And I invite you to turn in your Bible two places here. We're going to be in 2 Samuel 21. And then I want you to turn to Joshua chapter 9 to get the background on the story. We'll begin in 2 Samuel 21. It's going to take me a couple of weeks to actually teach on this. It's called Promises, Promises. is the name of the study here. 2 Samuel chapter number 21 and verse number 1. It says here, Then there was a famine in the days of David three years. year after year. In other words, they were three consecutive years of famine. And the Lord answered, it is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites. Now, the background for this verse goes back four centuries. It goes back to Joshua Before the days of David, back to the days of Joshua, as Israel was entering and conquering the land as they went. And if you turn to Joshua 9, and we're going to, I'm going to read and make some comments as we read through the portion and talk about what the problem is over in 2 Samuel 21. We see in Joshua 9 verse number 1 and 2 first of all. And it came to pass when all the kings which were on this side of Jordan in the hills and in the valleys and in all the coast of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittites and the Amorite, Canaanite, the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite heard thereof. that they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel with one accord. So what we see here is when the Israelites entered the promised land, it was occupied territory. Okay? Except in reverse. Amen? And we can see that the land was full of all these ites mentioned there in verse 1. There was a controversy then, just as there's a controversy now about whose land that area of the world belongs to. Understand that it was God's land to give. He gave it to Abraham, amen, and his descendants. And now we see Joshua going in to conquer the land, he and the Israelites. And so if anyone can be described as being in occupied territory, it is all Israel's enemy that are occupying any part of the land that God gave Israel. And we know that one of these days all the land will be returned to Israel. That's during the millennial reign of Christ. All of it's going to go back. All the occupied territory out there by the those that are against Israel. Israel's not the one occupying the territory. There's a lot of territory that's being occupied by their enemies and Israel will be occupying the whole thing that God gave to Israel. Abraham and to his descendants. We see that after Israel's victory at Jericho, and then after the hiccup at Ai, remember how they, as soon as they had the victory at Jericho, they thought they were just going to go in and get little Ai. Ai was just small, and just go in and wipe it up real quick. No need to send everybody in there, so they wound up losing some folks over that because they had committed a sin and the accursed thing there at Jericho. We know that the story of that, that Achan had partaken of the accursed thing and it cost Israel. Now, We see that after Ai, they finally went back and they conquered Ai, okay? After they got things right with the Lord, and Achan was taken out of the scene, his family. But you got Jericho down, Ai's down. Next on the list is the Gibeonites, the Gibeonites. And we see here in this verse that those living in the occupied territory decided to join together to fight against Israelites. So they joined together with the exception of the Gibeonites, who were next in line for Israel to conquer. Israel was conquering as they went, and they moved through the land. Now, let's take a look at verses 3 through 6. says that when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they did work wily and went and made as if they had been ambassadors and took old sacks upon their asses and wine bottles, old and rent, and bound up And the old shoes and clouded upon their feet, and old garments upon them, and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. So they're putting on a show here, okay? Look at verse six. And they went to Joshua, and to the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, we be come from a far country, liar, liar, pants on fire. Okay, they, they lied to him. Now therefore make ye a league with us. So the Gibeonites figured that they were going to be toast if they fought Israel. So they came up with this plan to deceive the Israelites and to trick them into making a league with them. Now a league is a, just another word for a compact or a, a covenant or a promise. And I want you to see tonight, a promise is a promise. All right? Look at verse number seven. It says, and the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, perventure ye dwell among us, how shall we make a league with you? Now, we see the first indication here of reluctance on the part of the men of Israel, and rightfully so. In fact, warning bells and flashing lights or whatever the equivalent would be in their day, they should have been going off. They should have been, you know, in our day, And some of our earlier days, the robot in Lost in Space, warning, warning, danger, danger. I mean, it should have been going off that way, right? But what we see here, what should have been happening didn't happen. Look at verse number eight. And they said unto Joshua, we are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, who are ye, and from whence come ye? And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come, because of the name of the Lord thy God. For we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashteroth. Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take vituals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants, therefore now make ye a league with us." Well, note here how they didn't really answer Joshua's question. Where are you from? Oh, we went from far away from here. They didn't answer the questions about who they were or where they were from. And again, some warnings ought to have been going off. Look at verse 12 and 13. This is our bread which we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you. Not. That didn't happen. But now behold it is dry and it is moldy. And these bottles of wine, wine skins, they call them bottles here, not bottles like what we call bottles as far as glass bottles, but they were wine skins. These bottles of wine which we fill were new, behold they be rent or torn. And these are garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. Yeah, real long journey. Well, the evidence that they used to prove that they were from far away and traveled some distance there, which is all make-believe. It's just all made up. They were acting apart here. And we see there in verse number 14. It says, then the men took of their victuals and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. Very, very wrong. Here we see that Joshua and the Israelites really didn't learn the most important lesson from their encounter at Ai. At Ai, they didn't ask counsel of the Lord if everything was okay for them to go in and conquer Ai. If they had asked the Lord, the Lord would have said, hey, you've got sin in the camp. But they didn't ask, they just went and said, we're just going to go take AI out. Well here, they didn't learn. They didn't learn anything. Sometimes we don't learn the lessons. You know, we goof up, and we ought to learn, but we wind up doing the same stuff over again, thinking we're going to get a different answer, or different things going to happen. No. We see here that they ask not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. Look at verse number 15. And by the way, the 36 men lost their lives because they didn't ask counsel the first time. And here we see, it's gonna cost them again. Verse number 15, and Joshua made peace with them and made a league with them to let them live and the princes of the congregation swear unto them. So here we see Joshua and the princes of the congregation of the Israelites foolishly made a covenant with the Gibeonites. Now it doesn't matter that the Gibeonites lied and deceived them, because with God a covenant is a covenant. Period. Understand that the Lord had been very clear about his people not making a covenant with the inhabitants of Canaan to begin with. The Lord was very clear about that in Deuteronomy 7 too. It says there, when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them. It is why we see the reluctance. that we saw back in verse seven. When they said, perventure ye dwell among us. How shall we make a league with you? They knew what God's law said. What should they have done? Well, they should have asked counsel at the mouth of the Lord. Not make a league when you're not absolutely sure. I mean, the warning signs were there. They had questions about some things. Nevertheless, they make this covenant. And we see three days after the league, We're gonna read here about the ha-ha-ha-gotcha moment, okay? Look at verse number 16 and 17. And it came to pass at the end of three days, after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them. And the children of Israel journeyed and came unto their cities on the third day, and now their cities were Gibeon, And Kephara, Kephara and Berialt and Kirgathadurim. Man, I just wish they'd call some of these places simpler, don't you? Anyway, so we see the Gacha moment, look down to verse 18 and 19, and the children of Israel smoked them not. because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. See, God's name's at stake here. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. But all the princes said unto all the congregation, we have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel, now therefore we may not touch them. Joshua and the princes of the congregation of Israel and the children of Israel were now bound by this covenant, this league, this agreement, whatever what you want to call it. where they swear to the Gibeonites that they would let them live. Now the children of Israel did what they were good at. They murmured against the princes of the children of Israel. The Israelites were always good at murmuring. That was their number one thing that they knew how to do well. And it didn't matter how much they murmured, it didn't change anything. They were bound to the covenant they made. Now, verse 20. This we will do to them. We will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swear unto them. And the princess said unto them, let them live, but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation as the princes had promised them. Remember they said we're your servants? Well, they're going to take them literally. You said you're our servants? You're our servants. We can't kill you, but we're going to put you to work. And look at verse 22. Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you, and when ye dwell among us, now therefore ye are cursed. There shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood, and drawers of water for the house, of my God. So this was the next best thing that the children of Israel could do. The best thing was to obey God to begin with. It's always best to obey God. This was the second best. They should obey God, not make a league with Him. So they had to settle for the second best. They made them bondmen, and they put them in servitude here. Now, verse 24. And they answered Joshua and said, because it was certainly told thy servants how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you and have done this thing. They knew the Word of God better than the people of God knew it. We knew what you were supposed to do to us. That's what they're saying. Verse 25, And now behold, we are in thine hand, as it seemeth good and right unto thee. to do unto us do. And so he did unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not. You kind of get the idea here that there were some in the congregation that still wanted to kill them, and they had to protect them, had to put them in protective custody there for a little while. Verse number 27, and Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation for the altar of the Lord. even unto this day in the place where he should choose." Now, we see that the Gibeonites lost their freedom, but they got to live. Israel, on the other hand, would suffer from this failure and other failures to obey the Lord with regard to making covenants with the inhabitants of the land. I call your attention to another passage just a few pages over. Look at Judges chapter number 2. Judges chapter number 2. And then we'll get back to our passage over in 2 Samuel. Judges chapter number 2 and verse number 1. Judges 2 verse 1 