Who Was Rizpah in the Bible — In Biblical Context

The Biblical Context

Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, was a concubine of King Saul. Her story in 2 Samuel 21 is one of the most haunting in the Bible. During David's reign, a three-year famine struck the land. When David inquired of the Lord, God answered: 'It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.' The Gibeonites were not Israelites but had a covenant with Israel that Saul had violated by murdering many of them. The Gibeonites demanded seven of Saul's male descendants to be hanged. David agreed, sparing only Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake. He delivered two sons of Rizpah and Armoni and five sons of Michal (Merab) to the Gibeonites, who hanged them 'in the hill before the LORD.' The killing took place at the beginning of barley harvest. 'And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.' For approximately six months — from April until the autumn rains — Rizpah kept vigil over the exposed bodies of her sons. She drove away birds by day and beasts by night, sleeping on sackcloth on the rock. When David heard what Rizpah had done, he was moved to gather the bones of Saul and Jonathan from Jabesh-gilead and bury them with the seven descendants in the tomb of Kish Saul's father. 'And after that God was intreated for the land.' Rizpah's devotion is extraordinary. A concubine, without status or power, performed an act of maternal love that shamed the king and moved the nation. Her vigil demonstrated that even the most powerless can accomplish what the mighty neglect. And her persistence brought an end to the famine, as God's anger was finally appeased.

Where It Sits in Scripture

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