Why does David spare Jonathan’s son Miphiboseth when he delivers seven of Saul’s family to the Gabaonites?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He spares him because of the oath of the Lord between David and Jonathan, Saul’s son. The seven delivered are two sons of Respha and five sons called Michol’s in the verse; Challoner separately explains the five as Merob’s sons whom Michol adopted and raised.

Chapter breakdown

A famine lasts three successive years in David’s days. David consults the Lord’s oracle, and the Lord says it is because of Saul and his bloody house, because he killed the Gabaonites. David calls them. The passage explains that they are not Israelites but the remnant of the Amorrhites, to whom Israel’s children had sworn an oath. Saul sought to kill them out of zeal, as it were, for Israel’s and Juda’s children. David asks what he should do and what atonement he should make so that they may bless the Lord’s inheritance.

The Gabaonites say their contest is not about silver or gold but against Saul and his house, and that they do not desire any man of Israel to be killed. David asks what they want him to do. They say the man who crushed and unjustly oppressed them must be destroyed so that none of his stock remains in Israel’s coasts. They ask for seven men of his children to crucify to the Lord in Gabaa of Saul, once the Lord’s chosen. David agrees. He spares Miphiboseth, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the Lord’s oath between David and Jonathan. He takes Armoni and Miphiboseth, the two sons whom Respha, daughter of Aia, bore to Saul, and the five sons whom the verse calls Michol’s, Saul’s daughter, born to Hadriel, son of Berzellai of Molathi.

Challoner’s separate note says the five were sons of Merob, who was married to Hadriel. They are called Michol’s sons because she adopted them and brought them up as her own.

David delivers the seven into the Gabaonites’ hands. They crucify them on a hill before the Lord, and all seven die together in the first days of harvest, as barley begins to be reaped. Respha, daughter of Aia, spreads haircloth under herself on the rock from the harvest’s beginning until water drops on them from heaven. She allows neither birds to tear them by day nor beasts by night. David is told what Respha, Saul’s concubine, has done.

David takes Saul’s bones and those of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabes Galaad. Those men had stolen them from the street of Bethsan, where the Philistines hanged them after killing Saul at Gelboe. David brings those bones back, and the bones of the crucified men are gathered too. They bury them with Saul’s and Jonathan’s bones in the land of Benjamin, in the side, in the sepulchre of Cis, Saul’s father. They do all the king commanded. The passage says God shows mercy again to the land after these things.

The Philistines again make war against Israel. David and his servants go down to fight them, and David grows faint. Jesbibenob, of Arapha’s race, attempts to kill him. The iron of his spear weighs three hundred ounces, and he wears a new sword. Abisai, son of Sarvia, rescues David and strikes the Philistine dead. David’s men then swear to him that he must no longer go with them into battle, lest he put out Israel’s lamp.

In a second battle at Gob against the Philistines, Sobochai of Husathi kills Saph, of Arapha’s race and the family of giants. In a third battle at Gob, Adeodatus, son of the Forrest, an embroiderer of Bethlehem, kills Goliath the Gethite, whose spear shaft is like a weaver’s beam.

Challoner’s separate note says the Latin Vulgate renders the names as Adeodatus the son of the Forrest by giving the meaning of the Hebrew names, Elhanan the son of Jaare.

A fourth battle takes place in Geth. A man of great stature, of Arapha’s race, has six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all. He reproaches Israel, and Jonathan, son of Samae, David’s brother, kills him. The passage concludes that these four were born of Arapha in Geth and fell by David’s hand and those of his servants.

The story inside

The chapter first follows David’s response to the famine and then records four battles. The oracle names Saul’s killing of the Gabaonites as the famine’s cause. David hears their demand for seven of Saul’s descendants and agrees, while preserving Jonathan’s son because of an oath. Respha guards the bodies through the stated interval. After David hears what she has done, he gathers Saul’s and Jonathan’s bones, and the crucified men’s bones are also gathered for burial; God shows mercy again to the land afterward. The battle accounts then name each opponent and each man who kills him. Abisai’s rescue of a faint David leads the king’s men to forbid him from going with them to battle again. The actual notes explain Michol’s wording and the translated names without changing the Scripture account.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Two men in the chapter are named Miphiboseth. Jonathan’s son is spared because of David’s oath with Jonathan; Respha’s son is among the seven delivered. Keeping their parents clear preserves the stated exception and prevents the two men from being confused.
2
Respha’s action and the burial have a recorded sequence. She guards against birds by day and beasts by night until water comes from heaven. David hears of her action before collecting Saul’s and Jonathan’s bones. The text then records burial and God’s mercy, without giving an autumn date or David’s private feelings.
3
The battle records keep their own names and numbers. Jesbibenob’s spear has three hundred ounces of iron; the third battle names Goliath the Gethite; the fourth opponent has twenty-four fingers and toes. Challoner’s name note explains Adeodatus and Elhanan, but supplies no brother-of-Goliath correction.

