"The Dedication of Rizpah" (II Samuel 21:1-14)

"The Dedication of Rizpah" from II Samuel 21:1-14 was preached by Dr. Mark McElreath at the City Baptist Church of Atlanta on May 10, 2026.

Find out more about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta at www.citybaptistchurch.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the City Pulpit. Bible messages from the pulpit ministry of the City Baptist Church in Atlanta. In 2 Samuel chapter 21, we come to a passage where probably we'll meet someone along this way that you may have never heard of before. We may read a story, you say, I've I've probably read it because I read through my Bible, but I don't recognize this name, and I don't really recognize this story. And we come here, I think of one of the great stories of dedication we find in the Word of God. Let's begin reading in 2 Samuel chapter 21. We'll begin reading in verse number 1. The Bible says, Then there was a famine in the days of David, three years, year after year, and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul and for his bloody house, and because he slew the Gibeonites. And the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them, Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn unto them, and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah. Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the atonement that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord? And the Gibonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul nor of his house, neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. And they answered the king, the man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them. But 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. But the king took the two sons of Rispah, the daughter of Ea, whom she bare unto Saul, Armani and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michael, the daughters of Saul, whom she brought up, for Adriel, the son of Berzalei and Maholothite. And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord, and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. And Rizpah, the daughter of Ea, 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. And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Ea, the concubine of Saul, had done. And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul and Gilboah. And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged. And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zilah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father, and they performed all that the king commanded, and after that God was entreated for the land. We find here, we'll take for the theme or the title of the Bible message this morning, the dedication of Rizpah. We find here a very interesting story, and there are some layers of history and some layers of culture, and lots of names I know that are going on, but here's what's happening: there's a famine in the land of Israel. And King David is trying to figure out why has the Lord brought famine upon us. He goes to the Lord, and the Lord says, it's because of Saul, the house of Saul, is what he says. And Saul sinned against and broke a treaty against a people named the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites were a people that had, under false pretenses, had come to Joshua when the children of Israel came into the promised land. The Gibeonites made it look like they had clothes and food that had mildewed because they traveled from so far away, and they said, Please make a treaty with us. Well, come to find out they were close neighbors with the Israelites. But Joshua made a treaty with them that they would not destroy them. Well, once the years passed, many, many generations passed, and Saul becomes king, he breaks that treaty. And it says here, because of the blood, the bloody house of Saul, he pours out his wrath against the Gibeonites, breaks this treaty. And now God is judging the people, his people, the people of Israel, for this break in this truce. And when David goes to them and he says, People of Gibeon, what can I give you to make restitution for this? They say, You don't have to give us any gold, you don't have to give us any silver, and you don't have to kill anyone. And he says, Well, you tell me what to give you, and I'll give it to you. And they said, You don't have to kill anyone, but we want the lives of seven of Saul's sons. And you say, That is quite, that is quite an extreme presentation, isn't it? Yes, it is. And David gives seven sons of Saul, minus Mephibosheth, and they are hung, and they're killed to pay restitution for what had been done by Saul to the Gibeonites. But there's a little woman named Rispah. Two of her sons were part of that group that was hung. And it says that she sets out a little sackcloth, probably a little tent, and for many months, most likely, she will not allow the birds to land upon them to eat their bodies, and she will not allow the beasts of the field to come along and eat their corpses. You say, Pastor, that's quite the macabre story. It really is. I understand that. But you know what it is? It is just a little glimpse. It is a little picture of the dedication of a mother for her children. In fact, it catches the eye of the king, King David. He hears about what goes on. And he says, take those bodies down and give them a kingly burial there once and for all. And I want us to look at this story because I think we find some wonderful truths buried in this little account, this little passage in 2 Samuel, I think that'll help us today. Would you make note of some things if you're writing things down? Would you write this down? Number one, first of all, we find the deeds of their father. The deeds of their father. These seven men that are hung here in 2 Samuel 21 die because of no fault of their own. These sons, now grown and mature in years, are not being punished for any of their own sins, but rather the sins of their father Saul. Now we understand today, I was trying to look up, is there a way that children today in our penal system can receive the punishment for the sins of their fathers? And really it's not set up that way, which is