Unfinished Business

2 Sam 21:1-14

21:1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)

3 Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?

4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.

5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,

6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:

13 And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.

14 And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land. KJV

In order to make sense of this story we must travel backward in time in the history of Israel. The Gibeonite people lived in the area in and around Jerusalem even before the conquest of the land of Canaan under the command of Joshua. They were descendants of Ham through his son Canaan, upon whom Noah had pronounced a curse because of the sin of Ham against him (Gen. 10:15-18).

These people, having heard of the victory which God gave Israel over Jericho were very frightened even though they themselves were quite a strong people (Joshua 10:2). They devised a deception for Israel as recorded in Joshua 9:1-16. They sent some ambassadors to meet Israel as they advanced westward from Jericho to seek a peace treaty with them. Now Joshua and Israel had been clearly instructed of the Lord to make no such treaties with the people of the land, (Ex 23:32; 34:12; Num 33:55; Deut 7:2, etc.).

It almost seems as if the Gibeonites knew of this command of God because they pretended to be from a great distance and not of the immediate land of Canaan. Joshua and the elders of Israel did not consult with the Lord concerning the matter but entered into a treaty of peace with them on the basis of their appearance and their claims to be from far away. A few days later Joshua realized that he had been deceived but he kept his part of the treaty anyway, having given his word. The Gibeonites, as it turned out, were the only people spared by a treaty of all the people which lived in Canaan prior to the Israelite invasion, Joshua 11:19.

The territory around Gibeah (only a short distance from Jerusalem) became a part of the territory given to the tribe of Benhamin and the Gibeonite people seem to have remained there, though they had some wicked influence upon the Benjamites as we read in Judges 20. During the days of Saul the king, the tabernacle of God was at Nob in the vicinity of Gibeah and the priests helped David when he fled from Saul. When Saul learned of it, he commissioned Doeg the Edomite, to destroy the city of Nob, which was one of the cities of the Gibeonites, though the priests lived there as well.

Our story, however, picks up in the reign of David, after he had been king for a while. There was a drought which lasted for three years. Now it was not unusual for there to be a year without much rain, sometimes even two, but for the drought to enter its third year was so totally out of the ordinary that David sought the Lord for some cause. There had been a promise of God for rain in the land so long as Israel obeyed Him.

Deut 11:13-14

13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. KJV

On a number of occasions God had withheld the rain as a judgment for wickedness and David suspected that this was the case though he did not know the cause. There was certainly no idolatry going on in Israel under his leadership. But something definitely was wrong. What David discovered was that there was a problem from history which God demanded that he rectify.

The Gibeonite people had been sinned against and no one had done anything to remedy the problem. Because of this God was stirred against Israel and against David and was judging them. The Gibeonites deserved to be avenged for the massacre at Nob. When David asked them what would satisfy their sense of justice, they asked for seven sons (or heirs) of Saul whom they might execute for the crimes against them. David complied and gave them seven of Saul's surviving grandsons. The Gibeonites promptly executed them by hanging but they also left their bodies where they were hung, unburied.

The mother of two of the boys camped herself by the bodies and prevented the animals from bothering them. When it was told to David, he resolved to bury them but also remembered that the bodies of Saul and Jonathan had never been properly buried either. He sent for all the bodies to be gathered and buried them all in the sepuchre which belonged to Kish, Saul's father. It was only after this that the Lord released His judgment and sent the rain again.

The question from this text, as it is with all OT texts is whether there is any application for New Testament believers. The answer to this hinges upon the connection in scripture between rain and the blessings of God poured out from heaven. We have already mentioned the fact that plentiful rain was a part of the contract between God and Israel so long as Israel kept their part of the covenant. We have also mentioned the fact that rain was often withheld as a discipline of God to call them to repentance.

The New Testament also uses this same image.

Heb 6:4-9

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:

8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. KJV

When we consider this comparison, we realize that we, too, are in a great drought, one that has gone on for many years. Some may even say that there is a drought upon their personal lives, that it has been a long time since God has poured Himself out upon them in blessing. We might compare ourselves to the situation in Israel under David and see if there is anything that we can learn.

Israel and David has unfinished business with the sins of the past. They knew that Saul had shamefully treated the Gibeonites but they did not see any responsibility to do anything about it. They were reminded that sins of the past, if left alone, continue to grieve God and may cause Him to withhold His blessings. The same principle remains for the church. The opening chapters of the book of Revelations warn the churches of Jesus Christ that discipline awaits them if they will not deal with their sins.

Rev 2:1

1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

Rev 2:5

5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. (KJV)

Rev 2:12

12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

Rev 2:14-16

14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (KJV)

Rev 3:1-3

1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

I wonder if we have fully considered the sins of our past and have fully made restitution to those whom we have damaged. I wonder if that has anything to do with the spiritual drought that is upon our country and possibly our personal lives.

Some believe that God simply withholds His blessings for no reason whatsoever. But if David had believed that he never would have sought the Lord for the cause of the drought. If we believe that we will not seriously seek after the Lord for the cause of the spiritual drought that we are experiencing.

There is another image in the story of David and the drought which I believe that we should consider and that is the unburied bodies. The New Testament likens our sinful nature to a dead carcass.

Rom 7:22-24

22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (KJV)

It is said that Paul had in mind a certain punishment which was sometimes sentenced for murder. The body of the murdered one was strapped to the murderer and he was forced to carry it about until he died himself. Paul envisioned the sinful nature of the saint as a rotting carcass that we carry about.

We are called upon to bury that dead body.

Rom 6:6-12

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  (KJV)

We are instructed to have a daily funeral for our carnal lusts. Part of the issues of the past were not in David's awareness but there was another issue about which David did have knowledge. There were bodies that need burying and he had not done it.

If we as a people, a culture, a church or as an individual have unresolved sins, there are at least two who know where the bodies are buried, God and our own consciences.

The story of David teaches us that people who long for the rain of God to end our awful drought must reach back into our history and resolve any issues that we have the power to resolve.

Unresolved guilt creates a multitude of problems.

1. It places us under the discipline of God rather than His blessing.

2. It leaves openings for Satan and his minions to invade our lives.

3. It keeps us from fully seeing our redemption.

In such a state the rain of God will not fall upon us. Therefore it is imperative for us to fully deal with the past. All the bodies must be buried. All sins must be repented of. Restitution must be made.

The question is whether we long for the Presence of God more than we fear dealing with our sins and the consequences of repentance.