Rizpah

By Minnie Jackson

Saul was dead, and David was now Israel's king. Rizpah, Saul's concubine, was the mother of Saul's two youngest sons. Rizpah barely had time to grieve before being hit with the most inconceivable news any mother can imagine. David had sent out an evil decree. If anyone knew the whereabouts of Saul's sons, they must tell David at once. When King Saul's son, Ish-bosheth, was viciously slain in his own bed as he slept, Rizpah immediately went into hiding. Jonathan was already dead, and only Rizpah's two sons remained alive. David had spies and scouts roaming through all of Israel to find Saul's two sons. It was only a matter of time that Rizpah's sons were snatched from her arms.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781640822184

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Rizpah

Saul’s Concubine

From Coal to a Diamond

Minnie Jackson

Copyright © 2017 Minnie Jackson

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2017

ISBN 978-1-64082-217-7 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64082-218-4 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Preface

God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. In fact, man’s wisdom is just foolishness to God. Noah was considered as a foolish man by the great men of renown. The rabbi Gamaliel began to see that man’s measure of the events of this world meant nothing and too often came to naught. Solomon would have been absolutely right concerning his assessment of the world had God not sent his Son into time, space, and matter to breach through the long chain of men heading toward the pit.

The devil had all men bound. As generation after generation poured from the wombs of women, the old serpent stood by, ready to snatch them. The human lines slowly dragged across the sands of time uninterrupted until God’s avalanche of grace came in the form of a baby boy born of a virgin. He came, the promised redeemer, to destroy the works of the devil and forever mute the devil’s voice of lies, deceit, and craftiness.

Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, has come, and just as he used the great lawgiver Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, he used the Apostle Paul, a Benjamite, to bring the Gentiles out of superstitions, idolatry, and paganism.

Jesus will again return to declare total triumph over all creation. This book is written as an expression of the love of God for man, his bride and body, manifested in time by coming into a flesh body.

The story of Jesus is the most precious story that can ever be told. Hopefully, in sharing the nuggets gleaned from the story of the little concubine named Rizpah, some of the dazzling beauty of God’s love will shine through. The breathtaking awe of how God can use those whom man considers weak, insignificant, of no value, and of no renown to bring to naught man’s so-called wisdom is beyond comprehension.

Man may build huge monuments to himself, but there is no building more precious than the stone which the builders rejected, the building not made of men’s hands, which is God’s spiritual house. God’s Word and the objects and people he uses are as little pebbles pointing only to the stone not hewed of hands.

God’s stern warning is as clear today as when he himself used his diamond-tipped quill, his own finger, to carve these words forever on the stone. There shall be no other god before me in the heaven, in the earth, or in the waters under the earth.

In a brief overview, one can hopefully see a glimpse of how God, from the beginning, has protected his Word, watching over it to perform it. He has fed his Word, tidbit by tidbit, gently, tenaciously, so that the Holy Spirit presents the Son in all his glory to every heart of faith.

Two profound utterances to Adam and Eve after the fall were, Woman, what is this that thou has done? and concerning the man, Behold, man has become as one of us to know good from evil.

If man indeed knows good from evil, why did Judah threaten to have Tamar burned only to find she was pregnant with his twins? Why did Rachel call Benjamin Benoni, or Son of my sorrow? Benjamin became Rachel’s greatest blessing. Though she died in childbirth, Rachel was saved in childbirth. How did the actions of a little Jewish queen of the great ruler of Persia save the whole Jewish race? If Jesus, the Son of God, had not been raised from the dead, what would have been the purpose of Sarah’s final laughter as she held little Isaiah in her arms? What would have happened to Reuben’s two sons if Joseph had never seen Benjamin again?

If Rahab had not been spared or if Boaz had refused to marry Ruth, there would have been no David and, therefore, no Jesus. Really! Read this exciting book and be surprised at the mighty power of God, his wisdom, his love, and his perfect plan that no man could breach. Read about how secure we really are in God’s perfect care. Read this story and laugh aloud of how that old devil can never breach through God’s prophetic Word. God is the only true and living God who cannot lie, will not be deceived, and has never changed his mind.

And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:13)

This book is dedicated to my sons, Todd and Jason. From Jason Jackson to his mom.

For those bathed in the blood of Christ, there is no fear, not even of death, for in death we shall meet our Lord Jesus.

