2. The Amorites. According to Joshua 9:7; 11:19 the people of Gibeon were Hivites, who in many enumerations of the native inhabitants of Palestine are listed separately from the Amorites (Gen. 10:16, 17; Joshua 9:1; 11:3; 12:8). But the term “Amorite” is often employed in a more comprehensive sense, somewhat equivalent to “Canaanite,” as meaning any of the inhabitants of Canaan (Gen. 15:16; Deut. 1:27). “Amorites” sometimes denotes more particularly the inhabitants of the hill country of Palestine as distinct from the Canaanites of the plain (Num. 13:29; Deut. 1:7, 20). The Hivites would thus be included in this latter usage of “Amorites” to mean hill dwellers of Canaan.
Had sworn unto them. See Joshua 9:15, 19-21. Joshua, together with the princes of the congregation, had made a solemn oath that the Gibeonites would not be slain but that they would be permitted to abide in the land. The leaders of Israel regarded themselves as bound by this solemn oath, and accordingly they would realize that serious consequences must inevitably follow if they violated the oath.
To the children of Israel. Or, “for the children of Israel.” In this offense Saul was not alone. As the king of Israel he was acting with the people and in their behalf. The people were doubtless in sympathy with him in his campaign to exterminate the Gibeonites, and thus the guilt rested upon them as well as upon the king. This would explain why the Lord allowed the punishment for Saul’s offense to fall upon David and his people. The whole nation was involved in the violation of the solemn oath given by Joshua and the princes of the congregation more than 400 years before. Under the cloak of Saul’s nationalistic zeal existed a spirit of selfishness, pride, and arrogance that was utterly foreign to the humility, disinterestedness, and loftiness of purpose that God required of His children.