2 Samuel 21:10

Verse

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain from heaven poured down on the bodies, she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

American Standard Version (1901)

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured upon them from heaven; and she suffered neither the birds of the heavens to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

Bible in Basic English

And Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took haircloth, placing it on the rock as a bed for herself, from the start of the grain-cutting till rain came down on them from heaven; and she did not let the birds of the air come near them by day, or the beasts of the field by night.

Douay-Rheims 1899

And Respha the daughter of Aia took haircloth, and spread it under her upon the rock from the beginning of the harvest, till water dropped upon them out of heaven: and suffered neither the birds to tear them by day, nor the beasts by night.

Free Bible Version

Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took some sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the time the rains came and poured down on the bodies, she kept the birds away from them during the day and the wild animals at night.

Geneva Bible 1599

Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah tooke sackecloth and hanged it vp for her vpon the rocke, from the beginning of haruest, vntill water dropped vpon them from the heauen, and suffered neither the birdes of the aire to light on the by day, nor beasts of the fielde by night.

King James (Authorized) Version

¶ 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.

Translation for Translators

Then Rizpah took coarse cloth made from goats’ hair, and spread it on the rock where the corpses lay. She stayed there from the time that people started to harvest the barley until the rains started. She did not allow any birds to come near the corpses during the day, and she did not allow any animals to come near during the night.

Unlocked Literal Bible

Then Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the mountain beside the dead bodies, from the beginning of harvest until the rain poured down on them from the sky. She did not allow the birds of the sky to disturb the bodies by day or the wild animals by night.

Noah Webster Bible

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.

World English Bible

Rizpah 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.

Young's Literal Translation

And Rizpah daughter of Aiah taketh the sackcloth, and stretcheth it out for herself on the rock, from the commencement of harvest till water hath been poured out upon them from the heavens, and hath not suffered a fowl of the heavens to rest upon them by day, or the beast of the field by night.

Context

David Avenges the Gibeonites

⁹And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.¹⁰And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain from heaven poured down on the bodies, she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

Sermons

Rizpah — Communion

Hans R. Waldvogel

1.1K

Those Ghastly Corpses Might Well Have Affrighted Rizpah!

C.H. Spurgeon

Summary

This verse recounts the heartbreaking story of Rizpah, who protected the bodies of her sons and the sons of Merab from being desecrated by birds and animals after they were executed. Her act of love and devotion demonstrates the deep pain and sorrow she experienced, as well as her determination to honor her children in death. Rizpah's vigil over the bodies for months reflects her unwavering commitment and serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences of sin and the importance of honoring the deceased.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill
Matthew Henry
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Rizpah - took sackcloth - Who can read the account of Rizpah's maternal affection for her sons that were now hanged, without feeling his mind deeply impressed with sorrows? Did God require this sacrifice of Saul's sons, probably all innocent of the alleged crime of their father? Was there no other method of averting the Divine displeasure? Was the requisition of the Gibeonites to have Saul's sons sacrificed to God, to be considered as an oracle of God? Certainly not; God will not have man's blood for sacrifice, no more than he will have swine's blood. The famine might have been removed, and the land properly purged, by offering the sacrifices prescribed by the law, and by a general humiliation of the people. Until water dropped upon them - Until the time of the autumnal rains, which in that country commence about October. Is it possible that this poor broken-hearted woman could have endured the fatigue, (and probably in the open air), of watching these bodies for more than five months? Some think that the rain dropping on them out of heaven means the removal of the famine which was occasioned by drought, by now sending rain, which might have been shortly after these men were hanged; but this by no means agrees with the manner in which the account is introduced: "They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. And Rizpah - took sackcloth, and spread it for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest, until water dropped upon them out of heaven." No casual or immediately providential rain can be here intended; the reference must be to the periodical rains above mentioned.

John Gill Bible Commentary

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth,.... Both as a token of mourning for her sons, and as fittest to defend from the weather, the heat by day of cold by night: and spread it for her upon the rock; the hill on which her sons were hanged; this she spread as a canopy or tent to sit under, and be covered with it; not to cover the bodies with it, but herself, and where she sat to mourn the loss of her sons, and to watch their bodies, that they might not be devoured by birds and breasts of prey, as after observed: and here she sat from the beginning of harvest until water dropped on them out of heaven; that is, as the Jews say (n), from the sixteenth of Nisan, when barley harvest began, to the seventeenth of Marchesvan, when the former rain fell; that is, from the beginning of April to the beginning of October: but it is not likely that she continued so long watching the bodies, nor would there be any need of it to keep the birds and beasts from them; for after they had hung so many months, there would be nothing left for them; but rather the meaning is, that she continued there until it pleased God to send rain from heaven, which had been restrained, and a famine came upon it, because of the ill usage of the Gibeonites: and very probably the order from the king was, that the bodies should hang till rain came, that it might be observed what was the reason of their suffering; and no doubt Rizpah sat there praying that rain might come, and which, as Abarbinel thinks, came in a few days after, though not usual in summertime; but this was an extraordinary case, as in Sa1 12:17; and was done to show the Lord was entreated for the land; and so Josephus says (o), that upon the hanging up of these men, God caused it to rain immediately, and restored the earth to its former fruitfulness. According to the law in Deu 21:22, the bodies should have been taken down and buried the same day: but these men suffered not for their own personal, sins, but for the sins of others, and to avert a public calamity, and therefore must hang till that was removed; nor were they executed by men bound by that law; and besides their continuing on the tree was according to the will of God, till he was entreated, who could dispense with this law; to which may be added, the ceremonial and judicial laws, of which this was one, gave place to those of a moral nature (p), as this did to that of sanctifying the name of God in a public manner; hence the saying of one of the Rabbins upon this (q), which is by many wrongly expressed,"it is better that one letter should be rooted out of the law, than that the name of God should not be sanctified openly;''that is, a lesser precept give way to a greater, or a ceremonial precept to a moral one, such as the sanctification of the name of God is: and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day; as it is usual for crows (r) and ravens, and such sort of birds, to light on bodies thus hung up, and pick their flesh: nor the beasts of the field by night; for it seems it was usual to make the gibbets, and so in some other nations the crosses, so low, that wild beasts could easily come at the bodies and devour them; so Blandina was hung upon a tree so low, that she might be exposed to the wild beasts to feed upon her, but not one of them would touch her body (s); now Rizpah, by her servants, had ways and means to frighten away the birds, and beasts from doing any injury to the carcasses. (n) Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 190. 1. (o) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. sect. 1. (p) See Stillingfleet's Origines Sacr. p. 140. (q) T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 79. 1. (r) "---- non pasces in cruce corvos", Horat. Epist, l. 1. Epist. 16. ver. 48. (s) Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 5. c. 1. Vid. Lipsium de Cruce, l. 3. c. 11. & l. 3. c. 13.

