These curses are things like diseases that might affect genetics, and they came as the result of sin. Based on what he knew, and what was available in God's law, David should have been much more judicious. He apparently killed It seems as though he was spiritually sleepwalking through this whole thing. He committed colossal sins that whole nations would be held in contempt for. But the consequences of their sinswhat it means to us; what happened because of their sinstill affects us today. What have you been thinking about?". I do not know if that was the case, but he had just gone through Absalom's rebellion, and Sheba's rebellion, and maybe he allowed that to cross his mind too. There is no biblical account of this escapade of Saul and his house against Gibeon. Hearing that Joshua was camped in their general neighborhood, after his devastating defeat of the strategic cities of Jericho and Ai, the Gibeonites sent a delegation to him at nearby Gilgal. . Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for forty -two years over Israel. God is just. At most it was about ten miles awaynot very far at all. What I am trying to show you by going through these different places is that there is plenty of law that King David could have looked back on. About two years ago, Barry Watson, our lone member in Namibia, wrote me an email message in which this incident was at the heart of it. Why wasn't I told about this?" Even their empty wine skins were completely dried up and cracked. Over the years I've urged our Fellowship to check out, investigate and take to heart such biblical alarms. Just tell me and I will do it for you.. God!before the Lordin Gibeah of Saul. Jonathan. LAMECH: FALL OUT FROM POLYGAMY; But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then we have verses 34 through 36. Joshua realized he had been deceived, but he kept the letter of his covenant with the Gibeonites to let them live; however, he cursed and enslaved them as woodcutters and water-carriers. Saul later pursued the Gibeonites and sought to kill them off in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah. But certainly, David was. So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul; and the five sons of Michal [Merabsee margin of most Bibles] the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. If people grow up in a society and culture that does not have God at their beck and call, they do whatever they wantwhatever comes naturally. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.". Also, they were hanged on the hill before the Lord. How many rebellions were there? 2Samuel 21:1, There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.. He sees the hearts of men and the hidden actions of men. We do know the Gibeonites were cutters of wood and drawers of water for the altar of God the tabernacle was at Gibeon. By this time, having fought all his life since he was a teenagerup against Goliath when he was eighteen or soand here he was approaching 70 years old, and he was tired. As we get to about verse 32 in Hebrews 11, Paul says that he does not have time to get to all the other heroes of faith that the Bible gives us. Share God punished the whole nation for breaking the covenant. What we do inherit of their sin is consequences. DECEPTION AND COST One of them toward the end of this list is King David. As Christians living amidst spiritual famine, we dare not compromise with the culture around us. Jeiel, Sauls great-grandfather, was the progenitor of the Gibeonites ( 1 Chron 8:29-33; 9:35-39 ), so Saul slaughtered his own relatives! The Bible barely alludes to the king's mad scheme, but we know that Saul's plot miserably failed. Finally, after six or seven months, the rains came in their natural cycle. Turn to Exodus 20 and see that right in the Ten Commandments it sounds like it could mean that sin does travel down the family tree. 2. Then there are things of degeneracy. I am just going to start with the backdrop to the incident. Then, they went after Jericho, and it fell. The choice by Adam and Eve in the garden was a sin, and they paid for it through death. Joshua 9:22-24 Then Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, "Why have you deceived us, saying, 'We are very far from you,' when you dwell near us? David may have begun to think about this now, "What is going on here? Also David seems to have only spared Mephibosheth only because he made an oath, and not for the fact that he was only five years old and did not participate in killing the Gibeonites? WebThe LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. He keeps his word even to his own disadvantage and does not change it [for his own benefit] (Psalm 15:1, 4; AMP). The children of Israel gathered and went across the Jordan River, and set up camp at Gilgal. This does not make any sense. He could have done whatever he wanted. He says to watchbe aware, be awake, be vigilant; know what your spiritual state is. They engaged in battle, and Israel won, but the people and king Saul said, "Look at all this nice livestock! However, we have a great deal of trouble identifying with or understanding pure, innocent and perfect Galahad. When did Saul kill these Gibeonites? Ezekiel 18 makes it clear that God punishes people for their own iniquity. Were they participants in killing the Gibeonites? WebOne of the mothers of the men hanged by the Gibeonites protected the bodies of Saul's sons from birds and wild beasts day and night. Asked August 