The Book of Samuel – The Gibeonites and Saul’s Broken Promise

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The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.

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I bought a course on Old Testament once. It was on CD. I was considering teaching an online course myself. I hadn’t got very deep into the first CD before the teacher said flatly that King David did not actually exist. She was assuming that the stories about David were a Hebrew myth. I popped the CD out. I was in my car, and if it hadn’t been for litter laws, I’d have probably thrown it out the window. But instead, I sold the course on eBay to some other unsuspecting fellow. The teacher was revealing a radical position on the Old Testament that was of no value whatever to me. Because even from a non-believer’s point of view, whether you believe in God or not, if you read the Old Testament, David is one of the most real characters in the Bible. He’s larger than life, but that makes him no less real. He is a flawed human being, but that makes him still more real. He doted on a useless son, but that made him a real parent. No, if you read through the books of Samuel, you encounter real people. They’re just living in a different culture, speaking a different language, but they’re just as real as you are. The books of Samuel, though, are not in strict chronological order, which tends to confuse some readers. The Ryrie Study Bible suggests that the section beginning with 2 Samuel 21 is something of a non-chronological appendix to David’s reign, recounting events that occurred earlier. I can see that. I can see how that as a person made his way through, whoever was doing Samuel, and collecting the materials together for it, finally had some stuff left over at the end, and he said, well, let’s put this in at the end of all this, without realizing that we were going to, in our generation, develop a thing called the appendix, where we stuck all the useless stuff at the end of our books. And so I think the author of Samuel, both first and second, when he got all the way down to the end, says, oh, we’ve got to be sure and include these items, and so he put them where he was when he got to that point. You also need to remember these people weren’t working with word processors where they could cut and paste. Everything had to be handwritten on long scrolls, and you couldn’t just go back and insert stuff wherever it happened to be convenient to you. So we’re used to having our history served up in a familiar order, but the ancients worked differently. They would sometimes relate events in an order that appealed to them. Perhaps because it helped make sense of what happened. Maybe because it’s the order in which they came to mind as they worked their way along a scroll. Now this in no way undermines the historicity of the documents. But it does give seminarians something to write their master’s theses about. So we don’t know exactly when in David’s reign the events of 2 Samuel 21 occurred. But they were serious. There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And finally, David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord said, It’s because of Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. Now, the story behind this is perhaps not so familiar. Israel had been told to either drive out or destroy all the people of the land of Canaan. There was a group of people who lived in Gibeon. And they heard what Joshua was already doing, what it accomplished in Jericho, and what he did in the city of Ai. And so they resorted to a ruse. You’ll find this story in Joshua, the ninth chapter. They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins cracked and mended. The men put on worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. So they showed up in front of Joshua in Joshua’s camp, and they said to the men of Israel, We have come from a distant country. Make a treaty with us. Now, Israel had been instructed, don’t make any deals with the people of this land. The reason for that is relatively simple. God looked across this land and realized that these people would never assimilate with Israel. They would not submit to Israel. They wouldn’t live within the core of law. They would not become Israelites, as it were. They’d be nothing but trouble, and so they were either to drive them out or to destroy them. These people came and said, we don’t want that to happen to us. So by means of a ruse, they came and asked for a treaty. So Israel entered a treaty with them. Now, there’s an interesting situation here in that foreigners, according to the law, were welcome in Israel, but they had to assimilate. They had to accept the laws, the customs, the culture. They had to even respect the religion which they could participate in if they wished. There were peoples of the land, though, who would never assimilate any more than the Palestinians will assimilate into Israel today. These people were not allowed to stay in the land. But apparently, the people of Gibeon were an exception. They were willing to live under Israelite law. But Saul had killed many of them in contravention of the treaty. Now, God apparently takes treaties very seriously, covenants very seriously, even when they don’t involve him directly, even when the covenant was made on conditions not entirely true. There’s this interesting passage from the Psalms. It’s the 15th Psalm. “‘Lord,’ said David, “‘who shall abide in your tabernacle? Who will dwell in your holy hill?’ He that walks uprightly and works righteousness. He that speaks the truth in his heart. He in whose eyes a vile person is condemned. He who honors them that fear the Lord. And then here’s this last line. He that swears to his own hurt and changes not. This is the kind of man God looks to. A man who will give his word and stick to it even when it’s not going to feel good as he does it. So David called the Gibeonites, once this became apparent to him. And he said to them, The Gibeonites now are not Israelites. They are a remnant of the Amorites. And the children of Israel had sworn to them. And Saul tried to kill them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah. So David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? How can I make the atonement that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord? And the Gibeonites said to him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul nor of his house. Neither for us shall you kill any man in Israel. We don’t want you to go out killing people. And he said, Well, what shall you say that I will do for you? 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 coasts of Israel. Let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them. Wow. Gibeah was a town of Saul, actually, of Saul’s. I mean, his area, his part of the world. And even though God chose Saul, Saul did wrongly in breaking that deal. So they wanted seven men to be hanged. And the king said, I’ll give them. It’s a rough time, and it’s rough justice. The king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because there was an oath, the Lord’s oath, between them, between David and Jonathan, who was the son of Saul. So he spared Mephibosheth. He took two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore unto Saul, and the five sons of Michael, the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel. Now Michael had been at one time David’s wife, but Saul had given her to Adriel, and she had had five sons by him before she came back to David. He delivered them up to the hand of the 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 the barley harvest. Interesting that this took place right at the Passover season. Rizpah, the mother of two of the men, took sackcloth and spread it for her upon a rock. And from the beginning of the harvest until the water dropped on them out of heaven, she suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. Day after day this poor woman sat there protecting these bodies. And someone came and told David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul. She wasn’t even a wife. She was a concubine. But two of these boys were hers. So David went, and he took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-Gilead. These were the men who had gone and got these bones back from the people who had killed and hanged Saul and his son. He brought those bones up from there, the bones of Jonathan his son, and he gathered all the bones of them that had been hanged by the men of Gibeon. They buried them in the country of Benjamin and Zelah in the sepulcher of Kish, his father. And you remember right from the very beginning, Saul was called Saul, the son of Kish. They performed all that the king commanded. And after that, God was entreated for the land. This whole incident is fascinating. God didn’t say anything at all at the time Saul killed the Gibeonites, but it soured the relationship. Who knows, perhaps the men of Gibeon had prayed for justice for what Saul had done. And it was only when David asked, after three years of drought and famine, that God replied with the reason why it was happening. And that’s why David said, We’ll do this so that you can then bless us with your prayers, he said to the men of Gibeon. This final gesture by David of burying the bones of Saul, Jonathan, and all these other sons of Saul… demonstrates, I think, the residual love he had even for Saul. It must have been a very touching occasion when this final burial of a king and his sons took place. And for David, a moment of great sadness. You can feel it down through the ages if you’re familiar with the story. Stay with me. There is much more to this story. We’ll talk about that after this important message.

