask of Abel, and sa make an end; intimating that Joab should have asked why they admitted Sheba, and gently reminds him of the law of God to propose capitulation, Deut. xx. 10. Whereas Joab in the height of his rage determined to take it by storm, without sending conditions of peace. + This woman knew the mind of the citizens, and thought, as they were loyal, they would be glad to save themselves from this danger. They could not hinder Sheba from getting into the city, but they could choose whether they would harbour him there. + Adoram was treasurer, or over the tributes toward building the temple. He was now very young, and continued all David's and Solomon's time: but at length he was slain by some rebellious Israelites. A Kings xii, 18. strong that it may not soon be moved. We should habituate ourselves to self denial, mortification, and deadness to the world, and fix our thoughts and hopes on a better. Set your affections on things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Then you will be better able to bear the changes of life, and be more likely to improve them. 2. We here see the truth of Solomon's remark, that the beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water. It was a little difference at first between Judah and Israel, who should bring home the king; but they perverted one another's words and designs; and their trifling quarrel became big with great consequences. Had each side yielded a little, all had been prevented. Yielding pacifieth great offences. 3. What a dangerous thing is an ambitious spirit. Joab again, to gratify his pride, killed his rival; he could not bear disappointment. This was the greatest treachery, especially as it was in a critical season. But when pride reigns, reason and conscience, justice and humanity, are all suppressed and silenced. Happy those in private life, who have not such temptations to pride and ambition; and especially happy are those of humble and contented minds. 4. We may infer, that one way for contention to cease, is, for the differing parties to explain themselves. Most disputes are continued and grow warm, for want of knowing what is disputed. Joab thought the citizens of Abel were all treacherous men, and in the heat of passion determined to destroy them with Sheba, for his of fence; but this wise woman cleared up the matter, and put an end to the rebellion. When people are prejudiced against those they differ with, they will not hear what they have to say, or even condescend so far as to explain themselves. But contentions in private life, and differences among relations, and even neighbours, are so shameful and injurious, that every wise man should be willing to hearken to every thing that is likely to heal the breach, and promote accommodation. Study those things that make for peace. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. CHAP. XXI. The Gibeonites are avenged; the Philistine giant slain; and the bones of Saul and Jonathan are buried. 'T HEN there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year ;* which they thought at first was a common calamity, but when it continued so long, they thought it was judicial, and in consequence of some extraordinary sin; and Da There are different opinions about the date of this story. A Jewish writer says it was early in David's reign: and this seems probable; for it is said, in the days of David, and not, after these things, as in other places. The historian having mentioned David's sin, goes through the effects of it without interrupting the narrative, and then mentions several natura events out of due order of time. This seems confirmed by comparing v. 20. with ch. viii. 19 vid inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, [It is】 for Saul, and for [his] bloody house, because he slew the Gib2 eonites.* And the king called the Gibeonites,† and said unto them, (now the Gibeonites [were] not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them, Joshua ix. 15. and Saul sought to slay them, in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah; he sought how he might do it with some colour of law and justice :‡) 3 Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you ? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD? He inquired what satisfaction he should make them for the injury, that they might 4 pray for the people, and that God might forgive their sin. And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel, except those afterwards mentioned. And he said, 3 What ye shall say, [that] will I do for you. And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us [that] we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the 6 coasts of Israel, Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, where Saul lived before and after he was king, to make their punishment more shameful and remarkable, [whom] the LORD did choose, and therefore his guilt was the more aggravated. And the king said, I will give [them,] that others may learn to keep God's covenant, and not oppress strangers. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD's oath that [was] between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul; lest he should incur the same punish8ment as Saul had done. