0#463 Cutting Numb

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?” 4 The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” 5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6 let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab[a] the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 9 and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

10 Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. 11 When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12 David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. 13 And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14 And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.

War with the Philistines

15 There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. 16 And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels[b] of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”

18 After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. 19 And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.[c] 20 And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants. 21 And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, struck him down. 22 These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. 2 Samuel 21 ESV

What is there that God is not in control of or does not know about, if He is Sovereign? With men there can be statutes of limitations, loop holes or respect of persons. At points it's how we think we come to understand God as well, but we find that we are wrong. Here, God is drawing David into conversation with Him by shutting up the heavens. A bad year their stockpiles may take, and it is probably considered a normal cycle to those that watch the seasons and make their living from the ground, but this is causing the king concern. Now the answer that God gives them, for they have probably prayed for rain before this without response, but now it is known to be God's doing for there was still blood not accounted for. Like Abel's blood cried out after Cain, so the blood of those who Israel had promised to protect, still cried out for Saul. They were servants in the land, given a peaceful treatise by Joshua, and they had held their end in peace. Saul went after them in fervor, not just those who may have done wickedly but also against peaceful men, good men, to wipe them out. No country should be so caught up in lineage that they cannot see the good in those outside of their family or heritage. I would trade a thousand fools born here for one good man anywhere else. We should be happy to receive anyone who comes in peace, willing to uphold the laws of the land, and be ever so eager to clean our own house of it's dirt. God is not a respecter of persons, as you can see here, and He has given a quiet, humble people, not of the circumcision, a voice. They have a claim in their peaceful community, and their existence in the promised land. You may shrink at what happens next, but listen carefully, they do not ask for money, and they themselves are not wanting blood. Saul would have wiped out all of them, exterminated them without seeking God's counsel, he would do it to make a name for himself. God allowed him his position and he abused his power, and probably to the benefit of his tribe. They don't ask for money, but they also don't ask an eye for an eye either, only seven, the number to show completion, that it is finished. Now many may suppose this works out wonderfully for David as well, as if he conspired with them, with the rain, all to seek revenge. One of the women after all was she who was supposed to be his first wife. He protects the son of Jonathan, so that while he honors the oath of the kingdom which dated from before Saul's time, he also honors his oath to Jonathan. The sky is shut up for the sins of the administration before him, but God will not allow him to pass the buck. He has to make it right and the seven hang swinging, cursed for the sins of their father, breaking the heart of their mother. She sets up a small tent on the ground with burlap, and defends the dead bodies from the vultures and the ravens, what a legacy we leave our children, what torment is left in this mother's eyes. Commentators of the Jewish orthodoxy have openly hated this passage since men are not usually left to hang over night, and David is so compelled by the mother's plight, as to return the bones of Saul and Jonathan to their plot in Benjamin. It moves men, and though you may think David wanted this for respite, or that the people of Gibeah were blood thirsty, I don't think that either wanted this. God's wrath is poured out, those innocent of their father's choices bare the shame, and as the tears of heaven fall upon a dried up land, they know it is well, it is finished, we are forgiven. It is also known now that blood is blood, that God will repay, he regards the migrant worker as much as the plantation owner's son. Money may not pay off blood, may not be the cause for blood though it is the root of so much evil all the time. 

David continues in the public service, well past his prime in the field, and he is respected by his men for the service of his sword, but they have also come to know his fading strength. They do not see him in his age as useless, but rather as a lamp that they should keep burning. He must be removed from acts of valor, not for lack of courage, but for fading arms and stiffening legs. He is a man's man, a warrior, a poet and a prophet, but we all must step back to teach, to coach and put youth forward, as well prepared as we can. They conquer the giants together so that someday they may conquer them without you. I hope Abishai is not so far away when I fall down, that I never be fully bested, no matter how much help it may require, my ego needs to bend.

The one who is physically uncircumcised yet keeps the Law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker. 28A man is not a Jewbecause he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outwardand physical. 29No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God.…Romans 2: 27-29