Reference: Gibeonites
Fausets
Their safety was covenanted by Israel (Joshua 9), even though obtained by a deceit, their ambassadors having taken old sacks and mended wineskins (the tear being tied up like a bag) and old mended sandals ("clouted," i.e. mended coarsely); but they were made "hewers of wood and drawers of water." Israel's error was in making the treaty without inquiring of the Lord; a warning to the church of all ages against the dissimulation of the world, which seeks admission and union with the kingdom of God without real conversion, faith, and sanctification, when it suits its own carnal advantage. Saul in his zeal for Israel where God sanctioned it not, though wanting in zeal against Israel's foe Amalek (1Sa 15:18-20) where God commanded it, sought to slay them, probably (2 Samuel 21) in the dark closing period of his reign seeking to atone for his deficiency as to Amalek and to win the divine favor and popularity with his people by this mis-timed and misplaced zeal.
God remembers the sins of the fathers upon the children, and vindicates His righteousness as Ruler of the nations by making an entail of curse go down from one generation to another for the unexpiated guilt of bloodshed and violation of covenants. The three years' famine, the Lord's answer when consulted as to the cause, that it was "for Saul and his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites," and after the execution of Saul's seven (seven, the sacred number, denotes the performance of a work of God) sons "the Lord being entreated for the hind," prove that David did not contrive or eagerly fall in with this device for ridding himself of the remainder of Saul's royal line. Nay, he showed by the honorable burial he gave their remains, and by sparing Mephibosheth, that he entertained no such feeling, nor had he by this time anything to fear from Saul's family.
The whole matter was divinely ordered to teach solemn moral lessons of God's government to the king and the nation (Ex 20:5; 34:7; Le 26:34-40; Nu 14:18-34, especially Nu 35:33, "blood it defileth the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it"; Isa 14:20-21; 65:6-7; Jer 2:9; 32:18). The "water dropping upon them (the hanged or crucified seven) out of heaven" marked the cessation of the heaven sent drought and the point of time when the bodies might be taken down from the stakes and buried. Ordinarily bodies were taken down for burial before night (De 21:22-23); but in this case guilt rested on the whole land, and therefore the expiatory sacrifice was to remain exposed to birds of prey (the greatest ignominy, 1Sa 17:44) before Jehovah, until the cessation of the drought showed that His wrath was appeased.
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Do not worship them or serve them. I, Jehovah your God, am a God demanding exclusive devotion. (I do not tolerate rivals.) I will not share your affection with any other god. I punish children for their parents' sins to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
I keep my promise for thousands of generations and forgive evil and sin. But I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their fathers.
Then the land will enjoy its time to honor Jehovah while it lies deserted. You will be in your enemies' land. Then the land will joyfully celebrate its time to honor Jehovah. All the days it lies deserted, it will celebrate the time to honor Jehovah it never celebrated while you lived there. read more. I will fill those who are left in the land of their enemies with despair. The sound of a windblown leaf will make them run. They will run away and fall, but no one will be chasing them. They will stumble over each other. Yet no one will be after them. They will not be able to stand up to their enemies. They will be destroyed among the nations. The land of their enemies will devour them. Those who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors. However if they confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors and the treacherous things they did to oppose me,
Jehovah is patient, forever loving; He forgives wrongdoing and disobedience. He never lets the guilty go unpunished. In fact he punishes children for their parents' sins to the third and fourth generation. By your great love, please forgive these people's sins, as you have forgiven them from the time they left Egypt until now. read more. Jehovah said: I forgive them, as you have asked. But as I live and as the glory of Jehovah fills the whole earth, I solemnly swear that none of the people who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I did in Egypt and in the desert will see the land I promised their ancestors. They have tested me now ten times and refused to obey me. None of those who treat me with contempt will see it! My servant Caleb has a different attitude and has wholeheartedly followed me, I will bring him to the land he already explored. His descendants will possess it. The Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys. Tomorrow you must turn around, go back into the desert. Follow the road that goes to the Red Sea. Then Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron: How long must I put up with this wicked congregation that keeps complaining about me? I have heard the complaints the Israelites are making about me. Therefore tell them: 'As I live, declares Jehovah, I solemnly swear I will do everything to you that you said I would do. Your bodies will drop dead in this desert. All of you who are at least twenty years old, who were registered and listed, and who complained about me will die. I raised my hand and swore an oath to give you this land to live in. But none of you will enter it except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. You said your children would be taken as prisoners of war. Instead, I will bring them into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it. But your bodies will drop dead in this desert. Your children will be shepherds in the desert for forty years. They will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies dead in the desert. You explored the land for forty days. So for forty years, one year for each day, you will suffer for your sins and know what it means for me to be against you.'