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai 9 the Meholathite: And he delivered them into the hands of the We have no account of this event in the history of Saul; some think it was when the priests were slain at Nob; but the time is uncertain. It is probable he was directed to give the Gibeonites such satisfaction as they required. + They lived in their own city, and were hewers of wood and drawers of water. Saul pretended that it was neither profitable, honourable, nor safe for God's people to Buffer any of those accursed nations to be incorporated with them, and enjoy the same church privileges as they did. The Gibeonites had one city in Judah, and three in Benjamin: Saul wanted to have their land, and accordingly destroyed some of them and banished the rest, and gave their possessions to his children, grand children, and kinsmen, 1 Sam. xxii. 7. His descendants and relations were instruments in this execution, and therefore it is called his bloody house and they still possessed their lands. Or rather Merab's five sons, the sister of Michal, who was to have been David's wife. She died while they were young, and Michal, having no children, brought them up. Such were commonly called their children among the ancients. David has been charged with contriving the death of these sons, because they would be the reviving of Saul's family in his king. dom. But there is no ground for this. It was plainly the will of God, who ordered they should hang so long; which was contrary to the law of taking down executed criminals before the evening. And God's sending rain was a plain proof that he was not displeased. If David was the villain, which Chubb and others think, why did he spare Mephibosheth and his family? It was evident those persons had a hand in the Gibeonites' murder, being of Saul's bloody house; and the Israelites might be justly punished with famine for joining in the murder, er for not opposing it. So that the character of David is clear from all suspicion. 10 Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD; and they fell [all] seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first [days,] in the beginning of barley harvest. And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts 11 of the field by night.* And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done; which was a tacit reproof for his not taking care of the bones of Saul and 12. Jonathan. And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul 13 in Gilboa: And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones 14 of them that were hanged. And the bones of Saul and Jona than his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land, his displeasure was turned away. See Psalm lxv. 15 : Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines; and David waxed faint with the combat, the Philistine giant taking him at a disadvantage, and being stronger than he. 16 And Ishbibenob, which [was] of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear [weighed] three hundred [shekels] of brass in weight, his spear's head being about twelve pounds, he being girded with a new [sword,†] thought to have slain David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel; thou art our guide and glory, 18 and makest us great and illustrious. And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which [was] of the 19 sons of the giant. And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregem a Bethlehemite, slew [the brother of] Goliath the Gittite, the staff of 20 whose spear [was] like a weaver's beam. And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of [great] stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and 21 twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother Rizpah, by the assistance of her friends and servants, spread a tent near the bodies, that she might prevent their being torn or mangled: probably knowing that they were to hang there till God, by sending rain, gave evidence of his being reconciled to the people. + Or rather, with a new girdle; being advanced to some new military post, he was desirous of the honour of slaying the Israelites' king. 22 of David slew him. These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants; David's brave men soon overcame them, though they were so much larger and stronger. }. W REFLECTIONS. HEN calamities come upon us, it is good to inquire of the Lord; to pray to him that he would show us the meaning and intention of such dispensations, lest the great end of Providence should be defeated, our improvement prevented, and we be exposed to heavier woes. Thus Job prayed, Show me wherefore thou contendest with me. 2. We here see God's regard to public ordinances, and his justice in punishing perjury. The original treaty was gained by fraud; but as it was solemnly sworn to before God, he punished the breach of it; and where murder is added to perjury, it is peculiarly abominable in his sight. Those who thus profane his name, and violate the most solemn engagements, shall not be held guiltless; peculiar marks of divine displeasure shall be inflicted upon them. An inhabitant of Sion is faithful to his engagement; though he swears to his own hurt, he changeth not. 3. What is gotten by oppression and treachery does men no good, but, on the contrary, often brings evil on them and their posterity. The Israelites were glad to have the Gibeonites' land, and joined in the king's wicked designs. But famine overtook them there, and they smarted for their illgotten possession. God will take the part of those who are oppressed, if restitution is not made. His vengeance will light upon those who enjoy what is wrongfully taken from others. Men's dishonest gains hurt their children, and bring ruin on their posterity. God hears the cry of the oppressed. But faithful and honest men enjoy what they have with comfort. The just man walketh in his integrity, and his children are blessed after him. 4. See the folly of strong men boasting in their strength. These men of great bulk and stature were overcome by men of the common size. They were an easier mark, and would soonest fall. To glory in strength of body, is the glory of a horse or an ox. The glory of a man is wisdom, piety, righteousness, and selfgovernment: if we are girded with these, they will be our ornament and strength, and we shall be more than conquerors over our spiritual enemies, through him that loved us. |