The devil wields his power more in this world because in the other he is just a prisoner. The Lord can afford to wait for he will be the final victor.

As long as this world exists, Satan has freedom; hence, he has power nearly equal to the Lord because the Lord chooses to be passive here. But when this world ends, Satan will be condemned to hell along with everyone else who turned their backs on Christ.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16)

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (2 Timothy 4:3–4)

How be it for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. (1 Timothy 1:16)

The Story of Rizpah Paraphrased from KJV (2 Samuel 21:1–14)

There was a famine in the days of David, and David asked God for the reason for the famine. God said, ‘It was because of Saul’s bloody house and the slaying of the Gibeonites’ (v. 1).

David called the Gibeonites and asked, ‘What shall I do for you’ (v. 2).

The Gibeonites asked not for gold or silver but that seven of Saul’s sons be delivered over to them (vv. 3–4).

David did as the Gibeonites requested, however he spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan (vv. 7–9).

Rizpah, Saul’s concubine and the daughter of Aiah, made a tent in the field of Gibeah where the Gibeonites executed Saul’s sons. Rizpah sat on a rock from the beginning of the barley harvest until rain finally dropped from heaven. By day and by night, she sat under the sackcloth, keeping the fowl of the air and the beasts of the land from feasting on the carcasses of Saul’s sons (v. 10).

It was told to David what Rizpah had done (v. 11).

David arose and went to the land of Jabesh-Gilead and retrieved the bodies of Saul and Jonathan and Saul’s other two sons who had fallen in battle in the land of the Philistines. David rescued Saul’s head that had been severed from the corpse by the Philistines, but he left Saul’s armor in the house of their idols. The men of Jabesh-Gilead had graciously gone to the land of the Philistines by night after hearing what the Philistines had done in cutting off Saul’s head and placing his remains with Ashtoreth and their other idols. The men buried Saul’s remains with his three sons under a tree at Jabesh and fasted for seven days (v. 12).

David brought the bones of Saul and his sons to the land of Benjamin, then they went to the field of Gilead and took down the bones of Saul’s other seven sons (v. 13).

David buried all of the bones in the sepulchre of Kish. God entreated himself because of what Rizpah had done and ended the famine by causing rain to fall out of heaven (v. 14).

Introduction

The story of Rizpah is a compelling story that allows a brief look at the human condition and the total hopelessness of any remedy outside of the finished work of the cross. It is a story of faith, hope, love, and beauty that flow from the very heart of God. The painful, stark reality that man is rotten to the very core of his dark heart leads man to the feet of Jesus where redemption waits. The difficulties of man in coming to terms with his own wretched condition are a battle that every generation has tried to win, and none have been able to overcome. In this event in the field of Gibeah, seven of Saul’s sons were executed, and David was to blame.

Through Rizpah’s story, it is clear that man is too imperfect, even in the slightest, to perfect himself or even to see his own imperfection without the grace of God. At the same time, it is impossible for imperfect man to see the perfection of God without the grace of God. Through Rizpah, the loving, omnipotent perfect God shows to man the perfection offered only through his beloved Son. The Son had nothing in his nature that was imperfect. There was nothing in Jesus that the devil could take hold of, for Jesus was the perfect man, sent from God, a diamond against the black velvet of sin that had permeated the entire earth. As Saul’s sons hanged in the field of Gibeah, as their bodies rotted, Rizpah sat alone on a stone.

When Jesus came to man, he was treated as an outcast, a troublemaker, and an imposter among his own people. But he was the awesome avenger, the pricker of human consciences, and the omnipotent precious savior. He made himself a victim to absorb the blood lusts of man who was shackled by hatred, hypocrisy, and self- deception. He came in the hour of man’s greatest need. He came to give a new life through rebirth by the Spirit.

The wages of sin is death. Through Adam sin entered the world and death also. Every mother knows that eventually a separation, a breach, will occur between the mother and the child. Through Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, God gives to man a clear picture of the fate of man in the jaws of sin, superstitions, idolatry, and death. The picture is clear enough to see the inability of man to deliver himself. Through Adam, all men were as sheep heading to the slaughter and no man was able to intervene. Rizpah sat on a rock, draped about with sackcloth, refusing to let the beasts or the fowl eat the flesh of Saul’s sons. That’s all that she could do.