Matthew Henry Bible Commentary

Here we have, I. Saul's sons not only hanged, but hanged in chains, their dead bodies left hanging, and exposed, till the judgment ceased, which their death was to turn away, by the sending of rain upon the land. They died as sacrifices, and thus they were, in a manner, offered up, not consumed all at once by fire, but gradually by the air. They died as anathemas, and by this ignominious usage they were represented as execrable, because iniquity was laid upon them. When our blessed Saviour was made sin for us he was made a curse for us. But how shall we reconcile this with the law which expressly required that those who were hanged should be buried on the same day? Deu 21:23. One of the Jewish rabbin wishes this passage of story expunged, that the name of God might be sanctified, which, he thinks, is dishonoured by his acceptance of that which was a violation of his law: but this was an extraordinary case, and did not fall within that law; nay, the very reason for that law is a reason for this exception. he that is thus left hanged is accursed; therefore ordinary malefactors must not be so abused; but therefore these must, because they were sacrificed, not to the justice of the nation, but for the crime of the nation (no less a crime than the violation of the public faith) and for the deliverance of the nation from no less a judgment than a general famine. Being thus made as the off-scouring of all things, they were made a spectacle to the world (Co1 4:9, Co1 4:13), God appointing, or at least allowing it. II. Their dead bodies watched by Rizpah, the mother of two of them, Sa2 21:10. It was a great affliction to her, now in her old age, to see her two sons, who, we may suppose, had been a comfort to her, and were likely to be the support of her declining years, cut off in this dreadful manner. None know what sorrows they are reserved for. She may not see them decently interred, but they shall be decently attended. She attempts not to violate the sentence passed upon them, that they should hang there till God sent rain; she neither steals nor forces away their dead bodies, though the divine law might have been cited to bear her out; but she patiently submits, pitches a tent of sackcloth near the gibbets, where, with her servants and friends, she protects the dead bodies from birds and beasts of prey. Thus, 1. She indulged her grief, as mourners are too apt to do, to no good purpose. When sorrow, in such cases, is in danger of growing excessive, we should rather study how to divert and pacify it than how to humour and gratify it. Why should we thus harden ourselves in sorrow? 2. She testified her love. Thus she let the world know that her sons died, not for any sin of their own, not as stubborn and rebellious sons, whose eye had despised to obey their mother; if that had been the case, she would have suffered the ravens of the valley to pick it out and the young eagles to eat it, Pro 30:17. But they died for their father's sin and therefore her mind could not be alienated from them by their hard fate. Though there is not remedy, but they must die, yet they shall die pitied and lamented. III. The solemn interment of their dead bodies, with the bones of Saul and Jonathan, in the burying-place of their family. David was so far from being displeased at what Rizpah had done that he was himself stirred up by it to do honour to the house of Saul, and to these branches of it among the rest; thus it appeared that it was not out of any personal disgust to the family that he delivered them up, and that he had not desired the woeful day, but that he was obliged to do it for the public good. 1. He now bethought himself of removing the bodies of Saul and Jonathan from the place where the men of Jabesh-Gilead had decently, but privately and obscurely, interred them, under a tree, Sa1 31:12, Sa1 31:13. Though the shield of Saul was vilely cast away, as if he had not been anointed with oil, yet let not royal dust be lost in the graves of the common people. Humanity obliges us to respect human bodies, especially of the great and good, in consideration both of what they have been and what they are to be. 2. With them he buried the bodies of those that were hanged; for, when God's anger was turned away, they were no longer to be looked upon as a curse, Sa2 21:13, Sa2 21:14. When water dropped upon them out of heaven (Sa2 21:10), that is, when God sent rain to water the earth (which perhaps was not many days after they were hung up), then they were taken down, for then it appeared that God was entreated for the land. When justice is done on earth vengeance from heaven ceases. Through Christ, who was hanged on a tree and so made a curse for us, to expiate our guilt (though he was himself guiltless), God is pacified, and is entreated for us: and it is said (Act 13:29) that when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, in token of the completeness of the sacrifice and of God's acceptance of it, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulchre.