7 He spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, who was Saul’s grandson, because of the oath between himself and Jonathan.
8 But he gave them Saul’s two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, whose mother was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. He also gave them the five adopted sons of Michal that she brought up for Saul’s daughter Merab, the wife of Adriel.
9 The men of Gibeon impaled them in the mountain before the Lord. So all seven of them died together at the beginning of the barley harvest.
10 Then Rizpah, the mother of two of the men, spread sackcloth upon a rock and stayed there through the entire harvest season to prevent the vultures from tearing at their bodies during the day and the wild animals from eating them at night.
2 Samuel 21:7-10 (LB)
If the love of a woman to her slain sons could make her prolong her mournful vigil for so long a period, shall we weary of considering the sufferings of our blessed Lord?
She drove away the birds of prey, and shall not we chase from our meditations those worldly and sinful thoughts which defile both our minds and the sacred themes upon which we are occupied? Away, ye birds of evil wing! Leave ye the sacrifice alone!
She bore the heat of summer, the night dews and the rains, unsheltered and alone.
Sleep was chased from her weeping eyes: her heart was too full for slumber. Behold how she loved her children! Shall Rizpah thus endure, and shall we faint at the first little inconvenience or trial?
Are we such cowards that we cannot bear to suffer with our Lord? She chased away even the wild beasts, with courage unusual in her gender, and will not we be ready to encounter every foe for Jesus' sake? These her children were slain by other hands than hers, and yet she wept and watched: what ought we to do who have by our sins crucified our Lord?
Our obligations are boundless, our love should be fervent and our repentance thorough. To watch with Jesus should be our business, to protect His honour our occupation, to abide by His cross our solace. Those ghastly corpses might well have frightened Rizpah, especially by night, but in our Lord, at whose cross-foot we are sitting, there is nothing revolting, but everything attractive.
Never was living beauty so enchanting as a dying Saviour.
Jesus, we will watch with You yet awhile, and we ask that You graciously unveil Yourself to us; then shall we not sit beneath sackcloth, but in a royal pavilion.
adapted from Morning and Evening by C.H. Spurgeon.
Tomorrow
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See you tomorrow, God willing.
Until then, trust in the Lord with your whole being
and be blessed in all you do today!
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