Study Desk

One of Joab's young men had stood over Amasa saying, "Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!"

During David's reign there was a famine for three successive years, so David inquired of the Lord . The Lord answered, "It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family when he killed the Gibeonites."

The Gibeonites were not Israelites but rather a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had taken an oath concerning them, but Saul had tried to kill them in his zeal for the Israelites and Judah. So David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them.

He asked the Gibeonites, "What should I do for you? How can I make atonement so that you will bring a blessing on the Lord 's inheritance?"

The Gibeonites said to him, "We are not asking for money from Saul or his family, and we cannot put anyone to death in Israel." "Whatever you say, I will do for you," he said.

They replied to the king, "As for the man who annihilated us and plotted to destroy us so we would not exist within the whole territory of Israel,

Rizpah, Aiah's daughter, took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock from the beginning of the harvest until the rain poured down from heaven on the bodies. She kept the birds of the sky from them by day and the wild animals by night.

and buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan at Zela in the land of Benjamin in the tomb of Saul's father Kish. They did everything the king commanded. After this, God answered prayer for the land.

For the waves of death engulfed me; the torrents of destruction terrified me.

I called to the Lord in my distress; I called to my God. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for help reached His ears.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.

For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not turned from my God to wickedness.

For who is God besides the Lord ? And who is a rock? Only our God.

He trains my hands for war; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

You widen a place beneath me for my steps, and my ankles do not give way.

You have clothed me with strength for battle; You subdue my adversaries beneath me.

He is a tower of salvation for His king; He shows loyalty to His anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

Is it not true my house is with God? For He has established an everlasting covenant with me, ordered and secured in every detail. Will He not bring about my whole salvation and my every desire?

After him, Eleazar son of Dodo son of an Ahohite was among the three warriors with David when they defied the Philistines. The men of Israel retreated in the place they had gathered for battle,

Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the armor-bearer for Joab son of Zeruiah,