And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)
So the king called for the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites, but survivors from the Amorite people. The Israelites had made a promise to protect them, but Saul had tried to kill them because he was overly eager to help Israel and Judah.)
King David called the Gibeonites to address how Saul had broken Israel's ancient promise to protect them by trying to destroy them.
📚 Historical Context
The Gibeonites had tricked Joshua into making a peace treaty with them centuries earlier (Joshua 9), and Israel was bound by oath to protect them. King Saul later violated this sacred agreement by attempting to wipe them out, likely thinking he was serving Israel's interests by eliminating foreign peoples from the land.
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