Through the Bible Day by Day - 2 Samuel 21:1 - 21:1

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Through the Bible Day by Day - 2 Samuel 21:1 - 21:1


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a Devoted Mother

2Sa 21:1-11

The time of this famine cannot be fixed with certainty. Probably it took place before Absalom’s rebellion. The reason for it was found in Saul’s slaughter of the Gibeonites. See 1Sa 22:19, etc. Though their fathers had obtained the promise of immunity from Joshua and the princes by fraud, yet it was regarded as binding, and its violation was looked upon as a grave offense, involving the whole nation in the charge of perjury. The remnant of the Gibeonites were therefore allowed to fix their own terms. This tendency to connect a national calamity with a national crime has always obtained. There seems to be a universal consciousness that uncaused judgments do not befall.

Note that Merab should be substituted for Michal, 2Sa 21:8; 1Sa 18:19. Out of all the scenes of cruelty and blood with which this age was characterized, the love of motherhood shines forth undimmed. It is one of the most precious of God’s gifts to man. But what shall we not say of that divine love which clings to us in our most hopeless condition?