good. I'm thankful for that. But often the greatest and the worst penalties the children do not face after their father is gone, they really face it while their father is living many times, isn't it? Many times today, people I know they blame their mother or they blame their father, they blame their parents for what's going on in their own life. Now, look, we all have to take personal accountability before God for the way we live. But we do find there are consequences for the way parents live. Seeds that are sown that are then reaped in the lives of the children, and here we find these men, they've lived full lives. These are grown adults at this point, and they're reaping the sins of their father Saul. We have to ask ourselves, what sins are we willing to hang on to in our lives that will affect our own children? Maybe there's something that has gripped you and that has held you, and you say, I just can't get rid of it. Well, don't do it for yourself, but would you do it for your children? Would you ask the Lord to help you to get rid of it and take care of it and deal with it because of your own posterity? We find here it says, in verse number one, when the Lord is speaking to David, he says, It is for Saul. And then he says, and for his bloody house. Because Saul, in his pride and his contention, and he wanted to do things his way, his children are facing the consequences. And seven of his sons are going to be hung for it. We see here in verse number nine, it says, And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord, and they fell all seven together. Now do you think when Saul was pouring out his wrath on the Gibeonites that years later his own sons would have to come and pay for it? His own sons would have to deal with it? Surely he didn't think it would go that far. Surely Saul didn't think it will take that much reaping the effects of sin in our lives. That'll be our children. This is placed against the backdrop, this heinous event is placed against the backdrop of a mother. Would you make note of a second thing? Not only the deeds of their father, but would you make note of a second thing? The devotion of their mother. The devotion of their mother. Here we find Rizpah. One verse given to her in verse number 10 of 2 Samuel 21. One of these stories, if you're reading through your Bible very easily, you just pass it over and you don't really take much thought for it, because there's a lot of names you don't know and some places you don't understand, and some history you don't quite get. But here's one verse in the 1189 chapters of the Bible where a mother is mentioned. We find here in verse number 10 it says, And Rizpah the daughter of Aa 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 or the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. There was a father who broke a treaty, a people who were out for revenge, but then there's just a little mother who loves her two boys. Two of these boys were Rizpas. And she set a little sackcloth tent out, and she made sure the bodies of her boys were not eaten by the animals of the field. Can you see her? Just imagine this mother. She would have been up in years by this point. These are grown, these are grown men. We don't exactly know how old they were, but they're grown, mature men. She would be up in years. Maybe she was even depending on these two boys for her livelihood because it's possible she could not work on her own anymore. And now they've been hung to pay the debt for the Gibeonites. Can you hear her weeping as she sees her boys hung there? Do you see her in the scorching, blazing summer heat? It actually tells us exactly when this happens. It says in verse number nine that it is at the beginning of barley harvest. You know when that is? That's around April. And they're actually going to hang there until water dropped upon them. That's probably October or November, when the Lord restores the fall rains once again. It could have been four, five, six months at least, that she's out there keeping the animals off the bodies of these boys. You see her out in the blazing summer sun? Do you see her out there at night when the animals start circling and the jackals start coming in because they smell the decaying flesh? And you know what people probably said? Boy, Rispa, she's a little extreme, isn't she? I mean, that's a little much, isn't it, to go out there around those bodies? They're already dead. They're a lost cause, right? I'm thankful for a God who believes in lost causes. And I'm thankful for a mother here who believed in what was seemingly a lost cause. Because she cares for her sons. Dedicated that much. It could be that people looked at you or looked at me at one point and they said, Boy, that's a lost cause. But you know the Lord Jesus Christ didn't give up on you and he didn't give up on me. He went all the way. He left the very throne of heaven, angels worshiping him, and he came to the earth in his humiliation, and he became a child. That's a little extreme, isn't it? And he grew up and he lived a perfect life. And he went to a cross for us. That's a little extreme, isn't it? That's some level of dedication, isn't it? That he may make a way for our sins to be forgiven. I think Risba here is just a picture of the dedication of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the greatest tasks in our day is the task of mothers. I think also it's one of the most overlooked tasks of our day. Sadly, many times the work and the diligence and the labor of mothers is overlooked as if it can be given to someone else to do. Thank the Lord. I'm thankful my wife, I'm thankful for the work of my wife, the mother she is, and the mother that she has. She's here today, my mother-in-law's here. My mother's here today. I'm thankful for the work of them. That took dedication. If we're going to raise children, it's going to take an extreme level of dedication, right? And here we find Rizpah gives that. I read the old hymn to you earlier, My Mother's Prayer, but I want to read the last, the refrain at the end. It says, Whenever I think of her so dear, I feel her angel spirit near, a voice comes floating on the air reminding me of Mother's