Rizpah

About Rizpah

Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, was a concubine of King Saul (2Sa.3.7). She bore Saul two sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth (2Sa.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 (2Sa.3.7). Years later, during the reign of King David, a famine struck Israel for three years (2Sa.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 (2Sa.21.1-2; Jos.9.3-27). To make atonement, the Gibeonites demanded the execution of seven of Saul's male descendants, including Rizpah's sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth (2Sa.21.5-9). 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 (2Sa.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 (2Sa.21.11-14). 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.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.