Was the killing of Saul’s descendants a just response to Saul’s killing of the Gibeonites?

Answer

Second Samuel 21:9 states that David handed over seven of Saul’s descendants (two sons and five grandsons) to the Gibeonites, who killed them and displayed their bodies on a hill before the LORD. All seven perished together; they were executed at the beginning of the barley harvest. The gruesome events were evidently authorized by David. Did God also endorse the massacre?

The context for the killing of Saul’s descendants was as follows: years earlier, King Saul had attempted to wipe out the Gibeonites from Israel; however, his actions violated the covenant Joshua had established with Gibeon in Joshua 9. As a direct consequence of Israel breaking their covenant, God imposed a famine on Israel for three years. After Saul’s era, David was tasked with delivering justice for the Gibeonites. When he inquired what they needed to make amends, the Gibeonites requested the lives of seven of Saul’s sons, and David handed them over.

It appears that the seven descendants of Saul who were slain were no more righteous than Saul himself: the apple did not fall far from the tree. Referring to 2 Samuel 21:1, we learn that “during David’s reign, there was a famine for three consecutive years, and David sought the LORD’s face. And the LORD said, ‘It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites’” (emphasis added).

Note that the famine was not solely due to Saul’s transgression but because of “his bloody house” (NASB). Seven of Saul’s descendants were put to death due to their own bloodguilt. Perhaps they had assisted Saul in some way in the massacre of the Gibeonites. As the NLT states, “The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”

In essence, David (and God) viewed the killings as retribution against the “bloody house” of Saul. Indeed, God did endorse the execution of the guil

It was fitting in this instance, as it served as a rightful consequence for their participation in the previous killing of blameless individuals.