2 Samuel 21
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 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.
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.
Giants, grim necessity and weariness.
Giants sound very improbable.
Tennessee River, USA - giant human footprints with 6 toes
Crittendon, Arizona, USA - sarcophagus of a giant who sported 6 toes on each foot
County Antrim, Ireland - fossilised body of a giant with 6 toes on the right foot
Kiribati (Pacific Ocean) - a number of footprints of giant men, most of them with 6 toes on each foot
The United States has a large number of skeletons found over 8 feet, google if you must.
TURKEY: a human finger bone which is twice the length of the average adult bone today.
In the Hittite Museum in Ankara, Turkey; In the late 1950's, during road construction in south-east Turkey (in the Euphrates Valley), many tombs were uncovered, which contained the remains of giant humans. At two sites the leg bones were measured to be about 120 centimeters (47.24 inches).
Joe Taylor, Director of the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum, in Crosbyton, Texas, was commissioned to sculpt an anatomically correct, and to scale, human femur of one of these ancient men. One part was a human fingerbone which is twice the length of the average adult bone today.
Giants are probable considering all cultures report giants and we see gigantism in genetics.
Giants in faith - David. And weariness in a task protecting the realm. Perhaps we could have scooted through this chapter. So much of David's Biblical History is about war, loss of life and destruction. Here David has a chance to clear his dynasty from Saul's descendants. He takes that opportunity. Because David is man of God, we know he must have felt some dismay in the taking of a king's children and grandchildren.
The weariness is not recorded until Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had stood watch day and night over the bodies of her sons and grandsons. David then buries Saul and Jonathon.
David was so busy, he is at war again when his weariness almost gets him killed. A haunting chapter to be sure, the mother, not wailing at home but living day and night to protect her loved ones' bones. Rather like Aaron being invited into the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle to splash blood all over.
God is blamed, so many times in the Old Testament for how incredibly harsh He is. This passage emphasizes:
John 2:25
He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.
Isaiah 40:30
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted
2 Samuel 12:13
Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die."
John called His Jesus, the Son of God he walked with, the God of Love.
What would Father God say about the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Mera the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite?
Isaiah did glimpse His glory and said, Isaiah 49:
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your builders make haste;
your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
18 Lift up your eyes around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, declares the Lord,
you shall put them all on as an ornament;
you shall bind them on as a bride does.
19 “Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?’”
22 Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my signal to the peoples;
and they shall bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23 Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”
Psalm 27:14
Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!
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