Rizpah, whose name means coal, was the mother of two of Saul’s sons. She helplessly watched as the new King David delivered her sons, as well as five other sons of Saul, over to the Gibeonites to be sacrificed to their gods, hoping to end three years of famine. The drama that played out in the field of Gibeah taught David a valuable lesson about the sin nature within himself, as well as in every man.

In the midst of this dark period, Rizpah shined forth. Rizpah’s story reveals a stark truth. The earth was cursed for Adam’s sake. Man was in checkmate, caught between a rock and a hard place. His soul and the soul of the earth were in a state of never-ending troubles.

Man’s condition made futile the attempts of man to heal himself. Man was in desperate straits, in need of rescue, and his need could not be met by earthly means.

The prophetic picture of a lump of coal buried in dirt, of no value, gives an understanding of the sons and daughters of Adam begotten in his own likeness. Rizpah represents the voiceless, powerless, helpless estates of women in a cursed world. Though mistreated, they did not blame, did not rail back, but suffered patiently. One day a voice cried out, Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The long-awaited horn of salvation had come to fulfill his oaths to Abraham and to David. A change had come upon the earth, arising from the obscure house of David. God in Christ had come to earth to deliver his people from the pain and shackles of sin.

The Spirit of the Lord was upon him. God had anointed him. He would preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to the captives, open the eyes of the blind, and set at liberty those who were bound. Women, clung to God’s Word, believed his promises and knew that God would never leave nor forsake them.

Women received a good report because, by faith, they too passed through the Red Sea as by dry land. They, like Rahab, perished not with those who believed not; they too saw Moses with the glory of God shining from his face. Women waited patiently in hope for the captain of salvation to appear, the one born of a virgin. His suffering made perfect his right to judge righteously the men of the earth. He is the fulfillment of God’s law, the fulfillment God’s oath, and the fulfillment of the better covenant through his blood.

Women were patient as they too journeyed through the wilderness. Women too were in the will and purpose of God. The silent cries of Sarah and Hagar, Leah and Rachel, Dinah and Tamar, and nameless others reached God’s ear. Their faith was strong as they received their dead, knowing that God had provided a better thing through the coming Son, the greater David. The endurance in suffering, by which the remnant of every generation partakes, is the fruit of the faith and love in the Father of the Son. He is the Father of Mercies and the God of all comfort in whom the hope of the redeemed rests.

Rizpah rested in the hope not seen, the steadfast hope that shined forth through her pain as she waited for the precious diamond of heaven.

The hope of Rizpah is the hope of all the faithful. Her hope is the same as all the elect, for all are one; they are the bride of Christ. They are earthen vessels carrying the precious hidden diamond. The hope of Rizpah is the hope of Mary Todd Lincoln and Edmond Booth. This hope is the eternal hope fulfilled only through the beloved Son of the true and living God. This hope is fed to God’s elect through his Holy Scriptures.

When Adam fell, the cursed ground began to fill with death as a trough fills with hog slop. Yet behind the deaths, there was an endless procession of generations; brand-new spiritual beings were born beyond the natural man’s eyes of flesh. The spiritual souls resting safely in Christ are God’s authentic witnesses to the prophetic parables that make up God’s providential, inevitable, and infallible letter to man.

The diamond that is dug out of the dark earth was hidden in a lump of coal. As the lump was filled with the sufferings of this world and was pressed beyond measure, the diamond was being formed, ready to be discovered in due time. Until the prophetic sovereign skirt of God spread over Rizpah as she sat in the field of Gibeah, she remained almost obscure. There was a brief mention of her in 2 Samuel 3. Rizpah stayed buried in the hovel of obscurity until a famine in the land prompted David to bow to the pagan practices of the Gibeonites. What Rizpah did was woke David up and entreated God to end the famine.

The story of Rizpah demonstrates the power of God’s Word to orchestrate the will and actions of man to align with God’s holy, prophetic pattern. For example, just as Jesus was the firstborn of many brothers, heaven is the firstborn of earth, and heavenly beings are the firstborn of the earthly beings. In the beginning, God created heaven and then earth, and in the same pattern, God formed Adam first and then Eve.

The story of Rizpah kindled a deeper digging into the rich ore of prophetic truths that lead to the one who is the truth—the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is both Savior and Lord, and until he is Savior, he cannot be Lord, and he cannot be Lord if he is not Savior. Just as God is both creator and redeemer; Jesus is both God and man.