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The book of Samuel includes so much valuable history and lays the foundation for understanding the rest of the Bible. The entire series of programs on Samuel and the book of Kings is available for a special price this week only. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44 and tell us the call letters of this radio station.

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The Philistines never did get used to the idea that David was king, the man who had defeated them before more than once, and they couldn’t leave it alone. So the Philistines had war again with Israel, and David went down with his servants and fought against the Philistines. But this time, David grew faint in combat. And Ish-bibinob, who was one of the sons of Goliath, remember him? He actually was girded with a new sword, and he thought he could get David. He thought he could finally kill this man off. Fighting man that he was, David is getting old. He’s lost a step, and it nearly cost him his life. But Abishai, son of Zeruiah, helped him and smote the Philistine and killed him. As the old saying goes, he should have stayed home. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, You shall not go out anymore with us to battle, lest you quench the light of Israel. This is really interesting. His top men came to him and said, You’re not coming out here anymore. You’re going to get yourself killed, and we’re all going to suffer from it. He was just too old to continue to fight. It happens. It happens to the best of us. It happens to the strongest. And sometimes… Even the king has to be told, it’s time to hang it up. Something which he would have had a hard time deciding on his own. It came to pass after that there was another fight with the Philistines at Gob. Another one of the giant sons of Goliath fell. There was again still another battle in the same place with the Philistines, where a man named Elhanan of Bethlehem slew the brother of Goliath. There was still another battle in Gath. There was a man of huge stature that had on every hand six fingers, every foot six toes, had 24 digits. He also was a son of the giant Goliath. He got some strange genetic goings-on in that family. And when he defied Israel, Jonathan, nephew of David, killed him. These four were born to the giant in Gath and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. And that brings us to 2 Samuel chapter 22. David spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul. And we don’t know exactly when this particular psalm was written, but it is a psalm. It’s the 18th Psalm with minor variations. It’s kind of interesting to put the two passages in parallel and go down them because it suggests there are two paths that these manuscripts had to travel. Also, language changes over time. As the English of Chaucer is rather difficult for the modern student to read, the same thing is true in Hebrew. And the psalm may have been adapted for a later audience or for a musical presentation, but there’s no difference in the essential message of it, only in the way the message is stated. As I say, probably because of its use in a musical presentation. David sang, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. The God of my rock, in him I will trust. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, my refuge, my savior. You save me from violence. And in David’s case, the violence was quite real. Saul nearly killed him on more than one occasion. Of course, the Philistines were after him throughout all their history. I will call on the Lord, said David, who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies. When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. Oh, yeah, David was afraid at times. And, of course, you know what courage is. Courage is the ability to go ahead in the face of fear, not having no fear at all. The sorrows of hell compassed me about. The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried to my God, and he did hear my voice out of his temple. My cry entered into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven moved and shook because he was furious. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were actually kindled and lit by it. You know, David pictures God coming to save him. Breathing fire. He bowed the heavens also and came down. Darkness was under his feet. He rode upon a carob and did fly and was seen upon the wings of the wind. He made the darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, thick clouds of the skies. Though the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled, the Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High uttered his voice. And he sent out arrows and scattered them, lightning and discomfited them. Man, what an awesome thunderstorm. The description here is very much of one of the worst storms you could possibly imagine magnified by three or four times. With the darkness of the water and the clouds and no light getting through them. And then spears of lightning coming out from under them and the crack of thunder. I mean, there’s nothing quite like close lightning followed by the peal of thunder that follows on the heels of it in a clear air. the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were discovered at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils. He sent from above. He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them that hated me because they were too strong for me. There comes a point in time when we can’t handle it, and we need God to do it for us. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me because he delighted in me. What a thing to say. God likes me, and therefore he delivered me. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. Now this is also strange. If you’ve read David’s history, if you know what he’s like, if you know what he’s done in his lifetime, it’s hard to think of him thinking that God would reward him for his righteousness because David, you know, he was a sinner. How can he make a statement like this? Well, once forgiven, faith is counted for righteousness, and sin is not disqualifying. David sinned, accepted his correction, and he did not depart from God. That’s important. He said, I have not wickedly departed from my God. I submitted to his correction. I accepted his rulership. I admitted my wrong. I have stayed with God. It’s one of the great differences between David and Saul, and one of the great differences between those people that David describes in the Psalms as the wicked. Continuing in verse 23, for all his judgments were before me. As for his statutes, I did not depart from them. And there’s really a difference between sinning through weakness, making a mistake, repenting of your mistake and going on on the one hand, and departing from God’s law on the other. I was also upright before him, and I have kept myself from my iniquity. I’ve seen my weaknesses. I’ve seen my problems, and I’ve got to get away from them. Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight. With the merciful you will show yourself merciful, and with the upright man you will show yourself upright. Now that’s an interesting statement, and it may tell us a lot about David, because David was a merciful man. With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. It was James in the New Testament, chapter 2, who made an interesting comparable statement. He said in verse 12, So speak you and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy who has showed no mercy. And mercy rejoices against judgment. Those are words to live by. He shall have judgment without mercy who has showed no mercy. Continuing in David’s psalm. With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked, you will show yourself shrewd. And the afflicted people, you will save. But your eyes are on the proud and haughty, that you may bring them down. For you are my lamp, O Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness. For by you I have run through a troop. By my God I have leaped over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all them that trust in him. For who is God, save the Lord, and who is a rock, save our God? God is my strength and power. He makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like deer’s feet and sets me upon the high places. He teaches my hands to war. so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms. You have also given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness has made me great. What an interesting thing to say. Your gentleness has made me great. You know, it’s incredible but true. A fighting man can be among the most gentle men ever. when dealing with the weak and with the helpless. It’s as though he has seen enough violence and blood that the occasions for gentleness are all the more precious to him.

