There are sections of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, that are hard for us to understand. That is often not because of their obscurity but because we find it hard to see why the Lord brings certain events to pass and what He means to teach us from them. Such a passage is 2 Samuel 21. There is a famine in the land – not an ordinary famine, but one of three years. David inquires of the Lord why this occurs and is told that it is a covenant curse because of Saul’s breaking Israel’s covenant with the Gibeonites (Joshua 9). Then we see this horrible scene of seven descendants of Saul killed and hung to atone for the bloodguilt of the broken covenant. And then we see the Lord respond and take away the famine. We wonder why the Lord would allow and even seem to reward such an action. But this text takes us beyond the land of the Gibeonites, beyond Saul and David, through the hill of Calvary to our present day. It points us to Jesus Christ, who suffered horribly to atone for our breaking of the covenant with Almighty God. It shows us “The Importance of Covenant” (2 Samuel 21).

I. Covenant Breaking

II. Shocking Atonement

III. Covenant Keeping