Rizpah

About Rizpah Written by AI

Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, was a concubine of King Saul (2 Samuel 3:7). She bore Saul two sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 21:8). After Saul's death, Abner, the commander of Saul's army, had relations with Rizpah, which was seen as a challenge to the authority of Saul's son and successor, Ish-bosheth (2 Samuel 3:7). Years later, during the reign of King David, a famine struck Israel for three years (2 Samuel 21:1). The Lord revealed that the famine was a consequence of Saul's attempt to kill the Gibeonites, with whom Israel had made a treaty (2 Samuel 21:1 to 2; Joshua 9:3 to 27). To make atonement, the Gibeonites demanded the execution of seven of Saul's male descendants, including Rizpah's sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 21:5 to 9). Rizpah displayed great devotion and grief by protecting the bodies of her sons from birds and wild animals, staying with them from the beginning of the harvest until the rains came (2 Samuel 21:10). When David heard of Rizpah's actions, he ordered the proper burial of the bones of Saul, Jonathan, and the seven executed men (2 Samuel 21:11 to 14). Rizpah's story highlights the tragic consequences of Saul's disobedience and the depths of a mother's love and grief in the face of loss.

Drafted by an AI model for STEPBible's TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Check it against the verses below.

Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897

Coal; hot stone, the daughter of Aiah, and one of Saul’s concubines. She was the mother of Armoni and Mephibosheth (2 Sam. 3:7; 21:8, 10, 11).

It happened that a grievous famine, which lasted for three years, fell upon the land during the earlier half of David’s reign at Jerusalem. This calamity was sent “for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.” David inquired of the Gibeonites what satisfaction they demanded, and was answered that nothing would compensate for the wrong Saul had done to them but the death of seven of Saul’s sons. David accordingly delivered up to them the two sons of Rizpah and five of the sons of Merab (q.v.), Saul’s eldest daughter, whom she bore to Adriel. These the Gibeonites put to death, and hung up their bodies before the Lord at the sanctuary at Gibeah. Rizpah thereupon took her place on the rock of Gibeah (q.v.), and for five months watched the suspended bodies of her children, to prevent them from being devoured by the beasts and birds of prey, till they were at length taken down and buried by David.

M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, third edition (1897), public domain, from CrossWire. Shown as written; its Scripture quotes are from older translations.