Day 94. 2 Samuel 21-22

The stories in chapter 21 don't seem to fit into the narrative at this point very well. They are probably traditional stories that the writer of 2 Samuel wants to remember before he concludes the story of David.
They begin with some unfinished business. There is a famine in the land. David inquires the reason and the LORD tells him it is because there is "the bloodguilt on Saul and his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death" (21:1).
We know that the Gibeonites are non-Israelite allies, but what Saul did to them we are not told—some atrocity or other. But in order to atone for it the Gibeonites demand that seven sons of Saul be handed over to them to avenge the suffering their father. This David does, though it seems to run counter to his promise to protect the house of Saul. The revenge of Gibeonites is an excessively brutal one—they "impale" the seven sons of Saul—perhaps the idea here is that they crucified them—we aren't sure.(21:9). But in any case shedding of blood satisfies their need for vengeance.
The only light in this brutal story comes from Rizah, one of Saul's concubines—read this as "lesser wives"--who shows her loyalty by protecting the bodies of the dead from the birds and wild animals. Honoring the dead and giving them a decent burial is the highest form of piety in ancient Israel. It represented a sacrifice in that it required taking on personal uncleanness that came from contact with the dead. Hearing of her faithfulness, David—perhaps shamed by it—has the bones of Saul and Jonathan brought and decently buried, together with Saul's impaled sons, in the family tomb (21:14). Now the unfinished business is finally attended to and famine ends.
It should come as no surprise, I suppose, that with Goliath (1 Samuel 17-23) the race of giants does not end. There are others, apparently, and they always seem to fight on side of Israel's enemies. They are very tall champions, wielding enormous weapons (21:16)--and some reportedly have six fingers on each hand! But David and his mighty men succeed in killing them (21:22), much, we imagine, to everyone's relief.
David's song of thanksgiving and praise which occupies all of chapter 22 contains many of the themes of his life. Trust in the God of salvation is emphasized. In times of crisis we often find David in prayer and here he says, "In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice and my cry came to his ears" (22:7).
In verses 8-16 overwhelming power of God to save is expressed poetically using the images of a storm. His glory s breathtaking, but the LORD is celebrated principally in his ability to save. As David says, "He reached from on high, he took me, he drew me out of mighty waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me" (22:17-18).
We are weak, but our God is strong to save. And our righteousness—our right relationship to such a God—is found in absolute trust in him to do what he is so able to do. Righteousness is not found in moral perfection or in ritual cleanness—David is by no means an example of moral perfection, as his story demonstrates time and again. But he does repeatedly demonstrate loyalty and humility—that is what makes him a hero to the writer of 2 Samuel. "With the loyal you show yourself loyal," David says (22:26). And in a passage which has many parallels in the Gospels (see Luke 1:52) David extols humility and the God who exalts the humble and humbles the proud (22:28).
It is not surprising that for a man who spent so much of his life in military pursuits so much of this final hymn of praise is couched in the language of the battle. God is the sufficiency of the soldier. "By you I can crush a troop," David says, "and by my God I can leap over a wall" (22:30). God has given David the equipment needed to be the Chosen One; the charisma he received at his anointing has supplied the king with the strength to conquer the enemies of Israel and save his people—which is what he was anointed to do.
At the end of a muddled and complicated life, filled with failures and triumphs marred by ugliness and violence, David rises to a last explanation of gratitude and joy—"The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation" (22:27). And the LORD's "steadfast love" is not only given to only to David, but is promised to "his descendents forever" (22:51). And the theme of the everlasting covenant the LORD has made with his servant will be expanded in tomorrow's reading.