Bible 21 (CZ - 2009)

1Za Davidových dnů byl po tři roky za sebou hlad, a tak David hledal Hospodinovu tvář. Hospodin řekl: "Na Saulovi a jeho rodině lpí krev, protože dal zabíjet Gibeonce." 2Král si je tedy zavolal a promluvil s nimi. (Gibeonci nepocházejí ze synů Izraele, ale ze zbytku Emorejců. Synové Izraele se jim zavázali přísahou, ale Saul se je ve své horlivosti pro Izrael a Judu snažil vybít.)  3David se tedy Gibeonců ptal: "Co pro vás mohu udělat? Čím vás usmířím, abyste dobrořečili Hospodinovu dědictví?" 4Gibeonci mu odpověděli: "Nemáme právo žádat od Saula a jeho domu stříbro nebo zlato ani nemáme právo někoho v Izraeli zabít." "Splním vám, o co si řeknete," prohlásil král. 5Odpověděli mu: "Za toho muže, který nás chtěl zničit a vyhubit z celého izraelského území, 6chceme sedm jeho potomků. Pověsíme je před Hospodinem v Gibeji Saulově, na Hospodinově vrchu." "Máte je mít," řekl jim na to. 7Král ovšem ušetřil Mefibošeta, syna Jonatana, syna Saulova, a to kvůli přísaze, kterou spolu kdysi David a Saulův syn Jonatan uzavřeli v Hospodinově jménu. 8Král vzal dva syny, které Saulovi porodila Ricpa, dcera Ajova, totiž Armoniho a Mefibošeta, a pět synů, které Merab, dcera Saulova, porodila Adrielovi, synu Barzilaje Mecholatského. 9Vydal je Gibeoncům a ti je na tom vrchu pověsili před Hospodinem. Tak jich zahynulo sedm naráz. Zemřeli v prvních dnech žní, když se začíná sklízet ječmen. 10Ricpa, dcera Ajova, vzala pytlovinu a prostřela si ji na té skále. Od počátku sklizně, až dokud se na ně z nebe nespustil déšť, k nim nepouštěla nebeské ptactvo ve dne ani divokou zvěř v noci. 11Když bylo Davidovi oznámeno, jak se Saulova družka Ricpa, dcera Ajova, zachovala, 12šel a vzal si od měšťanů Jábeš-gileádu ostatky Saula a jeho syna Jonatana. (Ti je totiž kdysi ukradli z prostranství v Bet-šanu, kde je Filištíni pověsili onoho dne, kdy Saula porazili v pohoří Gilboa.) 13David odtud nechal vyzvednout ostatky Saula i jeho syna Jonatana a dal také posbírat ostatky oněch popravených. 14Ostatky Saula a jeho syna Jonatana pak pochovali do hrobu jeho otce Kíše v Céle v benjamínském kraji. Vykonali všechno, co král přikázal. Teprve potom Bůh vyslyšel modlitby za zemi. 15Mezi Filištíny a Izraelem znovu vypukla válka. David šel se svými muži, ale v boji proti Filištínům se unavil. 16Išbi-benob, potomek Refajců (který měl bronzové kopí o váze 300 šekelů a také novou výzbroj), tehdy prohlásil, že Davida zabije. 17Abišaj, syn Ceruji, ale Davidovi přispěchal na pomoc; zasáhl toho Filištína a zabil ho. Davidovi muži tehdy Davida zapřísahali: "Už s námi do boje nechoď, ať neuhasíš svíci Izraele!" 18Později vypukla v Gobu další válka s Filištíny. Tehdy Sibechaj Chušatský zabil Safa, dalšího potomka Refajců. 19Když pak v Gobu začala další válka s Filištíny, tehdy Elchanan, syn Jaíra Betlémského, zabil bratra Goliáše Gatského, jehož kopí mělo násadu jako tkalcovské vratidlo. 20Také v Gatu proběhla válka s Filištíny. Byl tam jeden obr, který měl na rukou i na nohou po šesti prstech, celkem dvacet čtyři. Také on byl potomek Refajců. 21Urážel Izrael, ale Jonatan, syn Davidova bratra Šimey, ho zabil. 22Tak tito čtyři potomci gatských Refajců padli rukou Davida a jeho služebníků.


Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary
 1   THE THREE YEARS' FAMINE FOR THE GIBEONITES CEASE BY HANGING SEVEN OF SAUL'S SONS. (2Sam 21:1-9)
the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites--The sacred history has not recorded either the time or the reason of this massacre. Some think that they were sufferers in the atrocity perpetrated by Saul at Nob (1Sam 22:19), where many of them may have resided as attendants of the priests; while others suppose it more probable that the attempt was made afterwards, with a view to regain the popularity he had lost throughout the nation by that execrable outrage.

