Context No. 3753 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 21:7-14: in context

7But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites; and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD, and all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest. 10Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water poured on them from the sky. She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night. 11David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa; 13and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son. They also gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father; and they performed all that the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer for the land.

This is a grim episode, the execution of seven of Saul's descendants to answer an old bloodguilt, and we read it soberly, not dwelling on its horror. Out of the darkness shines one figure: Rizpah, a mother, who spreads sackcloth on the rock and keeps a long, lonely vigil over the bodies of her sons, driving away the birds by day and the beasts by night, month after month, until the rains come.

Her fierce, faithful love, refusing to let her dead be dishonored, moves the whole story. And it moves the king: when David hears of Rizpah's devotion, he gathers the bones of Saul and Jonathan and of these seven and gives them all an honorable burial in the family tomb. Two things endure from this hard passage. The strength of a love that keeps faith with the dead, honoring them when no one else will. And the dignity owed even to the dead, which David finally restores. And the chapter ends with quiet grace: after that, God answered prayer for the land.

Does my love keep faith with others even in hard and thankless circumstances, as Rizpah's did, and do I honor the dignity that God gives to every human life?

Sources

2 Samuel 21:10: "Rizpah... spread it for herself on the rock... She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night."
2 Samuel 21:14: "They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son... After that, God answered prayer for the land."
2 Samuel 21:13: "He brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son."