Test your recall

What oath explains the spared Miphiboseth, who are the seven delivered, and what events follow Respha’s guarding of their bodies?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 34015–34034
2 Kings Chapter 21 A famine of three years, for the sin of Saul against the Gabaonites, at whose desire seven of Saul’s race are crucified. War again with the Philistines. 21:1. And there was a famine in the days of David for three years successively: and David consulted the oracle of the Lord. And the Lord said: It is for Saul, and his bloody house, because he slew the Gabaonites. 21:2. Then the king, calling for the Gabaonites, said to them: (Now the Gabaonites were not of the children of Israel, but the remains of the Amorrhites: and the children of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul sought to slay them out of zeal, as it were for the children of Israel and Juda:) 21:3. David therefore said to the Gabaonites: What shall I do for you? and what shall be the atonement for you, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?
Lines 34036–34056
21:4. And the Gabaonites said to him: We have no contest about silver and gold, but against Saul and against his house: neither do we desire that any man be slain of Israel. And the king said to them: What will you then that I should do for you? 21:5. And they said to the king: The man that crushed us and oppressed us unjustly, we must destroy in such manner that there be not so much as one left of his stock in all the coasts of Israel. 21:6. Let seven men of his children be delivered unto us, that we may crucify them to the Lord in Gabaa of Saul, once the chosen of the Lord. And the king said: I will give them. 21:7. And the king spared Miphiboseth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord, that had been between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 21:8. So the king took the two sons of Respha the daughter of Aia, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni, and Miphiboseth: and the five sons of Michol the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Hadriel the son of Berzellai, that was of Molathi:
Lines 34058–34060
Of Michol.... They were the sons of Merob, who was married to Hadriel: but they are here called the sons of Michol, because she adopted them, and brought them up as her own.
Lines 34062–34072
21:9. And gave them into the hands of the Gabaonites: and they crucified them on a hill before the Lord: and these seven died together in the first days of the harvest, when the barley began to be reaped. 21:10. And Respha the daughter of Aia took haircloth, and spread it under her upon the rock from the beginning of the harvest, till water dropped upon them out of heaven: and suffered neither the birds to tear them by day, nor the beasts by night. 21:11. And it was told David, what Respha the daughter of Aia, the concubine of Saul, had done.
Lines 34074–34086
21:12. And David went, and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabes Galaad, who had stolen them from the street of Bethsan, where the Philistines had hanged them when they had slain Saul in Gelboe. 21:13. And he brought from thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered up the bones of them that were crucified, 21:14. And they buried them with the bones of Saul, and of Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin, in the side, in the sepulchre of Cis his father: and they did all that the king had commanded, and God shewed mercy again to the land after these things.
Lines 34088–34099
21:15. And the Philistines made war again against Israel, and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. And David growing faint, 21:16. Jesbibenob, who was of the race of Arapha, the iron of whose spear weighed three hundred ounces, being girded with a new sword, attempted to kill David. 21:17. And Abisai the son of Sarvia rescued him, and striking the Philistine killed him. Then David’s men swore unto him saying: Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, lest thou put out the lamp of Israel.
Lines 34101–34107
21:18. There was also a second battle in Gob against the Philistines: then Sobochai of Husathi slew Saph of the race of Arapha of the family of the giants. 21:19. And there was a third battle in Gob against the Philistines, in which Adeodatus the son of the Forrest an embroiderer of Bethlehem slew Goliath the Gethite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
Lines 34109–34111
Adeodatus the son of the Forrest.... So it is rendered in the Latin Vulgate, by giving the interpretation of the Hebrew names, which are Elhanan the son of Jaare.
Lines 34113–34121
21:20. A fourth battle was in Geth: where there was a man of great stature, that had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, four and twenty in all, and he was of the race of Arapha. 21:21. And he reproached Israel: and Jonathan the son of Samae the brother of David slew him. 21:22. These four were born of Arapha in Geth, and they fell by the hand of David, and of his servants.