Dealing With the Past
2 Samuel 21:1-14
Part of A Kingdom Torn—Book of 2 Samuel
May 22, 2024

2 SAMUEL 21

Owning Issues (vs. 1-4)

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.
3 Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?”
4 And the Gibeonites said to him, “We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us.”
So he said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”
2 Samuel 21:1-4

  1. When we don’t

    what’s going on in our lives, we should be asking the One who knows everything.

  2. God doesn’t always deal with issues immediately, but that doesn’t mean He’s

    about them.

  3. My

    will hurt innocent people around me.

  4. We cannot deal with the issues of our past until we

    them.


Additional references:
James 1:5, Numbers 32:23, Joshua 9:14-15, Luke 19:8


Facing Consequences (vs. 5-9)

Then they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel, 6 let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us, and we will hang them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord chose.”
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 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, 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 on the hill before the Lord. So 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.
2 Samuel 21:5-9

  1. Dealing with the

    can often make life messy in the , but the goal is to clear things up for the .

  2. I can’t fix broken

    to one by breaking my word to another.

  3. I may have to willfully

    to pay a price now for something done long ago.

  4. Life is not

    and actions have consequences.


Additional references:
Exodus 34:6-7, Galatians 3:13, Galatians 6:7-8


Closing Chapters (vs. 10-14)

Now Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured on them from heaven. And she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.
11 And David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12 Then David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabesh Gilead who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them up, after the Philistines had struck down Saul in Gilboa. 13 So he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there; and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. 14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. So they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land.
2 Samuel 21:10-14

  1. You can’t be afraid of people seeing your

    if you want to make things right.

  2. God wants to get your

    out of the closet and into the ground.

  3. There are things that can

    my prayer.


Additional references:
1 Samuel 31:11-13, 1 Peter 3:7