King Saul's family put to death?

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Were these innocent people who were put to death? Why? Was it of God?
Thank you.

2 Samuel 21:1-9 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)​

21 And there was a famine in the days of David for three years successively: and David consulted the oracle of the Lord. And the Lord said: It is for Saul, and his bloody house, because he slew the Gabaonites.

2 Then the king, calling for the Gabaonites, said to them: (Now the Gabaonites were not of the children of Israel, but the remains of the Amorrhites: I and the children of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul sought to slay them out of zeal, as it were for the children of Israel and Juda:)

3 David therefore said to the Gabaonites: What shall I do for you? and what shall be the atonement for you, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?

4 And the Gabaonites said to him: We have no contest about silver and gold, but against Saul and against his house: neither do we desire that any man be slain of Israel. And the king said to them: What will you then that I should do for you?

5 And they said to the king: The man that crushed us and oppressed us unjustly, we must destroy in such manner that there be not so much as one left of his stock in all the coasts of Israel.

6 Let seven men of his children be delivered unto us, that we may crucify them to the Lord in Gabaa of Saul, once the chosen of the Lord. And the king said: I will give them.

7 And the king spared Miphiboseth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord, that had been between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

8 So the king took the two sons of Respha the daughter of Aia, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni, and Miphiboseth: and the five sons of Michol the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Hadriel the son of Berzellai, that was of Molathi:

9 And gave them into the hands of the Gabaonites: and they crucified them on a hill before the Lord: and these seven died together in the first days of the harvest, when the barley began to be reaped.
 
I assume they were not. “His Bloody house.” Mentioned in verse 1.

Though why did David have to spare Miphiboseth who I’m guessing was innocent? 🙂 I’m hoping I can get help on this story for apologetics reasons and stuff. Appreciate it.
 
Guest1 said:
I assume they were not. “His Bloody house.” Mentioned in verse 1.

Though why did David have to spare Miphiboseth who I’m guessing was innocent? 🙂 I’m hoping I can get help on this story for apologetics reasons and stuff. Appreciate it.
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Exactly. His bloody house. It could be a communal guilt, but since kings rarely murdered people personally, is it unreasonable to suppose these family members may have taken on a personal guilt as well? We don’t know either way.

As for Mephibosheth, go back to the beginning of David’s reign where his Mephibosheth’s background is given (2 Samuel 4:4). He was only five years old when Saul and Jonathan were killed.
 
It’s important to remember God loved Saul very much.

But Saul like David and Moses were punished by God.

Somethings in life things which make no sense to us (humans) cannot be explained nor undone.
 
I hope this may help…

The background for the slaying of Saul’s descendants was this: years before, King Saul had tried to eradicate the [Gibeonites] from Israel; however, his action violated the covenant Joshua had made with Gibeon in [Joshua 9] As a direct result of Israel’s breaking their covenant, God sent a famine upon Israel for three years. After Saul’s time, David had the responsibility to provide justice for the Gibeonites. When he asked them what they would require to make things right, the Gibeonites requested the lives of seven of Saul’s sons, and David handed them over.

It seems that Saul’s seven descendants who were killed were no better men than Saul had been: the fruit had not fallen far from the tree. Reading [2 Samuel 21:1] we see that “during the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, ‘It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family , because he killed the Gibeonites’” .

Notice that the famine was not simply because of Saul’s sin but because of “his bloody house” . Seven of Saul’s descendants were killed because of their own bloodguilt. Perhaps they had aided Saul in some manner in the slaughter of the Gibeonites. As the NLT says, “The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”

In short, David (and God) saw the killings as justice against the “bloody house” of Saul. Yes, God did approve of the killing of the guilty in this case, because it was a just punishment for their involvement in the prior murder of innocent men.
 
This is a prefiguration of the death of Christ on the Cross. Israel was being punished because of Saul’s sin against the Gabaonites. It was necessary for these people to die in order to appease the injustice of Saul’s sin. It is similar with Adam and Eve. Because Adam and Eve sinned in the garden a sacrifice had to be made. It was the Son of God who offered himself to death on the Cross in atonement for our sin.
 
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