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2 Samuel 21 Bible study: The LORD's oath
"After that, God answered prayer for the land" (21:14) comes after the bones of Saul and Jonathan were buried in the tomb of Kish, not straight after the seven died. And in Hebrew that verb, atar, comes only twice in 2 Samuel: here, and in the book's last verse, "So the LORD was entreated for the land" (24:25).
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“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.”
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“David had the bones of Saul and Jonathan buried in the tomb of Kish, Saul's father.”
Is that in 2 Samuel 21, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
An oath older than the kingdom
"There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of the LORD" (21:1). The LORD's answer points back to Saul: "It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death" (21:1) (tap bloody). The chapter stops to say who the Gibeonites were: "the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn to them" (21:2) (tap sworn). That oath goes back to Joshua: "Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live. The princes of the congregation swore to them" (Joshua 9:15). When the people murmured, the princes answered, "We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them" (Joshua 9:19). Saul, though, "sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah" (21:2).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 2 Samuel 21
That was a taste
The rest of 2 Samuel 21 is waiting in Favor
- "What should I do for you?"
- Rizpah on the rock
- Four sons of the giant
- Two endings, one verb
- Two Mephibosheths, and Merab or Michal
- Keep the king from the battle
- 11 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
עָתַרatarsay a-TAR
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "pray, supplicate (always to God)". Strong's: "intercede (reciprocally, listen to prayer)". Here God is its subject: "After that, God answered prayer for the land" (21:14). 2 Samuel uses the verb twice. The other is the book's last verse, after the plague: "So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel" (24:25). Its first use in the Hebrew Bible is "Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife" (Genesis 25:21).
For your group
2 Samuel 21 Bible study questions
- 1The famine lasted "for three years, year after year," and "David sought the face of the LORD" (21:1). What keeps you from bringing a long, hard thing to God?
- 2David kept his oath to Jonathan by sparing Jonathan's son (21:7), years after Jonathan had died. Is there a promise you've made that has become harder or costlier to keep? What would keeping it look like now?
- 3Rizpah kept watch on the rock (21:10), and David's men stepped in when he grew faint (21:15-17). Who near you needs someone to stay with them or step in for them right now, and what could you do?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 2 Samuel 21 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Favor takes the Bible as one story, in order, so you'll reach 2 Samuel 21 with everything that leads up to it in view. Start from Genesis, or meet Jesus first in the Gospels. You can read the text of any chapter in Favor's Look up whenever you like.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home