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2 Samuel Rizpah
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Rizpah
The Lord told King David that the famine that crippled Israel during his reign was punishment because Saul had nearly decimated the Gibeonites during his rule. Isreal had sworn a perpetual peace with the ancient inhabitants of Gibeon during the days of Joshua. David had to atone for the breaking of this covenant.
So the king appealed to the Gibeonites. What atonement would satisfy them? They demanded that seven of the direct descendants of Saul must be given up to them for death. To this bitter revenge David consented. There was one surving son of Jonathan, a lame and feeble man, who David always carefully protected. This son was now spared for his father's sake. But seven other victims were found, five grandsons of Saul, born probably to his eldest daughter Merab, and two sons of Saul, born to his wife Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, a woman of foreign race.
The men were crucified, according to the method of execution in those days, and their bodies were left exposed to become the prey of weather and wild beasts. But the aged Rizpah, if she could not save her sons and younger kinsmen from death, was determined at least to preserve their bodies. She spread a piece of sackcloth on the ground and sat there by her dead through day and night all the burning months of a long tropic summer, driving off the birds and beasts. So at length the king was moved to shame and pity, and he had the bodies taken down and given an honorable burial.
These three illustrations of Rizpah are from my old Bible books. Feel free to use these drawings of Rizpah in your artistic creations. Click on the Rizpah pictures below to see more details about saving a free Rizpah image or about purchasing an image of Rizpah at a higher resolution.
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