David and the Gibeonites

For three years, there was famine in the land, year after year. David sought the Lord about it, and he was told that the trouble was connected to Saul and his bloody house, because Saul had put the Gibeonites to death. The Gibeonites were not Israelites, yet Israel had sworn an oath to them.

David called the Gibeonites and asked what he should do to make things right. They said they were not asking for silver or gold, and it was not for them to put anyone to death in Israel. Then they asked for seven men from Saul’s sons to be handed over and hung up before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul.

David agreed, but he spared Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, because of the oath between David and Jonathan. He took two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and five sons of Merab, Saul’s daughter. They were handed over to the Gibeonites, and all seven died together at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, mourned in a long and painful vigil. She spread sackcloth for herself on a rock and stayed there from the start of harvest until water poured from the sky. She kept birds away by day and animals of the field by night. When David heard what Rizpah had done, he responded.

David went and took the bones of Saul and Jonathan from the men of Jabesh Gilead. He also gathered the bones of the seven who had been hanged. They buried Saul and Jonathan in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father, in Zela in the land of Benjamin. After the king’s commands were carried out, God answered prayer for the land.