‘The Bloodguilt of Saul’: 2 Sam 21–24

Abstract In this chapter, the focus is on passages which return the reader to the days of David’s rise to power at Saul’s expense. First, Saul’s bloodthirstiness proves problematic for David when ‘bloods’ incurred by Saul’s illegitimate slaying of the Gibeonites causes a famine in David’s land. It is argued that the Gibeonites’ solution of impaling the seven Saulides as a means of expiating the ‘bloods’ is predictable given the penetrative violence associated with remedying ‘bloods’ in the killings of Absalom and almost certainly Rechab and Baanah. Moreover, the association of post-mortem exposure and potential predatory ravaging with remedying of ‘bloods’ in the latter two cases, seems to explain Rizpah’s protection of the slain Saulides’ remains. David responds to Rizpah’s care for her kinsmen and subversion of his efforts to expiate the ‘bloods’ by taking advantage of the memory of Saul and Jonathan’s impalement and post-mortem exposure in 1 Sam 31. His repatriation of their bones from Jabesh Gilead as a suitable expiatory substitute for the seven Saulides, allows David to both overcome Rizpah’s obstruction and underline his own allegiance to the house of Saul. Further allusions to that earlier period (2 Sam 22:21–25 and 23:14–17) also remind the reader that the future of David’s house depends not only on eliminating Saulide ‘bloods’, but also on avoiding killing more Saulides illegitimately.