(2) 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.)
The Reader, in order to have a clear apprehension of this subject, must look back as far as to the days of Joshua, and read the league of friendship entered into between Israel and Gibeon, See Joshua 9:15. The HOLY GHOST hath not recorded what the conduct was which Saul manifested towards the Gibeonites. It is sufficient to know, that it must have been particularly odious, because the LORD visited it upon Israel, in those three years famine, so long after Saul's death. Reader! do not fail to remark, how sure, though slow, sometimes the LORD's judgments are. The apostle, speaking of the awful certainty of such things, describes the tremendous visitation with which the LORD will in the end of the day, account with sinners, in those awful terms; whose judgment, (says he) now of a long time, lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 2 Peter 2:3.