The NIV Life Application Study Bible suggests the following chapters are an
appendix, and that the events recorded happened at various points during
David’s reign.
The first event recorded is a
famine of three years. Notice that it is in direct response to this that David
‘sought the face of the Lord’ (v.1). The text seems to suggest a swift response
from the Lord; the famine is ‘on account of Saul and his blood-stained house;
it is because he put the Gibeonites to death’, says God to David (v.1).
Although David has been battling with his own issues during his reign, God does
not forget the downtrodden from Saul’s enthronement. The famine serves as a
sign to David that he has business to do with God, and to act as advocate for
the downtrodden Gibeonites that the Lord himself has not forgotten. This also
reflects Joab’s sins that seem to go unpunished until after David’s death -
human lifetimes are not limiting factors to God, and we must trust him and his
justice in his time.
David’s response is to
immediately address what God has told him. God is remarkably silent on what
David is to do about it, and so David uses his initiative and talks with the
Gibeonites, asking what they need. We must speak to God, but it is also crucial
that we actually speak to people. This resonates with James 2:16, ‘If one of
you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but
does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?’.
David agrees to the demands of
the Gibeonites, and allows Saul’s sons to be killed. The LSB exposes the
difficulty in exploring this text, but suggests that Saul’s sons may have been
involved in the killing of the Gibeonites, which was a serious offense against
God. Alternatively, the culture of that time treated families as entire units,
and so blood-vengeance would fall to an entire family.
Verses 15-22 state that there
were four other battles, outside of the main narrative battles recorded in the
rest of 1 and 2 Samuel. David must have been exhausted from seemingly ceaseless
fighting, but he is supported by his men who say ‘Never again will you go out
with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished’ (v.17).
Both David’s response to the
Gibeonites and the army’s response to David shows that they are willing to aid
each other, even though in worldly terms it might not be their responsibility.
God uses us to aid others, even though their suffering may not be our fault.
God never forgets the downtrodden, and neither should we.
(Christ Church couple)