Jesus was first the eternal Son of God who, upon his birth through the womb of woman, a virgin, became the Son of man. The vulnerable virgin, protected by the earth, willingly allowed God to use her vessel, the body of flesh, like an ass to bring forth a colt, which God yoked with himself in Christ to draw all men. Just as the Holy Spirit drew earth into forms called land masses from the primal void, the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and in the empty void of her womb, he formed the Christ child called Jesus, who was all God and all man. He changed Rizpah from a lump of coal to a precious diamond.

This Christ child, who grew in grace and wisdom, was the hope of Rizpah and all of God’s elect. The long lines of souls on the road to redemption are shown to follow the same prophetic pattern set forth by God from all eternity. The Bible is a prophetic book. This truth is the hope of the redeemed of all ages. It is the foreknowledge of God that is the solid rock that Rizpah sat on in the field of Gibeah.

Chapter 1

The name Rizpah means coal. When coal is dug from the earth’s recesses, it is black. Coal is formed from the deaths of trees and branches that have disintegrated and fallen to the earth. They eventually rotted deep in the dirt just as a man’s body, once dead, decays and rots in the grave. The body lies buried deep in the ground, hidden from the probing eyes of the curious, the publicity seekers, the body snatchers, and those who seek to desecrate the remains. It is free from the clutches of opportunists seeking to dishonor or abuse the corpse to remove body parts to sell for research or even human cannibalism. The body is safe from thieves and robbers and beyond the reaches of vultures flying in the sky and out of the reach of beasts that roam the earth in search of food.

Coal, its very name is a stark reminder that God cursed the ground for man’s sake. Its very existence is a poignant picture of this earth under the curse of God. Famine, starvation, poverty, disease, divorce, and death are all painted on this canvas of death. The portraits of all God’s creatures under the sun are ever-present reminders of the sad condition of man because of Adam’s transgression in eating fruit from the forbidden tree.

No matter the size and greatness of a tree trunk, once the tree is dead, the trunk eventually sinks into the ground and turns to coal. Saul stood head and shoulders above the other men of Israel, yet he eventually disintegrated into compose as his flesh went the way of all the earth and all that is earthly.

Rizpah sat on a rock in the midst of the field of Gibeah, the home of Saul, her husband, in the land of Benjamin. She spread a tent and sat on a rock and allowed neither the beasts by day or by night nor the vultures that flew above to feed on the carcasses of Saul’s sons, which included five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab. The bodies of these princes of Benjamin remained unburied until nothing remained but their bones. The heat of the sun bore down upon the harsh desert terrain by day, and the coolness of the night executed their mark of the dead flesh.

The soul that sinneth shall surely die is the inescapable lot that falls on every man. None are guiltless, and none can escape. God has weighed and pronounced his decree, which is an act of mercy toward the sons of Adam. Cemeteries located in vast fields and on ridges and hills remind us of our plight. Even potter’s fields of old only confirm the inevitability of every man, rich or poor. The old Adam is locked in the prophetic decree of death. The physical death is a metaphor of his demise.

God knows the horrors of death. The ancient Chinese etched into bones the writings of their hope in an after-life. God himself has given to all mankind the gift of eternity through the death and life of his only begotten Son. His flesh never saw corruption. His finished work in conquering sin, death, and the grave guarantees a new flesh and a new Adam.

These vile bodies of sin shall be changed into glorious bodies, and this is the hope that is the eternal destiny of all who are born again. The rest that is available beyond the veil is God’s gift to both Jew and Gentile, male and female, bond and free, rich and poor. This gift of salvation is our eternal rest, which begins when we are born of the Spirit of God.

It is the Spirit of God that began to move upon the face of a void and formless earth, bringing light and order. It is this Spirit that bloweth where it listeth. No man knows when the Spirit changes him, but it soon becomes evident when one has passed from death unto life eternal. Just as the wind blows as it will, how much more the Spirit of God? The movement of leaves is observable when the wind blows and the change in one born of the Spirit may be observable in matters of conflict or suffering, yet it is not man but God, who knows all things. The unsearchable riches of God, his love, his effectual grace and his power are beyond measure. In bodies of death, newborn men and women are born of the Spirit of God. The new Adam is incorruptible. He will not see death. He simply leaves the old corruptible body at death.