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Stay with me through this message, and we’ll go on with the story of David. Or call toll-free 1-888-BIBLE44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.

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Sometimes it’s easy to forget that this man is the father, no, the great, great, great grandfather of the Messiah. Jesus was a son of David. And when you begin to go back and read some of the Psalms again with that in mind, things come out of this that you realize the spirit that is expressed in some of these Psalms is precisely the spirit with which Christ is going to deal with certain aspects of this world when he returns. For example, David begins in verse 37 to say, You have enlarged my steps under me so my feet did not slip. I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them and turned not again until I consumed them. I have consumed them and wounded them so they could not arise. Yea, they are fallen under my feet. For you have girded me with strength to battle. Them that rose up against me have you subdued under me. You have given me the necks of my enemies that I might destroy them that hate me. Now, when you go to the book of Revelation and you begin to read what the returning Christ is going to do, There’s a fit here, and it doesn’t exactly match the image that sometimes people like to speak of Jesus as gentle Jesus meek and mild. He was those things. He was a very gentle man when he was here in the flesh. But there is a warning in Revelation and a warning in the psalm that the time is going to come when his enemies, and there are people who are his enemy and who hate him without a cause, are going to pay for it. He said, My enemies looked, and there was no one to save them. They looked even to the Lord, and he didn’t answer them. Then I did beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I stamped them down like the mire of the street and spread them around. You have delivered me from the strivings of my people. You have kept me to be the head of the heathen, a people which I knew not shall serve me. Strangers shall submit themselves unto me. As soon as they hear, they will be obedient to me. strangers will fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places. It harkens back to some of the prophecies, how that the time will come at the return of Christ when men will go to the caves, they’ll throw their riches to the moles and the bats, and they’ll say to the caves, Fall on us and hide us from the face of the Lamb, from the wrath of the Lamb. Verse 47 says, The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the rock of my salvation. It is God that avenges me and brings down the people under me, and that brings forth from my enemies. You have also lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me. You have delivered me from the violent man. Therefore I give thanks to you, O Lord, among the heathen. I will sing praises to your name. He is the tower of salvation for his king and shows mercy to his anointed unto David and his seed forevermore. Wow, that’s the 18th Psalm, mind you, that’s also found right here in 2 Samuel. Chapter 23 begins, Now these be the last words of David, the son of Jesse, the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said. His last words. The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was in my tongue. And here’s what God said. He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Although my house has not been so with God.

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Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-888-BORN-TO-WIN. Bible 44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.

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