178 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.

David was almost entirely in the hands of these Gibeonites, and
that he had to give them pretty much what they asked, for
he practically promised to give them whatsoever . they
requested. These were his words: i

‘“What ye shall say, that will I do for you.”

Then came their bloodthirsty, vengeful request—a
request in which there was nothing to be gained but fuel
and blood for their fires of vengeance.

‘“And they answered the King, the man that consumed
us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed
from remaining in. any of the coasts of Israel, let seven
men of his sons be delivered unto us and we will hang
them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul whom the Lord
did choose.”

What a pathetic scene is presented here! The King,
grown old and bowed with many sorrows, stands pleading with
these Gibeonites to take silver or gold or any precious thing,
that the land may once again enjoy the blessings of the gentle
rain; that the hillsides may once more bloom in beauty, and
the fields be rich with waving corn. But these men will have
blood! It was an awful request, but there was no help for it.

And David bowed his head and said, “I will give them.”

It should be said, not in defense, but somewhat in explana-
tion of these Gibeonites, that they probably regarded them-
selves as having the honor of their race in charge. Remember
it was a warlike age. The footsteps of the messengers of
peace had not yet been heard upon the mountain slopes; and
it is almost certain that these men of Gibeah would have
regarded themselves as the most contemptible of cowards if
they had left the wrongs of their fathers unavenged. With
them vengeance was regarded, no doubt, as a rude form of
justice. ‘To sweep the last remnant of the house of Saul from