Rizpah

Riz´puh

The daughter of Aiah and concubine of Saul (2Sam 3:7). After Saul’s death Abner took her as a claim to the throne (1Kgs 2:22). An objection from Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, offered an excuse for Abner’s negotiations with David (2Sam 3:6-10). When God sent a famine because Saul had broken the oath with the Gibeonites (2Sam 21:1), David agreed to hand over seven sons of Saul for expiation. Two were the sons of Rizpah. Her devotion led to a long vigil over the bodies, keeping off the birds by day and the beasts by night, from the beginning of the barley harvest (April–May) until the rains came (October). Finally David’s attention was drawn to the matter (2Sam 21:1-11).