21:1
The events in this first section of the chapter are quite difficult to interpret, there is no easy straightforward analysis. There is a mixture of good and bad. It starts with our being told that there were three years of famine. We are not told exactly when this happened, we only have the rather vague statement that it was “during the reign of David”. David reacts well by seeking the Lord. Not all disasters are a direct result of sin, but sometimes they are, and I would say that many problems that the West faces today are a result of our abandonment of God. Saul had “put the Gibeonites to death”. This incident is not reported elsewhere in the Bible. The Gibeonites were “problematic”, for they had earlier deceived Joshua into accepting them. However, Israel now needed to put right the wrongs of the past.
21:2,3
David summoned the Gibeonites. This verse gives a brief summary of their place in Israel. Saul had tried to annihilate them, breaking the oath that Israel had made to them. Clearly, as with most things, Saul had failed to complete his actions. David asked what he could do in order to make atonement, and for them to “bless the Lord’s inheritance”. This situation has some parallels, and a lot of differences, to the current calls for reparations from former colonies of Britain, or other nations. We should note the key feature here that they will “bless the Lord’s inheritance”. The current calls for reparations seem to be quite different.
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