The sad and loving dedication of Rizpah helps one to see God gently caressing the eyes of the blind—that the spiritual eyes can behold the tender mercies of a loving God. He is not a cruel taskmaster with a raised whip. The Word of God gently prods man awake. The Word of God is nourishment, whether it is milk for the young or meat for those who are able to bear it. The Word quickens the spiritual senses to the things of God bringing into view in the Spirit the essence of a soul truly set free, freely liberated, and full of zeal, with a desire to sit at God’s feet. The vultures seek to find the doubts, the superstitions, and the remnants of the old Adam to feed on.

As Rizpah honored the bodies of the sons of Saul, now dead, she was honoring by faith the promise of God that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the seed of the serpent even though the heel of the seed of the woman would be bruised. The recompense of faith rested in the hope of this mother of Israel, though she did not fully comprehend nor grasp the way by which the enemy would be crushed. She believed her sons would ultimately live. She trusted in the God of Israel, the God who cannot lie, the only true and living God, the God who had kept them safe thus far.

He is the God of Abraham, Isaiah, and Jacob, the father of Benjamin. Rizpah’s rest was in the God of Benjamin by faith. God delivers from all evil. He redeems from death and hast not cast off his people. He causes them to triumph over their enemies. It was the Lord who looked after this lump of coal sitting on a rock by day and by night. It was the Lord who, in the darkness of the earth, was carefully molding this lonely chunk of rotting wood into a diamond. Just as a carpenter works alone in his woodshop carving wood, God worked in Rizpah’s heart. The carpenter did not hurry but worked with the piece of wood as though it was the only piece of wood. In his capable hands, he transformed that piece of wood into a brand-new creation, fit for the owner’s use.

The carpenter did always as the owner commanded, and if the finished product was unacceptable, whether alanine or a footstool, the carpenter would pay the owner and lovingly begin his project anew, refusing to be ashamed of his workmanship. A farmer piles up cow manure for his field and a florist in a greenhouse gently tends her violets. They are careful to keep watch as the delicate plants grow under the exact temperature and conditions. The carpenter carefully begins to mold and form the soft, delicate wood, artfully skilled in his craft. He takes his time as to not crush the wood; the exact pressure is used, but no more than what the wood can bear.

He is confident that this wood, when allowed to harden in the flames of persecution, will come forth as tough as the finest of diamonds. Purged of all vileness, it brings glory to the maker, the divine workman that need never be ashamed.

The carpenter, the diamond-cutter, the farmer, the potter and even the master builder and architect know that the blueprint is flawless, the diamond is perfect, the land is now plowed, and the building has a firm foundation, for he is the wise master builder. The foundation is more precious than gold, silver, or precious stones. The carpenter is confident that the finished work will be good.

Since the beginning of creation, God has had one plan for all mankind. From all eternity, God has held the ace card that outweighed, overadvantaged, and outvoted every obstacle, every weapon and every weakness of man. From all eternity, the Lord of Hosts knew that love would bring down the enemy and draw man back into his pasture. From the beginning, the divine master builder was building with love, drawing with faith, and securing a hope that will never fade.

In the United States of America, there is a diamond mine in the state of Arkansas. This mine is the only diamond mine that allows man to come in, to actually see the inside of this valuable underground treasure storage for diamonds. Rizpah, God’s little beam of light, gives all, by the spirit of God, a view of the goodly pearl, the pearl of great price, the pearl of truth bundled in this living parable of God’s grace.

The Bible is prophetic, and through the spiritual lens of the Spirit of God, the eternal truth of God is clearly seen. Adam and Eve stood naked before the seven-fold Spirit of Life as God himself covered them with skins before sending them out of paradise. Paradise is lost to those who are lost. Adam had uttered forth these words to God, We heard your voice and we were afraid, so we hid ourselves and covered ourselves because we were naked. Jesus, looking forward to the glory set before him, hanged naked on a cross, enduring the shame.

The procession of prophets from Adam to the greatest of the prophets John the Baptist, whose clarion voices cover the scope of biblical history, sweeps through time and space, waiting to be confirmed in every generation. Adam’s prophetic declaration that he and his wife were fearful, and therefore hiding from God, personifies every man until God, who set the moon for seasons and the sun to light the earth by day, calls forth through his eternal Word, Adam, where are you? The billions of Adams