--- title: "2 Samuel 21 - Study King James Bible with cokes commentary on the holy bible" description: "Read 2 Samuel 21 with cokes commentary on the holy bible commentary. 1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and fo" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel/21" --- [ Read](/kjv/2-samuel/21)[ Commentary](/study/2-samuel/21)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/2-samuel/21) Audio 1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, *It is* for Saul, and for *his* bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.* 2 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: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) 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? 4 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. And he said, What ye shall say, *that* will I do for you.* 5 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 coasts of Israel,* 6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, *whom* the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give *them*.* 7 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. 8 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 the Meholathite:** 9 And he delivered them into the hands 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 barley harvest. 10 ¶ 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 of the field by night. 11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12 ¶ And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa: 13 And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged. 14 And the bones of Saul and Jonathan 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. 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. 16 And Ishbi-benob, which *was* of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear *weighed* three hundred *shekels* of brass in weight, 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.* 18 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 sons of the giant.** 19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Beth-lehemite, slew *the brother of* Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear *was* like a weaver’s beam.* 20 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 twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.* 21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him.** 22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants. [2 Samuel 20](/study/2-samuel/20) [2 Samuel 22](/study/2-samuel/22) ## Commentary To verse 1 ***[2 Samuel 21:1](/kjv/2-samuel/21/1)*****.*****Three years, year after year*****—** Houbigant reads it, *for three successive years.*The crime for which the three years of famine were sent, was the murder of many of the Gibeonites by Saul, with a determined purpose utterly to destroy the remainder; and this contrary to the public oath and faith, which had been given them for their security, in cold blood, in time of peace, when the Gibeonites were unarmed and destitute of assistance, only to shew how zealous he was to oblige the people. This crime was therefore enormous, and highly aggravated; a crime which, if any could be so, was worthy the peculiar interposition of a just God; and which, though the punishment was long deferred, through a train of intervening occurrences, was nevertheless worthy to be retaliated by Providence, upon the first opportunity that was favourable for the purpose. The persons employed with Saul in perpetrating these murders, were those of his own house. He thought the destruction of these Gibeonites so popular a thing, that he was resolved that himself, his family, and relations, should have the whole credit of it. *It was for Saul and his bloody house;*2Sa 21:1 for which reason the Gibeonites justly said, *for us thou shalt not kill any man in Israel;*but demanded *seven of the sons of Saul, who was the man that consumed them, to be delivered up to them;*[2 Samuel 21:4-6](/kjv/2-samuel/21/4-6). And it is probable, from the choice David made, that the very persons whom he gave up were employed in this butchery, and enriched by the spoils of the Gibeonites, and that for this reason David selected them as a sacrifice to the public justice. The circumstance of Saul's death could be no reason against bringing to justice those of his *bloody house*who had been the instruments of his cruelty in the destruction of the poor Gibeonites, if any of them were alive after his death, whatever might be the number of years between the commission of the crime, and the inflicting of the vengeance it deserved. The reason why the oracle expressly dictated no act of expiation, was because David only inquired for what reason the famine was sent. When this was known, it was also as well known, that the Gibeonites were to have some proper satisfaction made to them; so that though the oracular response did not dictate in express words any act of expiation, yet it was of such a nature as that David was immediately led to think of an expiation; for he knew, that the *shedding of blood*was only to be atoned for by the *shedding of his or their blood*on whom the murder was chargeable; so that the oracle did really dictate, though not in words, the necessity of an expiation, by pointing out the crime for which the famine was sent. See [Genesis 9:6](/kjv/genesis/9/6). It is not easy to say when the slaughter of the Gibeonites was committed: the Jews indeed pretend, that Saul had taken it into his head, in one of his phrenetic fits of zeal, to cut them all off; but they give us no authority for it. It is therefore generally, and with greater probability, believed to have happened when he slew all the priests and inhabitants of Nob. For the Gibeonites, as we have seen elsewhere, were a kind of servants to the priests, employed in some of the lowest and most laborious offices. See the Univ. Hist. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel/21#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel/21#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel/21","name":"2 Samuel 21 - Study King James Bible with cokes commentary on the holy bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel/21#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read 2 Samuel 21 with cokes commentary on the holy bible commentary. 1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and fo","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel/21#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel/21"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel/21#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible","name":"cokes commentary on the holy bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel","name":"2 Samuel"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel/21","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/2-samuel/21","name":"21"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```