2 Samuel 21:4, commentary and pictures

In the exchange David asks what satisfaction can be made, and the Gibeonites answer that they will have no silver nor gold of Saul nor of his house, and that they do not seek for any man of Israel to be put to death on their account, but leave the remedy to the king, who promises to do whatever they shall say. The verse stands within the account of a famine that came upon Israel and of the cause behind it. It belongs to the longer history of the league made with the Gibeonites, a binding covenant whose consequences ran through generations, and that league was a serious mistake because through it Israel was hindered from driving out all the heathen as God had intended.

The surrounding chapters 11 through 24 record David's history after his sin involving Uriah, in which his great transgression was neither concealed nor excused, and the judgments that followed fulfilled Nathan's prophetic denunciation. The passage in chapter 21 verses 1 to 9 illustrates that an offense against one person could be treated as an offense against the whole family, whose members were bound to help secure redress, showing the principle of family responsibility in dealings between groups. The chapter shows that God holds His people collectively responsible when many allow the sins of a few to continue. It is cited as showing that oppression matters to God even when its victims are outside the household of faith.

The Gibeonites' ability to deal directly with Israel's king and to make their own terms shows that they possessed political rights and were not chattel slaves. Though they performed public service as woodcutters and water carriers, they remained personally free, with their own lands, homes, families, and city.