Rizpah

The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul.  But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab, whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.  He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed them and exposed their bodies on a hill before the LORD. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.

~II Samuel 21:7-9

Why wasn't Jonathan's son Mephibosheth executed at this time too?

• because an oath was made before the Lord between David and Jonathan

The killing pretty much annihilated Saul's descendants.  Why would David order such wholesale execution?

• because David did not like Saul

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.

~II Samuel 21:10

Rizpah's vigil probably lasted several months.  How difficult do you thin it was?  What drove her on?

• For a mother to mourn her children, I think this was very hard for her
• I believe the Lord gave her strength to keep going

Have you ever undertaken a task that, had you know what was required, would have seemed beyond your ability or strength?  What kept you going?  What was the result?

• I can't think of a recent task that I have taken upon my shoulders that woudl have had sucha high demand, but I know I probably have done so and God is teh one taht has brough me through it and I have succsseeded

When David was told what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done,  he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead. (They had stolen their bodies from the public square at Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them after they struck Saul down on Gilboa.)  David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there, and the bones of those who had been killed and exposed were gathered up.

  They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish, at Zela in Benjamin, and did everything the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land.

~II Samuel 21:11-14

What do you think induced David to gather up these bones and bury them?  His own sense of what was right?  pity for Rizpah?  Respect for the dead?

• I think he both pitied Rizpah because she loved them so much so he wanted to respect the deceased and have them properly buried

When have you had to have some outside circumstance stimulate you do to what was right?  What was the outcome?  What would have happened had you done nothing?

• right now I can't think of a current or recent situation

How is God's love for you like Rizpah's love for her children?

• It's very much alike.  God will always protect me and make sure I am kept away from danger