2 Samuel 21:3, commentary and pictures

David asks the Gibeonites what he shall do for them and with what he shall make atonement, so that they may bless the inheritance of the Lord. The question belongs to the account of a famine in Israel and its cause. It belongs also to the lasting consequences of Joshua's league with the Gibeonites, which bound Israel across generations and kept Israel from driving out all the heathen as God had intended. The account belongs to David's later history and to the judgments that followed his great transgression, showing the course and fulfillment of Nathan's denunciation against him.

In David's time the Gibeonites still lived as a community with political rights, including the ability to negotiate with the king. Their public service to Israel therefore does not show that they were chattel slaves owned in their persons. An offense by one person could be charged to the whole family, and the family was bound to help secure redress.

God holds His people collectively responsible when many allow the transgressions of a few to continue. God opposes oppression and will not allow it to stand in the way of His blessing, even when the oppressed are not part of the household of faith.