Prayer. You realize Rizpah fought no armies. Rizpah held no office at all. Here we find the Holy Spirit finds it warranted enough to include her in the Holy Scriptures and her dedication to her children to put her in the Bible because of what she did. We find the deeds of the father. We find the devotion of their mother. But would you make note of a third thing here? We also find the decree of their king. The decree of their king. I would imagine Rizpah probably thought, everybody thinks I'm crazy. Nobody thinks what I'm doing is worth anything to try to preserve the bodies of my boys that are hanging here. But I want you to look down at verse number 11. Because it says, It was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aa, the concubine of Saul, had done. Let me encourage you with this. The long days, the night hours, the long weeks, and the long months given to mothering mothers? Let me tell you who sees it. The king sees it. Do you know who found out what Rizbah had done? The king found out about what Rizbah had done. And you know what didn't matter? It didn't matter what anyone else in town thought. It didn't matter what anyone else in the countryside thought. It didn't matter what anyone else in Israel thought. It only mattered what the king thought. And when you're laboring and you're working and you're giving yourself to the work of being a mother, let me tell you who sees it. God Himself sees every late night, every whimpering brow, every moment given that no one else sees, no one else knows, no one else may even care about, and if they did, they may say, that's a little much, and that's a little extreme, and that's a little far to go. But there's a dedicated mother that the Lord is watching over, and the Lord cares about. And you know what we find here? Look at verse 12. It says, David hears about it. And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son, and the men of Jabesh Gilead, which they had stolen away from the streets of Bethshan. That's a whole nother story. That's an incredible account. Saul and his son Jonathan die in battle. And they take their bodies when they're killed, the Philistines put them on the walls of Bethshan, and they hang them up as a prize almost to show they've killed Saul and Jonathan together. And there's men of Jabesh Gilead. It's an incredible story. It says, All the valiant men arose. And the men of Jabesh Gilead go down, and at hazard of their own life, they take the bodies of Saul and Jonathan off from the walls of Bethshan, and they give them a proper burial in Jabesh Gilead. But David says, I want you to go down and get the body of Saul and the body of Jonathan. And then he says, look at verse 13, and he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan and his son, and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged. He takes those seven men that had been hung by the Gibeonites, and he takes their bodies down, and he gives all of them a proper kingly burial. Why? Because there's one mother, and her dedication is heard about by the king, and he does something about it. You know what it says down in verse 14? And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zila in the sepulchre of Kish his father. Now, Saul is the son of Kish. He's from the tribe of Benjamin. He had not received a burial among his father's sepulchres. And that probably would have never happened were it not for Rizpah. Because of Rizpah's dedication and her work and her labor, David gathers those bodies. And you know what those seven boys that were hanging up? They were not a part of the kingly line. There was no reason they should receive a proper kingly burial, and yet because of the dedication of Rizpah, what happens? They receive their burial. All there in the land of Benjamin, in the sepulchres of Kish, Saul's family. Why? Because of Rizpah. You realize you and I would never know about this woman. She would be a mere, a mere dot on the pages of time that none of us would have ever known about if it wasn't for the work and dedication she'd given her sons. It says in verse number 14, the last part of the verse there. And they performed all that the king commanded, and after that God was entreated for the land. The Lord was satisfied. The rains come back again. You know what we find here a beautiful picture of a mother's dedication? And also, I believe a picture of the dedication of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. Coming all the way to this earth, giving his life a ransom for many, dying on the cross to save us from our sins. And if you're here today, you may think, Pastor, I'm kind of like these boys hanging, I'm a lost cause. Well, you know what the book of Ephesians tells us that all of us, before we came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, were dead in our trespasses and sins? We were literally a lost cause. We were the children of the devil, we were following him, we were on our way to hell. We had no hope in this world. And yet, what does the Bible tell us? The Lord Jesus Christ, when we were sinners, God commended his love toward us. He proved his love to us. And if you're here today and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are not a lost cause to the Lord. He is asking you and begging you today to come and have your sins forgiven. Pray and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. The dedication we see in Rizpah is overshadowed. It is so small compared to the dedication and the work and the seeking of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. Don't forget what God has done in our own hearts and lives with the dedication of Rizpah. Mothers, maybe you're mothering today, and there's work you need to do, and you think, boy, it never ends, right? They say the the hours are long and the years are short. I'm learning that more and more. That may that may feel like that, but let me encourage you. The Lord sees, the king sees, he knows, and he repays better than anyone else could because of the dedication of a mother. Thank you for listening to the City Pulpit. For more information about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta, please visit www.mycitybaptist.com.