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2 Samuel 21

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1 And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year, and David sought the face of Jehovah. And Jehovah said, It is for Saul and for the house of blood, because he put·​·to·​·death the Gibeonites.

2 And the king called to the Gibeonites, and said to them (and the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, for they were of the remnant of the Amorite; and the sons of Israel had promised unto them; and Saul sought to smite them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah);

3 and David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make·​·atonement that you may bless the inheritance of Jehovah?

4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul or of his house; neither is it for us to·​·put·​·to·​·death any man in Israel. And he said, What you shall say, I will do for you.

5 And they said to the king, The man that consumed· us ·all, and that considered against us, that we should be blotted·​·out from standing·​·forth in all the border of Israel,

6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang· them ·up to Jehovah in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Jehovah. And the king said, I will give.

7 And the king pitied Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the promise of Jehovah that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

8 And the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Ajah, whom she gave·​·birth for Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she gave·​·birth for Adriel the son of Barzillai, the Meholathite:

9 and he gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they hanged· them ·up on the mountain before Jehovah. And they fell, seven together; and they were·​·put·​·to·​·death in the days of harvest in the beginning, at the start of the barley harvest.

10 And Rizpah the daughter of Ajah took sackcloth and stretched· it ·out for herself upon the rock from the start of harvest until the water poured·​·out on them from the heavens; and she let not the fowl of the heavens rest upon them by·​·day, nor the wild·​·animal of the field by night.

11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Ajah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

12 And David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the avenue of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them on the day when the Philistines had smitten Saul in Gilboa:

13 and he brought·​·up from thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged·​·up.

14 And they buried the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin, in Zela, in the grave of Kish his father; and they did all that the king commanded. And after that, God was supplicated for the land.

15 And the Philistines had war yet·​·again with Israel; and David went·​·down, and his servants with him, and fought with the Philistines; and David was·​·faint.

16 And Ishbo-benob, who was among those born of the Rephaim, and the weight of whose spear head was three hundred of bronze in weight, and he being girded with new armor, said he would smite David.

17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and he smote the Philistine and put· him ·to·​·death. Then the men of David promised unto him, saying, Thou shalt go· no more ·out with us to battle, and shalt not quench the lamp of Israel.

18 And it was, after this, that there was yet·​·again a battle in Gob with the Philistines. Then Shibbechai, the Hushathite, smote Saph, who was among those born of the Rephaim.

19 And there was still a battle in Gob with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, smote Goliath the Gittite; and the wood of his spear was as a beam of a weaver.

20 And there was yet a battle in Gath; and there was a man of measure, and the fingers of his hands and the toes of his feet were six and six, twenty and four in number; and he also was·​·born to the Rephaim.

21 And he reproached Israel, and Jonathan the son of Shimea, the brother of David, smote him.

22 These four were·​·born to the Rephaim in Gath, and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Two

  

The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see if we consider the conflicts we tend to have between our "hearts" and our "heads" -- between what we want and what we know. Our "hearts" tell us that we want pie with ice cream for dinner; our "heads" tell us we should have grilled chicken and salad. If we can bring those two together and actually want what's good for us, we'll be pretty happy. We're built that way -- with our emotions balanced against our intellect -- because the Lord is built that way. His essence is love itself, or Divine Love, the source of all caring, emotion and energy. It is expressed as Divine Wisdom, which gives form to that love and puts it to work, and is the source of all knowledge and reasoning. In His case the two aspects are always in conjunction, always in harmony. It's easy also to see how that duality is reflected throughout creation: plants and animals, food and drink, silver and gold. Most importantly, it's reflected in the two genders, with women representing love and men representing wisdom. That's the underlying reason why conjunction in marriage is such a holy thing. So when "two" is used in the Bible to indicate some sort of pairing or unity, it means a joining together. In rare cases, however, "two" is used more purely as a number. In these cases it stands for a profane or unholy state that comes before a holy one. This is because "three" represents a state of holiness and completion (Jesus, for instance, rose from the tomb on the third day), and "two" represents the state just before it.