Ep 673 – 2 Samuel 21:1-14

What happens when the people of God fail to seek the will of God? Nothing good. And that conclusion is fully supported in 2 Samuel 21:1-14, where we have the story of a severe famine in the land of Israel. This devastating natural disaster had been going on for three full years and, eventually, David decided to seek God in order to determine whether it was a form of divine punishment. And David would discover that the famine was directly tied to a sin Saul had committed years earlier. He had broken a covenant Joshua had made with the Gibeonites, putting some of them to death. The book of Joshua makes it clear that the Israelites had not sought God's will in the matter. And Saul's decision to kill some of the Gibeonites was also done outside the will of God, breaking the covenant commitment and reflecting poorly on God, because the oath the Israelites had sworn their oath before the Lord and in His name.