The whole Northern Kingdom of Israel was given over to idolatry and finally was brought into captivity because of the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. All Israel suffered at the defeat of the army at Ai, because one man (Achan) had stolen things from Jericho (Josh. Corporate responsibility is a part of the life of nations. God visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him (Ex.
What one individual within a given group does is the responsibility of the whole organic unit.Ĭorporate responsibility exists in families. But there is also organic unity and, therefore, corporate responsibility in nations, in races and in families. Ultimately, the whole world is united in one corporate unity, for Adam’s sin in Paradise was, and is, the responsibility of the entire world: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. The answer is that in God’s dealings with men (and angels) there is a corporate responsibility involving men in the same organic relationship. Where is the justice in killing seven sons of Saul for a sin that Saul committed? That is probably the easiest part of the whole matter to answer. One question is: Why did the Lord wait a rather long time between Saul’s murderous deed and His punishment of it on the nation of Israel? A second question is: What did the burial of the bones of Saul and Jonathan have to do with the appeasement of God’s anger? For it was only after this burial of the bones of Saul and Jonathan that "God was entreated for the land" (14).īut the questioner is concerned about another matter.
Several questions arise in connection with these strange events. It seems as if it was in connection with the killing of Saul’s sons and the protection of the two bodies by their mother, Rizpah, that David took the bones of Saul and Jonathan from the people of Jabesh-gilead and buried them in the family burial ground in Zelah (12-14). At the request of the Gibeonites themselves, seven sons of Saul were executed (II Sam. However that may be, David was aware of this dastardly deed, for he was not surprised when the Lord explained that the famine in the land of Canaan was due to Saul’s murder of some Gibeonites, in violation of the oath Israel swore to spare their lives. The basis for this conjecture is that, according to I Samuel 22:6 and 23:19, Saul was staying at this time in Gibeah.
It is possible, however, that the reference is the bloody murder of 85 people by Doeg, the Edomite, at the command of Saul (I Sam. The questioner observes that this event is not mentioned in Scripture. He apparently killed some of the Gibeonites with whom Israel had made peace. Many centuries later (the period from the exodus of Israel to the reign of Saul is generally considered to be about 400 years), Saul came to the throne in Israel. At the time that peace was made, the elders of Israel swore an oath not to kill the Gibeonites (15). When Joshua and the Israelites fought against the Canaanites, Joshua made peace with the Gibeonites (Josh. The history of this event is somewhat complicated and, in some instances, as the questioner mentions, not always clear. The Death of Saul’s Seven SonsĪ brother writes, "Reading II Samuel 21, it seems unjust that seven of Saul’s sons are put to death for their father’s sins against the Gibeonites, which instance is not recorded in Scripture (as far as I can see)." The result is, quite simply, a great film.Emeritus Prof.H.Hanko answers a question about the death of Saul's seven sons, treating the justice of God and corporate responsibility. Nemes is tackling a subject of enormous complexity. Is the boy Saul’s own son? Or symbolic of a greater loss?Īll you need to know is in the haunted eyes of Röhrig, whose raw and riveting performance deserves superlatives. When the boy dies, Saul makes it his impossible goal to provide a Jewish burial. Tension surges when Saul finds a boy who has survived the gas. We see only what Saul sees, the more heinous acts blurred in the background, but all the more terrifying for that. Saul temporarily escapes the ovens by serving with the Sonderkommando, Jews coerced to help execute other Jews and dispose of the bodies. Nemes keeps his camera tightly focused on Saul Auslander (Géza Röhrig), a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz.
You don’t merely witness horror, you feel it in your bones. But there’s nothing trivial about this Hungarian masterwork from first-time director László Nemes. As with every Holocaust film, Son of Saul will stir complaints that cinema is too trivial to encompass such profound evil.