Nisan 30 – It is because of Saul…

Nisan 30, 5785; from sunset April 27, 2025, to sunset April 28, 2025

(The thirtieth day of the first month)

This is an image of the “Tel Dan Inscription” which was discovered in 1993 in northern Israel. The stele contains the words “Bayit David” (highlighted in white) which means the “House of David.” The inscription is dated to the 9th century BCE, about a century after David’s death. It is the first historical evidence outside of the Bible that mentions King David.

The following events occurred during the days of the barley harvest, actually towards the beginning of the barley harvest, which started a couple of weeks ago — just after the Firstfruits offering.

After three years of famine, David asked the LORD, “Why is this happening?” The LORD answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” Now, Joshua had made a covenant with the Gibeonites to protect them. The Gibeonites had tricked him into believing that they were not from the land of Canaan. They put on old clothes and worn-out shoes and pretended to be wanderers from a foreign land. Joshua was commanded by God not to make a covenant with any of the Canaanite tribes – but since he was fooled, the covenant was made that each would protect the other. Saul went against that covenant and went out against the Gibeonites to kill them. The LORD stood by the covenant Joshua had made and inflicted punishment on the Israelites because of Saul.

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.”

So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah. Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?”

And the Gibeonites said to him, “We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us.”

So he said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”

Then they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel, let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us, and we will hang them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD chose.” And the king said, “I will give them.” But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the LORD’S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. So they fell, all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

Now Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured on them from heaven. And she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. And David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

Then David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabesh Gilead who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them up, after the Philistines had struck down Saul in Gilboa. So he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there; and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. So they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land. – 2 Samuel 21:1-14 (NKJ)

Rizpah spent the days of the counting of the omer – as days of mourning. She grieved for Saul and her two sons. She mourned them until the late rains came, usually the end of May on our calendar. David honored her actions and buried the bones of Saul and his descendants. With the account against Saul settled, God heeded the prayer for the land, ending the three years of famine.

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