31 2013 VERSE 2. They got a couple of their men, maybe elders, and got them to appear like they came along distance. Here are guidelines to help facilitate a meaningful learning experience for everyone. Then, pray for all you are worth so that your relationship with God and Jesus Christ is strong when the famine hits. They did not seek God in this matter. Jew or gentile? With all the recent rebellions, he was probably worried that his alliances were going to fail, because he may have appeared to weaken. It says that they were Saul's sons. WebA famine lasting three years hit Israel during the earlier half of David 's reign at Jerusalem. That is basically how it was. Much later, King Saul ignored this covenant of peace and killed some Gibeonites. Exodus 21:23-25 But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. They did not inquire. Wherever he turned, he harassed them. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land. Israel was totally swindled and bamboozled. And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them. Exodus 20:4-6 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. "Now therefore, you are cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaveswoodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God." Who are the twenty four elders that John foresaw? The Gibeonites presented themselves to the invading Israelites, not as nearby neighbors, but as distant foreigners who lived in a far-off land. The Bible implicitly hints at something which caused a feud which was settled only by the blood of Sauls descendants. Web2 Samuel 21:2 indicates that King Saul pursued the Gibeonites and sought to kill them off "in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah" (2 Samuel 21:5). He just let matters continue naturally and let it rub in for another six or seven months. 1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. This could indicate that the sons of Saul were actively implicated in this attempted genocide, although we cannot tell for sure as the details of this awful event are not recorded. To all appearances, it seems that they got away with it. I know that is how I always read itas straight historyand I did not think about it very much. And the king said, "I will give them.". Verse 5 does not say that the guilt of a person extends to his great-great grandchildren. What is meaning of 2 Cor. Evidently, this is what Saul and most of his family was like, except Jonathan. Ezekiel 18:19-20 Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?' There should have been payment for it. God revealed that this calamity happened because of "Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites ." Why was Satan so effective in influencing the actions of Eve? Is there something I'm missing? The Lord told them they had made a commitment to these people and they had to stand by it. He had a body of law that he could have referred back to and come up with a solution. Web2 Samuel 21:1 Context. Now Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured on them from heaven. It is very clear, and very simplejust two little verses. Yes, my lord, he answered. the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Most, if not all, of those responsible were dead. The problem was that God had not told Saul to do this, God had told Joshua to do that. If the Gibeonites brought guile and deceit into the land; it was Saul who set the example for deep and devastating Jesus Christ should be everyone's ultimate hero. Because of their peace treaty and their oath with the Gibeonites, which included these people. King Saul would conscript them into the army, and off they would go in a bloodthirsty rage against somebody else. The verb is used in this sense with respect to Joshua's action toward the Gibeonites in Joshua 9:27, where cultic servitude is involved ("for the altar of the Lord"). 0 responses It is not genetic. Deuteronomy 19:7-10 Therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall separate three cities for yourself.' According to a May 2007 George Barna Poll, 63% of Americans, mostly professing Christians, believe that Jesus sinned during His physical life! The prophet Zechariah asks a question that is forever pertinent to all spiritual considerations and decisions: "For who hath despised the day of small things?" Some unfinished business here needs to be taken care of. I think he was looking at Adonijah and Solomon, and seeing the positioning for the throne, and he just wanted to throw up his handsflee like some bird (Psalm 139). He just weakly said, "Oh okay, whatever you want. How does this all connect with Ezekiel chapter 18? God's correction may come a Why does the Bible say David spared Mephibosheth then offered him to the Gibeonites to be killed? Why were two of Saul's sons and five of Saul's grandsons killed for a crime they didn't commit? Therefore, one of the first things that Joshua and the Israelites do is they allow a big problem to linger in their midst. He does not live long past the end of II Samuel. Jerusalem is almost directly west a few miles, but it is quite high from the Jordan to the Jerusalem. We can't withstand them. Berean Literal Bible Acts 13:21. But, are these people telling the truth? The latter believed that Saul's desire was to destroy them utterly. "There's something rotten in Denmark," as the saying goes. And as the one righteous person in the whole nation, he could have cried out, God would have heard, and God would have saved.