Rizpah's story goes from bad to worse! But be encouraged—we know the ending of her saga—in a most unexpected way, she turned great losses into triumph (2 Samuel 3:7-8; 21:8,10-14).
In Part 2, we connected her story with Job's experience. Now, she is connected with New Testament preacher of righteousness John the Baptist. He did not bend to political correctness and became a victim of the those he offended (Mark 16:14-29). In the despair of continued painful losses, Rizpah, like John commands us, "Don't Stop—Now." This segment combines the two principles already discussed: (a) we must deal with life's unwanted, unfair, and unexpected changes and (b) bad things happen to good people; life is not fair, and justice often is neither swift nor blind.
Together, they teach a third principle—to foster their own agenda, people will gladly take advantage of others.
When King David asked the Lord about the three-year famine, God said it was because King Saul had killed the Gibeonites. During the time of Jericho’s defeat, the Gibeonites tricked Joshua, and as punishment, they were sentenced to become Israel’s slaves (Joshua 9). David asked the Gibeonites what they wanted as an atonement. They asked to hang seven of Saul’s descendants.
This aspect of Rizpah’s story is hard to understand. God identified the root cause of the famine and a life-for-a-life principle was strongly enforced (Deuteronomy 19:21). However, in agreeing to the Gibeonites’ request, David also accomplished his agenda of eliminating possible rivals to the throne.
If David had sacrificed Jonathan’s son, it would have seemed that the punishment was equably applied; but David chose the five sons of Saul’s daughters, Michal or Merab, and the two sons of Saul’s concubine, Rizpah. Each of these women had direct connections with David (1 Samuel 18:17-28; 19:11-17; 2 Samuel 3:13-16; 6:12-23; and 2 Samuel 21).
Rizpah teaches us how powerless and helpless we can find ourselves when we are collateral damage. Sometimes, we may feel that our experiences are collateral damage in the great cosmic conflict between God and Satan. While Psalm 37 gives us insight and comfort, the pain is real; the pain is painful.
Holding on to hope when we are confident that the sun will not shine again is not easy. In fact, it can be especially difficult. However, we get to choose whether to exercise faith in those darkest days of our experiences. Rizpah's determination does not waiver and she still says to us "Don't Stop—Now!"
In short order, I lost my dear brother and my beloved husband died. Then I was removed from the bench, and my bar license suspended. I thought those were my darkest days; I was wrong. There was more to come.
I didn't know it then, but Rizpah was whispering to me, "Don't Stop—Now!"
We will continue our discussion in the next issue, but if you want to search for Bible answers now, please email JudithHawkins@GRM2.net.
