This chapter seems to be unjust in terms of executing seven sons of Saul as a payment for the crimes of the father. However, these sons could have been involved in the raids that slaughtered the Gibeonites and the sons are being tried for their crimes (not unlike the trials at Nuremberg). If God had chosen the seven, then this would seem a proper conjecture.
Rizpah’s protection of her son’s bodies gave cause for David to give proper burial to Saul and Jonathan.
David was getting old and his men would not let him go to battle any longer for fear that he would die and the nation would be in turmoil yet again. This verse leads me to believe these closing chapters of 2 Samuel (21-24) are in their proper place chronologically. Many assert these were stories added to the text and are out of chronological order. 1 Kings 1 resumes the chronology that ended in 2 Samuel 20, according to this theory.
Who killed Goliath? There are various attempts to reconcile verse nineteen with 1 Samuel 17 (see our study). Three major theories have been provided to reconcile these passages. The first one is that Elhanan is another name for David. If this were the case, then 1 Chronicles 20.5 (see our study) presents a problem in that David would have had to have killed two giants (Lahmi and Goliath). The second theory is that Elhanan killed Goliath and David was given credit for it later on. This misses the point of 1 Samuel 17, which introduces David as king because of his ability to subdue the Philistines. The third theory takes 1 Chronicles 20.5 into account and allows the translation of “Lahmi” instead of “Bethlehemite.” The two words are closely related where the former means “my bread” and the latter means “house of bread.” Thus, David killed Goliath and Elhanan killed Lahmi, his brother.
A promise made is a promise kept, regardless of the context. When making promises, be sure to think them through in order not to make foolish promises (see the book of Judges for examples). When Saul did not keep the promise of Israel to the Gibeonites, God judged his household and the nation. When we do not keep promises, who will be held accountable? What will the consequences be?
In this chapter, David’s people were experiencing famine and he did not know what to do, so he went to the Lord and sought His guidance. This is what we should do when we need help. We should seek God’s wisdom and trust He will provide us with an answer to help us.