Rizpah
“Hot stone, coal”
Summary
Rizpah was a concubine of King Saul whose devoted vigil over the bodies of her executed sons became one of Scripture's most touching displays of maternal love.
☩Concubine of Saul
Rizpah was the daughter of Aiah and a concubine of King Saul. She bore Saul two sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth (not to be confused with Jonathan's son of the same name). After Saul's death, Abner's taking of Rizpah provoked a quarrel with Ish-bosheth, which eventually led Abner to defect to David. In the ancient Near East, taking a king's concubine was tantamount to claiming his throne, explaining the political sensitivity of Abner's action.
☩The Gibeonite Execution
During David's reign, a three-year famine was attributed to Saul's violation of the ancient covenant with the Gibeonites, whom he had massacred. To make atonement, the Gibeonites requested seven of Saul's descendants, including Rizpah's two sons. David handed them over, and they were executed by hanging 'before the Lord' at the beginning of barley harvest. This judicial act satisfied the Gibeonites' claim for blood-guilt and ended the famine.
☩Her Faithful Vigil
What followed was one of Scripture's most poignant scenes of devotion. Rizpah took sackcloth and spread it on a rock, and from the beginning of harvest until the autumn rains fell—approximately five months—she kept watch over the bodies of the slain. Day and night she drove away the birds and wild beasts that came to devour them. When David heard of her faithful vigil, he was moved to gather the bones of Saul and Jonathan from Jabesh-gilead and bury them, along with the seven executed men, in the family tomb of Kish in Benjamin.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Rizpah," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IX (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Rizpah," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. IV (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Rizpah," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).