The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 508

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS, Vers. 1-14.-(GIBEON, GIBEAH.) Fumine. "And there WI\S a famine in the days of David three years, year after year" (ver. 1). [Summary of the remaining portion (or appendix) of this book: 1. The famine. 2. Victorious acts in wars with the Philis- tines (vers. 15-22). 3. David's song of thanksgiving (looking backward); eh. xxii. 4. His last prophetic words (looking forward); eh. xxiii. 1-7. "These two lyrical and prophetic productions of David, the ripest spiritual fruit of his life, form a worthy conclusion to his reign" (Keil). 6. List of his heroes (forming, with 2, an historical framework for 3 and 4); eh. xxiii. 8--89. 6. The pestilence (with the famine, "two Divine punishments inflicted upon Israel, with the expiation of the sins that occasione,l them"); eh. xxiv.J This famine took place after Mephibosheth was brought to Jeru- salem (ver. 7 ; eh. ix.); and, perhaps, about seventeen years after the death of Saul ( eh. iv. 4; ix. 12). It is mentioned here "as a practical illustration, on the one hand, of the manner in which Jehovah visited upon the house of Saul, even after the death of Saul himself, a crime which had been committed by him ; and, on the other hand, of the way in which, even in such a case as this, when David had been obliged to sacrifice the descendants of Saul to expiate the guilt of their father, be showed bis tenderness towards him by the honourable burial of their bones." After long prosperity and plenty there came adversity and destitution. No rain" out of heaven" (ver. 10) for three successive years! What a sceue of general, intense, and increasing distress must have been witnessed (Gen. xii. 10; xxvi. 1; xlvii. 13; Ruth i. 1; 1 Kings xviii. 5; 2 Kings vi 25; xxv. 5; Jer. xiv. 1-10; Acts :xi. 28). Nor has it been unknown in modern times. Consider it (with its attendant circumstances) as- I. CALLING FOR SPECIAL INQUIRY. "And David sought the face of Jehovah" (ver. 1), equivalent to "inquired of Jehovah" (eh. v. 19), by means of the Urim and Tbummim through the high priest (the last recorded instance of this method of ascertaining the Divine will, henceforth more fully revealed through the prophets); urged by the cry of distress, especially among •• the poorest sort of the people of the land" (2 Kings xxiv. 14), on whom the famine pressed with peculiar severity. 1. The misery of the poor and afflicted produces in every faithful ruler and in every right-hearted man a feeling of compassionate and anxious concern. 2. Physical calamities are often due to m<Yral causes; they follow human disobedience to moral laws; being in some cases manifestly connected with such disobedience (as when famine follows desolating wars, agricultural neglect, etc.), in others, however, not directly and apparently so connected. 'l'his con- nection is eddent (1) from the common convictions of men who instinctively associate calamity with crime; (2) from the plain teachings of Scripture (Deut. xxviii. 15, 23, 24; Ezek. xiv. 21); and (3) from the moral government of the living, personal God, wherein all thin~s a.re ordered with a view to moral ends. 3. These causes should be diligently searclUJd wt, by proper means--observation, consideration, prayer-in order to their removal. "It is not superstition, but rather the highest piety and the highest philo- sophy, which leads a people, under such a visitation as that of famine, to turn to Jehovah, saying, 'Show us wherefore tboucontendest with UB'" (W. M. Taylor). "Let us search and try onr ways," etc. (Lam. iii. 40; 1 Sam. iv. 3). II. LEADING TO UNEXPECTED DISOOVERY. "And Jehovah said (through the oracle), Concerning Saul and concerning the blood-guilty house, because he slew the Gibeon- ites." A crime which bad been co=itted, not recently, but twenty or even thirty years before, was brought to remembrance, and set before the national conscience, quickened in its sensibility by the experience of affiiction. "David must hitherto have ruled in a very irre:proachable manner to render it necessary to go further back to find a cause for the calamity" (Ewald). 1. Its iniquity was great. An attempt we.s made to exterminate (consume and destroy, ver. 6) a poor, dependent, and helpless people; or the original inh.a.bitants of the land (ver. 2; Jo~h. ix. 3-27), spared by solemn oath, devoted to the service of the sanctuary (now at Giheon), for more than four hW1dred on. XXI, 1-22.J THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 521