Who is…
Rizpah
Meaning: coal; hot stone
Rizpah is a daughter of Aiah, and was one of King Saul’s concubines.
She was the mother of the princes Armoni and Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 3:7; 21:8).
It happened that a grievous famine, which lasted for 3 years, fell upon the land during the earlier half of David's reign at Jerusalem. This calamity was sent “for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.”
David inquired of the Gibeonites what satisfaction they demanded, and was answered that nothing would compensate for the wrong Saul had done to them but the death of 7 of Saul’s sons.
David accordingly delivered up to them the 2 sons of Rizpah and 5 of the sons of Merab, Saul’s eldest daughter, whom she bore to Adriel.
These the Gibeonites put to death, and hung up their bodies before the Lord at the sanctuary at Gibeah.
Rizpah thereupon took her place on the rock of Gibeah, and for 5 months watched the suspended bodies of her sons, to prevent them from being devoured by the beasts and birds of prey, till they were at length taken down and buried by David (2 Samuel 21:10, 11).
Her later marriage to Abner was the occasion of a quarrel between him and King Ishbosheth, which led to Abner’s going over to the side of David (2 Samuel 3:17-21).
Relatives
- Father: Aiah
- Mother: not named
- Husband (as a concubine): King Saul
- Husband: Abner
- Known sons: Armoni and Mephibosheth
- Daughters: not named or numbered in the Bible