What Does II Samuel 21:6 Mean?

The Gibeonites make their demand: "Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose." The demand is for seven descendants of Saul to be executed by hanging (or impalement) at Gibeah, Saul's hometown, as a public act of atonement. The number seven signifies completeness, and the location at Gibeah connects the punishment to the place of origin: the sin began in Saul's house, and the payment must come from Saul's house at Saul's city.

The phrase "unto the Lord" indicates that the execution is intended as a sacrificial act, an offering to God that will satisfy the divine justice and end the famine. The Gibeonites are not seeking personal revenge but covenantal restoration: they want the oath that was violated to be honored through a payment that corresponds to the gravity of the offense. The execution before the Lord at Gibeah transforms a political execution into a religious ceremony, connecting the death of Saul's descendants to the worship of the God who enforces covenants.

The blood of seven descendants of the offender points forward to the blood of the one descendant of David who would be offered "unto the Lord" on the hill of Calvary. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." The sacrifice of the innocent for the sins of the guilty is the pattern that runs from Gibeah to Golgotha, and the atonement that seven deaths could only foreshadow, one death accomplished forever.