Глава 21

The end of the strife between the Gibeonites and the house of Saul. Wars of the Jews with the Philistines. 2 Samuel 21:1. There was a famine in the land in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David asked the Lord. And the Lord said, This is for the sake of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he slew the Gibeonites. “Because he killed the (Amorite) Gibeonites,” to whom the Jews swore an oath to provide a safe existence (Joshua 9:3–20). 2 Samuel 21:2. Then the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; The Israelites swore an oath to them, but Saul wanted to destroy them out of his zeal for the descendants of Israel and Judah. “Because of his zeal for the descendants of Israel and Judah,” that is, jealous of the glory and safety of the Jews. 2 Samuel 21:3. And David said to the Gibeonites, “What can I do for you, and how can I reconcile you, so that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?” “So that you bless the inheritance of the Lord” and so that through this the descendants of those who took the oath will cease to experience the punishment of perjurers. 2 Samuel 21:4. And the Gibeonites said to him: We do not need silver or gold from Saul or from his house, and we do not need anyone to be killed in Israel. He said: what do you want? I'll do it for you. “We do not need anyone in Israel to be put to death” - a stranger to the house of Saul. 2 Samuel 21:7. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath in the name of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul. See (1 Samuel 20:14–17,42). 2 Samuel 21:8. And the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Ai, who bore Saul Armon and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai of Meholah, For Rizpah, see (2 Samuel 3:7). “Five sons” of Mer, sister of Michal (1 Samuel 18:19). 2 Samuel 21:9. and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them [in the sun] on the mountain before the Lord. And all seven died together; they were killed in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest. “In the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest,” i.e. in half of April. 2 Samuel 21:10. Then Rizpah, the daughter of Ai, took sackcloth and spread it for herself on that mountain and sat from the beginning of the harvest until the waters of God poured down on them from heaven, and did not allow the birds of the sky to touch them by day and the beasts of the field at night. “Until the waters of God poured down on them from heaven.” Palestine has a distinct period of early rains and a period of late rains. The period of early (in relation to the Jewish reckoning of the civil year from September) rains falls in the autumn months - October and November; The period of late rains falls in the spring months - from late February to early April. 2 Samuel 21:12. And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabez-gilead, who had taken them secretly from the market place of Beth-shana, where they had been hanged by the Philistines, when the Philistines had killed Saul at Gilboa. 2 Samuel 21:15. And war broke out again between the Philistines and the Israelites. And David and his servants went out with him, and fought against the Philistines; and David grew weary. There is no doubt that the Philistines, who were subordinate to the Jews, wanted to take advantage of the unrest in the kingdom of the Jews in order to regain their lost dominance over them. 2 Samuel 21:16. Then Isvi, one of the descendants of the Rephaim, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of copper and who was girded with a new sword, wanted to strike David. The Rephaim mean the ancient original inhabitants of Canaan, distinguished by their great stature and extraordinary strength (Deut. 2:10–11; Num. 13:34). Their habitat was Bashan (Deut. 3:11), the land of the Ammonites (Deut. 2:20–21), the land of the Moabites (Deut. 2:10–11), the southern limits of western Transjordan - the environs of Hebron and Jerusalem (Joshua 15:8,13–14,18:16), etc. Holy Scripture often connects with the Rephaim, and sometimes generalizes: Enakimov (Josh. 11:21–22), Zuzimov, Emimov (Gen. 14:5), Zamzuzimov (Deut. 2:20–21). About the shekel, see note. to (2 Samuel 14:26). 2 Samuel 21:18. Then there was again a war with the Philistines in Gob; then Sovohai the Hushatite killed Safut, one of the descendants of the Rephaim. "In Gob". In (1 Chronicles 20:4) and in Josephus it is stated “in Gezera.” Gazer is a city northwest of Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 21:20. There was also a battle in Gath; and there was one tall man there, who had six fingers and six toes, twenty-four in all, also from the descendants of the Rephaim, Obviously, Goliath, slain by David (1 Samuel 17:4–51), was not the only Philistine giant in Gath. 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