What Does II Samuel 21:13 Mean?

David gathers all the bones together: "And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged." The bones of the seven executed men are combined with the bones of Saul and Jonathan, creating a single collection of remains that will be buried together in the family tomb. The gathering of the bones is an act of reconciliation: the dynasty that produced both the faithless king and the faithful prince is honored with a unified burial.

The inclusion of the seven hanged men in the burial honors their sacrifice and acknowledges their innocence. They died not for their own sins but for the sins of Saul, and David's decision to bury them alongside the king and the prince is the recognition that their deaths were part of the same covenantal narrative. The family is reunited in death, and the burial provides the closure that the execution denied.

The Lord Jesus will gather His people from every corner of the earth at the resurrection: "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." The gathering of bones that David ordered at Gibeah is the shadow of the gathering that Christ will accomplish at the last day, when every member of the covenant family is collected, reconstituted, and glorified in the presence of the King.