 2   in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah--Under pretense of a rigorous and faithful execution of the divine law regarding the extermination of the Canaanites, he set himself to expel or destroy those whom Joshua had been deceived into sparing. His real object seems to have been, that the possessions of the Gibeonites, being forfeited to the crown, might be divided among his own people (compare 1Sam 22:7). At all events, his proceeding against this people was in violation of a solemn oath, and involving national guilt. The famine was, in the wise and just retribution of Providence, made a national punishment, since the Hebrews either assisted in the massacre, or did not interpose to prevent it; since they neither endeavored to repair the wrong, nor expressed any horror of it; and since a general protracted chastisement might have been indispensable to inspire a proper respect and protection to the Gibeonite remnant that survived.

 6   Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul--The practice of the Hebrews, as of most Oriental nations, was to slay first, and afterwards to suspend on a gibbet, the body not being left hanging after sunset. The king could not refuse this demand of the Gibeonites, who, in making it, were only exercising their right as blood-avengers; and, although through fear and a sense of weakness they had not hitherto claimed satisfaction, yet now that David had been apprised by the oracle of the cause of the long-prevailing calamity, he felt it his duty to give the Gibeonites full satisfaction--hence their specifying the number seven, which was reckoned full and complete. And if it should seem unjust to make the descendants suffer for a crime which, in all probability, originated with Saul himself, yet his sons and grandsons might be the instruments of his cruelty, the willing and zealous executors of this bloody raid.
the king said, I will give them--David cannot be charged with doing this as an indirect way or ridding himself of rival competitors for the throne, for those delivered up were only collateral branches of Saul's family, and never set up any claim to the sovereignty. Moreover, David was only granting the request of the Gibeonites as God had bidden him do.

 8   the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel--Merab, Michal's sister, was the wife of Adriel; but Michal adopted and brought up the boys under her care.

 9   they hanged them in the hill before the Lord--Deeming themselves not bound by the criminal law of Israel (Deut 21:22-Deut 21:23), their intention was to let the bodies hang until God, propitiated by this offering, should send rain upon the land, for the want of it had occasioned the famine. It was a heathen practice to gibbet men with a view of appeasing the anger of the gods in seasons of famine, and the Gibeonites, who were a remnant of the Amorites (2Sam 21:2), though brought to the knowledge of the true God, were not, it seems, free from this superstition. God, in His providence, suffered the Gibeonites to ask and inflict so barbarous a retaliation, in order that the oppressed Gibeonites might obtain justice and some reparation of their wrongs, especially that the scandal brought on the name of the true religion by the violation of a solemn national compact might be wiped away from Israel, and that a memorable lesson should be given to respect treaties and oaths.

 10   RIZPAH'S KINDNESS UNTO THE DEAD. (2Sam 21:10-11)
Rizpah . . . took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock--She erected a tent near the spot, in which she and her servants kept watch, as the relatives of executed persons were wont to do, day and night, to scare the birds and beasts of prey away from the remains exposed on the low-standing gibbets.

 12   DAVID BURIES THE BONES OF SAUL AND JONATHAN IN THEIR FATHER'S SEPULCHER. (2Sam 21:12-22)
David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, &c.--Before long, the descent of copious showers, or perhaps an order of the king, gave Rizpah the satisfaction of releasing the corpses from their ignominious exposure; and, incited by her pious example, David ordered the remains of Saul and his sons to be transferred from their obscure grave in Jabesh-gilead to an honorable interment in the family vault at Zelah or Zelzah (1Sam 10:2), now Beit-jala.

 15   Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel--Although the Philistines had completely succumbed to the army of David, yet the appearance of any gigantic champions among them revived their courage and stirred them up to renewed inroads on the Hebrew territory. Four successive contests they provoked during the latter period of David's reign, in the first of which the king ran so imminent a risk of his life that he was no longer allowed to encounter the perils of the battlefield.
The song contained in this chapter is the same as the eighteenth Psalm, where the full commentary will be given [see on Ps 18:1, &c.]. It may be sufficient simply to remark that Jewish writers have noticed a great number of very minute variations in the language of the song as recorded here, from that embodied in the Book of Psalms--which may be accounted for by the fact that this, the first copy of the poem, was carefully revised and altered by David afterwards, when it was set to the music of the tabernacle. This inspired ode was manifestly the effusion of a mind glowing with the highest fervor of piety and gratitude, and it is full of the noblest imagery that is to be found within the range even of sacred poetry. It is David's grand tribute of thanksgiving for deliverance from his numerous and powerful enemies, and establishing him in the power and glory of the kingdom.