2 Samuel 21:7-14 - They were put to death

21:7-9

While he was happy to hand over seven descendents of Saul, David did spare Mephibosheth because of the promise he had made to Jonathan. The Gibeonites killed the seven men whom David did hand over. Their bodies were exposed on a hill before the Lord. We are given a fairly precise time for when the seven were killed. There is little that is glorious about the closing days of David’s reign. 

21:10-14

We now see why the harvest was mentioned. Since it was harvest time the birds were about looking for pickings, and would have scavenged on the dead bodies, given the chance. However, Rizpah took sackcloth to protect the bodies from birds or wild animals. Once again, we find a woman bringing a little dignity to an otherwise very bad situation. Her actions seem to have pricked David’s conscience. So he goes to collect the bones of Saul and Jonathan from Jabesh Gilead. Their bones had been lost in a previous defeat, and nothing had since been done to rectify the situation. Now this was put right. The bones of Saul and Jonathan and the seven were given a proper burial. “After that, God answered prayer on behalf of the land.” This could be taken as implying that God approved of all David’s actions, or it could be taken as God overlooking the evil way in which the situation had been addressed.