says, And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I swear unto your fathers. And I said, I will never break my covenant with you. Again, promise is a promise. God wasn't going to break His covenant with Israel, and He didn't expect them to break their covenants either. That's why he gave him the caution, and look at verse number two, and he said, I will never break my covenant with you, and then verse two, and ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land. Ye shall throw down their altars, but ye have not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this? Wherefore, I also said, I will not drive them out from before you, but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their God shall be a snare unto you. And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim, that is Weepers, that's what it means, Weepers. And they sacrificed there unto the Lord. Now, back to our passage of scripture, our text. 2 Samuel 21, verse number 1. Let's read it again. 2 Samuel 21, verse 1. Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year, and David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered, It is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. This verse says that King Saul violated the covenant that Israel had made with the Gibeonites by slaying some of them. We don't know how many. It's doubtful that King Saul had forgotten about this covenant. After all, it is recorded in Scripture. Amen. I mean, we know about the covenant. It's in the Bible. It's more likely that he convinced himself that the covenant was so old, and this happened so long ago, that it really didn't have any binding force on Israel any longer. But listen, he was very wrong about that. Don't think that just because something's... Boy, that was written many years ago in the Bible, and surely that's not for today. I had a deacon one time up in Tennessee. I wanted to show him from Scripture why he wasn't qualified to be a deacon. It's an old preacher. You can't go by that. That was written for them way back there. No, no, no. It was written for us up here, too. Amen? It was written for us up here. We see here in chapter 21 that Saul's actions with regard to the Gibeonites brought a three-year famine upon the land of Israel. What comes to my mind is after the first year of famine, why didn't they figure out something was wrong? That ought to have been a clue, right? They could have taken care of some of this and not had to suffer the other two years. And we see that that famine didn't come until sometime after Saul died during the reign of King David. Now some seem to think that if God does not immediately deal with sin, that he will never deal with it. But they fail to grasp God's delay as a manifestation of his grace, not an assurance that men can sin without fear of judgment. So it fell to David to deal with Saul's covenant breaking and make things right. And it's not for us to question why God waited until this particular time to deal with it. We're not told. I mean, after all, he's God. God can do what he wants. He has his own ways. He has his own purposes. And we see how David inquired of the Lord regarding the reason for this three-year famine. Now, Israel had been suffering, as I said, for three years. David sensed that maybe God was not pleased. You think? I mean, the Lord had told them back in Moses' day, you know, if things aren't going well with you, you might want to look my way. because you're probably not right with me. In so many words, that's what he was telling them. And God's answer was clear. It was because of the sin of Saul, and it says here, and his bloody house. So you get the idea that not only Saul wasn't on this, But so were, maybe, we don't know who in his house. God knows who in his house was involved in it. But being as it's not recorded in scripture, what actually happened. It's kind of like they tried to keep it quiet, what was happening. Now understand, we're not given the details of this anywhere in Scripture, but we don't have to be given the details. Understand that God doesn't owe us that. God doesn't owe us anything. And just because we don't have the details of what happened, it doesn't matter. Some have suggested that Saul had possibly been carrying out a scheme to systematically eliminate the Gibeonites, kill them a few at a time. You know, just kind of do a little guerrilla tactics to, okay, let's go kill a few over here, and go kill a few over there. And if you kill a few, and a few, and a few, and a few, after a while, they'll all be gone. And we won't have to worry about them anymore. They didn't kill them all. Maybe they were going to try to systematically eliminate them. Maybe he thought he could eliminate them that way and God wouldn't notice. People have the craziest ideas. Maybe we do it this way, God will leave us alone. No. Of course, all that speculation, we really don't know how Saul was doing it. What we do know, these are the facts. Number one, Saul's actions were a violation of Israel's covenant with the Gibeonites. That much we know. And God was not pleased. That much we know. Amen. And also, it's apparent that God had kept Saul's scheme from totally eliminating the Gibeonites, because we see that King David goes to them in verse number two. In fact, until reading about Reading about it in our text, we would have never known anything about it, but God knew, okay? We didn't know anything about it. David didn't know anything about it. I mean, this had been going on during Saul's time. But here, a number of years after Saul sinned, God brought this famine upon the land of Israel, prompting David to inquire into this matter and then to try to make it right. Now, that's as far as we're gonna go this evening. We're gonna take some time to pray here for the needs on our prayer list. But next time, Lord willing, we're gonna see David going about to try to set things right with the giving night. So I wanted to deal with what actually happened first, and then it's gonna take us a little while to go through how David made things right with them. Amen, so promises, promises, that's part one. We'll look at Promises, Promises part two, Lord willing, next Wednesday, amen. All right, let's set that aside. Pull out our prayer list. We'll pray for the needs and we'll be dismissed.