RIZPAH AND OTHER UNKNOWNS (Part 1)

     As a nobody author, to which I hope to remain until the end of my days here, I think some other Biblical nobodies need some attention paid to them.  Let me give you an example of some Biblical nobodies. Well, first there's Ruth. Wait, you say she's not a nobody?  Well, my friends, she certainly was during her days on this earth.  She was an ordinary Moabite who married an ordinary Israelite man who died an ordinary death. She was married to this ordinary man for ten years and oddly enough, she never had a child and neither did her sister-in-law Orpah.  How is it that neither of them had a child with their husbands those ten years?  That is the Sovereignty of GOD.  He decides who does and who does not and when and where.  I have learned the hard way in this life, we can never fight the Sovereign choice of God and win.  Ruth, then as an ordinary woman made and extraordinary choice which led her to marry another ordinary man. She lived an ordinary life in the town of ordinary Bethlehem, at the time, and she died having no idea that a great grandson of hers would come to be known as the greatest king of Israel for all times and predecessor to the King of Kings.  I am an ordinary woman, a "slave" to my Master, and there's no getting out of His will for my life.  His Sovereign will for my life is likely to die as a nobody, to which I am grateful.  Yet, after I'm gone, if He wants to take my work and make it world famous, well that's up to His Sovereign will, not mine.  While I'm here, I hope that maybe I can inspire other nobodies on to greater works for the good of mankind and the Kingdom of GOD.  Ruth died a nobody, but now she's renowned the world over for 3,000 plus years and will for all eternity. 

     So, who is the nobody in the picture you ask? It doesn't look like anyone you know  or any story you've read?  That is because her story is seemingly so insignificant and  buried away in 2 Samuel 21, yet, she got the attention of a king and was ultimately responsible for a 450 year-old promise being fulfilled.  I spent thirty years in church, studying the Bible, and throughout all those years in women's Bible studies, not once did I learn about dear Rizpah.  It wasn't until GOD isolated me and took me out of the church, silencing all the voices and naysayers in my life that He taught me the truths of the Bible that go ignored by the majority of the Christian church.  Rizpah is surely one truth that needs a lot more publicity.  Maybe we can make her famous together.  I learned all about Rizpah listening to one of my favorite preachers, the Scottish preacher David Legge.  (Little Women: Rizpah).  There are no words strong enough in the English language that I can use to encourage you all to listen to this amazing lesson of  the most ignored woman in the Bible. I cannot do this woman justice in this short post, not like Pastor David Legge did in his amazing sermon.  This sermon/story profoundly affected me ever since I heard her story and contemplated her life. What an absolute inspiration she is and should be to all of us who know all-consuming grief. 

  

   To be brief, which a writer finds almost impossible, Rizpah was a concubine of King Saul who was impregnated by not only the king, but one of his loyal men in his administration.  The poor dear was allegedly raped and gave birth to two sons.  That's just the beginning of her sad life.  On that note, women in those days really had it bad, because they were subject to man's sexual appetite only for the most part.  Once a man took a concubine, love was simply out of the question at that point.  They had no hope for a happy life.  Back to Rizpah, she was the victim of grief unsurpassed by most women.  The time was a famine during King David's reign.  Back then, a famine usually meant GOD's displeasure with His people.  King David sought the advice from GOD's prophet who told him that his predecessor broke a 450 year old treaty with the Gibeonites.  So, the King being the honorable man he was sought out the King of Gibeonites and asked what it was that they wanted in return, and their answer was blood for blood.  They wanted King Saul's sons be put to death, and sadly, that included two of Rizpah's sons.  You can read the story here. Gibeonites avenged to Rizphah's grief.  

   

   To understand what Rizpah did, one would have to understand that the lowest and most shameful thing that could happen to an Israelite at that time was to die and have one's remains rotting in the open air and eaten by the scavengers of the air. It was bad enough that she lost her sons, but she was not going to let them suffer the additional shame.  Honor and shame were utmost in that society, even more than life itself.  Rizpah took a sackcloth, and kept vigil for five months, never leaving her son's corpses to the birds of the air. Imagine the smell of those rotting corpses, yet, she remained devoted to their honor.  Again, I cannot do this story justice, but Pastor David Legge is the one who pointed this story out to me after thirty years of studying the Bible.  She guarded them until King David had heard of her devotion.  It was then that he remember that the bones of King Saul and Jonathan had not been given a proper burial, so he saw to it that their remains along with the other seven sons of Saul were given the proper burial due them.  I cannot stress enough how huge was the act of devotion Rizpah demonstrated, enough so a king would hear of it and be ashamed himself of his own actions.  I'm not going to get into whether David should have given over King Saul's sons or not, what I am trying to emphasize here is the devotion of one unknown Biblical figure who sat watch over her son's corpses for five months, never leaving them. 

    My point here is that there are so many Biblical heroes in the Bible that we never heard about, and so many people who as unknowns did the unthinkable and moved the hearts of the people who could do something to remedy a matter.  I understand Rizpah's devotion to a cause, as I have been "sitting on a sackcloth" for up to twelve years, waiting for the time that GOD moves on someone's heart to act in a life-changing way that will not just bring honor to their name, but build the Kingdom of GOD in the manner to which GOD has ordained for them since before the creation of the world.  That is why Rizpah is such an inspiration to me.  I will remain on my "sackcloth" until I can move the heart of the King of Kings, and hopefully my devotion will spur others on to greater heights of honor and nobility. The Bible is a treasure chest full of such unknown stories and heroes, and I hope that maybe I have inspired you to go in search of such unsung heroes.  In an earlier post, I  wrote about the jewels in the Old Testament, The Bible As a Treasure Chest because frankly, if one doesn't seek out its treasures, then one is only operating one's spiritual life on two cylinders as opposed to the eight we could be operating with, thus getting to know more about our Creator and Savior on a personal level instead of just the stories we've known and maybe misunderstood without their proper context.