The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 499

EXPOSITION. dually destroying the native races w;is too CHA.l''l'.ti;K XXI. much in accord with men's usual way of act- Ver. 1.-There we.a e. fa.mine in the days ing not to be continued, unless stopped by the of David; Hebrew, and there was. There justice of the ruler. We all kno,v how the is e.n entire absence of any mark of time to Red Indian, the Bushman, the Maori, and show in what part of David's reign this the Anatralian disappear before the advance fo.mine took place, It does not even follow, of the white me.n. It needs only apo.lhy on from the mention of Mephibosheth's name, the pa.rt of the government, a,icl rougher that it must have happened at e. time subse- methods for clearing them off are pr::ctised quent to the sending for that prince from than men would care to own. So with Machir's house; for it may have been the Gibeonites and Perizzites and other native search after the descendants of Saul which races, a similar proC<'SB would be going on. made David remember the son of his old The lands they held, their little villages, friend. The burial, powever, of the bones their pastures, e.nd above a.II their strong- of Saul and Jone.than as an act of respect holds, would be coveted by the dominant to the slaughtered king makes it probable race, e.nd encroachments would lee.d to quar- that the narrative belongs to the early part rels, in which the natives would find any of David's reign, as also does the npparent resistance on their part punished as rebellion. fact that the seven victims were all young Even David seized the hill-fortress of J ebus and unmarried. Mephibosheth, we read, had for his capital, though he still left Araunah a.young son when David sent for him. Now, the nominal title of king (eh. =iv. 23). Saul he was five years old when his fo.ther was he.d lent all the weight of the royal authority slnin (eh. iv. 4), and thus at the end of to the extermination of the natives, e.nd this David's reign of seven years and e. he.If at chapter records the Divine condemnation of Hebron, lie would be twelve and a half wrong done by the dominant race to the abori- years of age. The famine lasted three years, gines. It remains to this day the charter for and if David had been king four or five their protection, and not only forbids their years when the famine began, Mephihosheth, extinction, but requires that they shall be ~t the age of twenty, might well have e. treated with fair e.nd even justice, and their "young son" in a country where men marry rights respected and maintained. It he.a been early. We cannot believe that the fa.mine objected that the execution of Saul's seven occurred long after David had been king sons was a political crime committed to of e.11 Israel, because manifestly it would render David's throne secure. If e.t o.11 have been unjust and even monstrous to to his advantage, it we.a so only to a very punish e. nation for the sins of e. king who slight extent. The sons of Rizpah could had long passed nway. The sins of its never he.'l'e become pretenders to the throne; rulers a.re visited upon a. nation constantly nor were the sons of Mere.b likely to be through e. long series of years, but it is al- much more do.ngerous. In a few years they ways in the way of natural development. would have married, and formed other ties, A statesman me.y put e. nation upon a wrong and been merged in the genero.l population. track, and may involve it in serious difficul- Mephibosheth we.a the heir of Saul, and ties, u.nd even in irretrievable disaster, unless David protected him and Micha his son. ~ome one be raised up able to make it retrace It was quite in the spirit of the times to ite steps e.nd regain the rightful direction. visit upon Saul's house the sins of it11 chief. But this famine was a· direct interference The principle we.a the so.me as when all of Providence, and to justify it the sin must Israel stoned Achan, his sous and his daug-h- be still fresh in the national remembrance. ters, his oxen and his asses, his sheep and his Had it been e.n old crime long ago forgotten, tent, for bringing iniquity upon the peopie instead of leading men to repentance, this (Josh. vii. 24, 25). We keep chiefly in view long and tel'fible punishment would have the dootrine of personal responsibility ; in hardened men's hearts, and me.de them the Old Testament the other doctrine of the reae.rd the Deity a.a vindictive. It is eveu oolleotive responsibility of a family, a city, pr~bable that the sin was still being com- a nation, was made the more prominent. mitted; for though commenced 11nd 11pproved It was the Prophet Ezekiel who in eh. xvi ii. by S11ul, bis oppressio11 11nd pm·i)oso of g'l'\I· ~to.ted clearly ~nd witb Divine force that  512 THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. [OR, XXI. 1-22