21:1 asked the Lord: The Hebrew verb is the same as that used when David “begged” for the life of Bathsheba’s child (12:16). On these two occasions, “seeking” was in the desperation of a moment of crisis. However, most often in the Old Testament, “seeking God” refers not to a specific prayer of petition but to the dynamics of daily devotion and obedience to God (e.g., Pss 40:16; 105:4; Prov 28:5). • Saul and his family are guilty: The famine resulted from violating an oath taken before the Lord (Josh 9:19-20). • murdering the Gibeonites: This incident is not elsewhere recorded. Illicit bloodshed had polluted the land, making it sterile and unfruitful (cp. Gen 4:10-12; Num 35:30-34).

21:1–24:25 The final chapters of 2 Samuel are a coda, a concluding section that summarizes the important themes from the preceding material. These chapters are thematic, not chronological, and not all the events described here happened at the end of David’s reign (e.g., 22:1). The materials are arranged according to a common Hebrew literary device, a chiasm (mirror-image): A: Saul’s sin against the Gibeonites and its collective punishment (21:1-14); B: David’s heroes and their exploits (21:15-22); C: David’s Psalm (22:1-51); C′: David’s Psalm (23:1-7); B′: David’s heroes and their exploits (23:8-39); A′: David’s sin against the census taboo and its collective punishment (24:1-25). A chiasm highlights the central section—here David’s hymns, which focus not on David but on David’s God.