Rizpah, A Story of a Mother's Love

Tucked in the flow of battles and intrigue in the times of King David is a story of motherly love and devotion.

2 Samuel 21:1New International Version (NIV)                                                         The Gibeonites Avenged                                                                                     21 During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

David sought to make peace with the Gibeonites and decided to grant their wish for the death of seven male descendents of Saul.

2 Samuel 21:7-9Contemporary English Version (CEV)                                      7 David had made a promise to Jonathan with the Lord as his witness, so he spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul.                                                      8 But Saul and Rizpah the daughter of Aiah had two sons named Armoni and Mephibosheth. Saul’s daughter Merab had five sons whose father was Adriel the son of Barzillai from Meholah. David took Rizpah’s two sons and Merab’s five sons and 9 turned them over to the Gibeonites, who hanged all seven of them on the mountain near the place where the Lord was worshiped. This happened right at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Flesh of my flesh was gone, but bone of my bone was left—                           I stole them all from the lawyers—                                                                   and you, will you call it a theft?—                                                                My baby, the bones that had suck’d me, the bones that had laughed and had cried—                                                                                                     Theirs? O, no! they are mine—                                                                    not theirs—they had moved in my side. excerpt from Rizpah, by Alfred, Lord Tenneyson 1809-1892

Rizpah

Name Meaning—“A hot, or baking stone.”
She was a daughter of Aiah, or Ajah, the Horite (Genesis 36:24; 1 Chronicles 1:40; 2 Samuel 3:7). Saul took her as a concubine and she bore him, Armoni and Mephibosheth.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23King James Version (KJV)                                                     22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Jewish law demanded that those disgraced by crucifixion be buried that same day but the Gibeonites wanted a greater revenge and King David allowed this atrocity.

There was nothing Rizpah could do to prevent the death of her sons or even their shameful death on a tree. She was not allowed to remove their bodies from the crosses but she could prevent their bodies from being further desecrated by animals and birds.

I can't begin to imagine standing guard over seven bodies for more than five months as they rotted in the elements and fighting off scavengers; but Rizpah was willing to do this.

2 Samuel 21:10New International Version (NIV)

10 Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies, she did not let the birds touch them by day or the wild animals by night.

Even King David was touched by her act of devotion.

When King David heard of her sacrifice he ordered the bones of Saul and all of his sons be buried....”And after that God heeded the prayer for the land.”

and the bible continues to recount the wars and trials of King David; but I will always remember the love and devotion of a mother, a love that death could not destroy.

May God Forever Be a Blessing in Your Life!!!