If you did this, you would defile the land where you are living. Murder defiles the land, and except by the death of the murderer there is no way to perform the ritual of purification for the land where someone has been murdered.
If a man commits a sin worthy of death and he is put to death. You hang him on a tree (stake). His corpse must not hang all night on the tree (stake). Be sure to bury him the same day for he who is hanged is accursed of God. You do this so that you do not defile your land Jehovah your God gives you as an inheritance.
Jehovah sent you on a mission. He said: Go and destroy those sinners, the Amalekites. Fight against them until every one is dead. Why then did you not obey the voice of Jehovah? Why did you pounce on the plunder? Why did you do evil in the sight of Jehovah? read more. Then Saul said to Samuel: I did obey the voice of Jehovah. I went on the mission Jehovah sent me. I brought back Agag the king of Amalek. I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
Come here, the Philistine told David, and I will give your body to the birds.
You ruined your country and killed your own people. For that reason, you will not be buried like other kings. None of your evil family will survive. Prepare a slaughtering place! The sons of this king will die because of their ancestors' sins. None of them will ever rule the earth or cover it with cities.
See, it stands written before me. I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps both your sins and the sins of your fathers, says Jehovah. This is because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills. I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.
That is why I will bring charges against you, proclaims Jehovah, and I will bring charges against your grandchildren.
You show loving kindness to thousands, but repay the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them. O great and mighty God. Jehovah of Hosts is his name.
Morish
Gib'eonites
The people of Gibeon and perhaps of the three confederate cities
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The men of Israel said to the Hivites: Perhaps you live near us. How can we make a treaty with you?
The children of Israel journeyed to their cities on the third day. Their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim.
Now you are cursed, and none of you will be freed from being slaves, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.
There was a famine for three successive years during David's reign. David asked Jehovah for advice about it. Jehovah answered: It is because of Saul and his family. They are guilty of murder because they killed the people of Gibeon. The Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were left over from the Amorites. The Israelites swore to spare them. Saul, in his eagerness, tried to destroy them for Israel and Judah. The king called the Gibeonites. read more. He asked them: What can I do for you? What shall I give you to make peace with you so that you will bless what belongs to Jehovah? The Gibeonites responded: Our quarrel with Saul and his family cannot be settled with silver or gold. We do not want to kill any Israelite. What do you want me to do? David asked. They answered: Saul wanted to destroy us and leave none of us alive anywhere in Israel. Hand over seven of his male descendants. We will hang them before Jehovah at Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, Jehovah's chosen king. The king responded: I will hand them over to you. David made a promise to Jonathan with Jehovah as his witness. He spared Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul. Saul and Rizpah the daughter of Aiah had two sons named Armoni and Mephibosheth. Saul's daughter Merab had five sons whose father was Adriel the son of Barzillai from Meholah. David took Rizpah's two sons and Merab's five sons. He turned them over to the Gibeonites. They hanged all seven of them on the mountain near the place where Jehovah was worshiped. This happened right at the beginning of the barley harvest. Rizpah daughter of Aiah spread some sackcloth on a nearby rock. She would not let the birds land on the bodies during the day. She kept the wild animals away at night. She stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until it started to rain. [The Philistines killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa and hung their bodies in the town square at Beth-Shan. The people of Jabesh in Gilead secretly took the bodies away.] David found out what Saul's wife Rizpah did. So he went to the leaders of Jabesh to get the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. David took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead. They had stolen them from the public square of Beth Shean, where the Philistines hung them the day they killed Saul at Gilboa. David brought the bones of Saul and Jonathan. His men also gathered the bones of those who had been executed. Then they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin, at Zela, in the tomb of Saul's father Kish. They did everything the king ordered. After that God answered the prayers for the land.
Ishmaiah from Gibeon, a famous warrior and leader among the Thirty; Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, and Jozabad from Gederah;
Working by their side included: Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah from the seat of the ruler across the river.