During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
2 Samuel 21:1 (NIV)

I’m delivering a report to a client today. The report tells a story about the satisfaction of our client’s customers and some interesting shifts in what they think and what they expect. At the back of the report is an Appendix. The Appendix contains several pieces of extra data and information. The information in the appendix isn’t part of the flow of the story in the main report, but there is additional value in the knowledge it provides.

Today’s chapter begins what amounts to an Appendix at the end of David’s story in the books of 1 & 2 Samuel. Today’s chapter is almost jarring as you read it. Suddenly, I find myself reading what feels like a string of totally random episodes. But the narrator even structures these beautifully. They are intentionally arranged to provide an additional layer of meaning to David’s story. I just have to know how to see it:

21:1–14 — famine
21:15–22 — David’s warriors
22 — David’s song
23:1–7 — David’s last words
23:8–39 — David’s warriors
24 — plague

There’s a symmetry to the entire thing.

A. National crisis
B. Warriors
C. David’s song
C. David’s final oracle
B. Warriors
A. National crisis

Notice that today’s chapter and the final chapter we’ll cover in a few days are both involve a national crisis (famine and plague). Both calamities are connected to sin. Today’s has to do with an unaddressed sin that Saul committed against a people group known as the Gibeonites.

The Hebrews had a long-standing covenant with the Gibeonites that stretched all the way back to Joshua 9. Saul broke that covenant. He carried out a violent campaign against the Gibeonite people. He tried to annihilate them.

So why would Saul’s sin be connected to a three-year famine?

This is where our modern Western individualism collides rather violently with the ancient biblical worldview.

“It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

The Hebrew idea behind this is bloodguilt. God made clear to the Hebrews that innocent blood shed unjustly pollutes the land (Numbers 35:33). To the ancient Hebrews, sin was not merely an isolated transaction between perpetrator and victim. Sin created ripples through communities, families, institutions, generations, and even the land itself.

That doesn’t necessarily mean later generations are personally guilty of their ancestors’ sins. It means they may still be living with their consequences. We’ve seen this all through David’s story. David’s sin against Uriah and with Bathsheba was forgiven, but the pebble still produced the avalanche of tragedy throughout David’s family, life, and legacy.

Likewise, Saul is dead. But the tragic consequences of Saul’s injustice are still being actively felt. Israel suffers because God’s name had been attached to a promise that Saul and Israel treated as disposable. The entire episode revolves around promises. Saul broke one. Now, David keeps one.

David acts to address the wrong and restore the Gibeonite covenant. The Gibeonites ask for seven members of Saul’s household. They execute the seven in a mysterious ancient Near Eastern ritual act associated with removing bloodguilt. Seven is always associated with “completeness” or “totality” in the Great Story. The Gibeonites aren’t asking to exterminate Saul’s family. They’re demanding a representative act of complete restitution.

The episode ends with the remains of the seven, along with the bones of Saul and his son, Jonathan, safely entombed with the rest of Saul’s ancestors. The Gibeonite covenant is restored. The remains of the house of Saul are at rest together. After burial the narrator tell us: “God answered prayer in behalf of the land.”

As I meditated on this, it struck me that the text doesn’t say: “The execution of the seven satisfied God.” The divine response comes after the bodies are honored and buried. There’s something larger than simple vengeance happening. A covenant that had been broken is remembered, addressed, and repaired. The land isn’t healed merely because somebody dies. The land is healed when a buried injustice is finally brought into the light and dealt with.

In the quiet this morning, that’s what keeps stirring within my soul as I sit with it. The Appendix of David’s story begins with David addressing an old wrong, making things right, and restoring a covenant relationship. In a sense, it’s a foreshadowing of what Jesus will eventually do — address the sin problem and restore the relationship between God and humanity. The David story and the Jesus story are connected.

My story is connected to both, as well. As a follower of Jesus, I’m called to love, forgive, reconcile, and restore. Which begs the question, are there any relationships in my life that lie broken and unaddressed?

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