Rizpah

6The two families kept fighting. During that time Abner, the leader of Saul's army, grew more and more powerful among Saul's people.

And it came to pass, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul.

7Saul had a woman named Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. She was one of his wives, but with a lower place in the family. Ishbosheth, Saul's son, asked Abner, "Why did you sleep with my father's wife?"

And Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and Ishbosheth said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father’s concubine?

NoteA woman like Rizpah belonged to the king alone. So people thought a man who took the old king's wife wanted to be king himself. That is why Ishbosheth was upset.

8Abner became very angry at what Ishbosheth said. He answered, "Am I some worthless dog working for Judah? All this time I have stayed loyal to your father Saul's family, his brothers, and his friends. I have not handed you over to David. And now you blame me about this woman!"

Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ishbosheth, and said, Am I a dog’s head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me to day with a fault concerning this woman?

NoteCalling someone a dog's head was a strong insult. Dogs then were not pets. They ran wild and ate garbage. Judah was the part of the land where David was king.

9Abner said, "May God punish me very badly if I do not help David now. The LORD made a promise to David, and I will help make it come true."

So do God to Abner, and more also, except, as the LORD hath sworn to David, even so I do to him;

NoteWhen you see LORD in big letters, it stands for God's own name. It is the special name God gave to his people.

10"God promised to take the kingdom away from Saul's family. He promised to make David king over Israel and Judah, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south."

To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba.

NoteDan was the town farthest north in the land. Beersheba was the town farthest south. Naming both means the whole country, top to bottom.

11Ishbosheth could not say one word back to Abner. He was afraid of him.

And he could not answer Abner a word again, because he feared him.

1While David was king, there was no food for three years in a row. Crops failed year after year. David asked the LORD why. The LORD said, "It is because of Saul and his family. Saul killed the people of Gibeon."

Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

NoteA famine is a long time when crops will not grow. People go hungry because there is not enough food. When the story says David "enquired of the LORD," it means he asked God a question. Kings did this through a priest, a man whose job was to serve God and help people talk to him.

2So King David called the people of Gibeon and talked with them. The Gibeonites were not Israelites. They were the last of a people called the Amorites. Long ago Israel had made a solemn promise to them. But Saul had tried to kill them, because he cared only for Israel and Judah.

And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)

NoteLong before this, the people of Gibeon had made a deal with Israel. Israel promised in God's name never to hurt them. A promise made that way was meant to last forever. Saul broke it when he tried to kill them.

3David asked them, "What can I do for you? How can I make this wrong right? Then you can ask God to bless the people who belong to him."

Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?

Note"How can I make this wrong right?" is one word in the old text: atonement. It means doing something to fix a wrong you or your family did. Back then, a family who lost someone could say what would make things right again.

4The Gibeonites said, "We do not want silver or gold from Saul's family. And we may not just kill any man in Israel." David said, "Tell me what you want, and I will do it."

And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.

NoteIn those days a family could take silver or gold instead. It was a payment for someone who had been killed. The Gibeonites said no to money.

5They said to the king, "Saul was the man who destroyed us. He made a plan to wipe us out so none of us would be left anywhere in Israel.

And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,

6So give us seven men from his family. We will hang them before the LORD at Gibeah, Saul's own town. Saul was the man the LORD once chose to be king." The king said, "I will give them to you."

Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.

NoteGibeah was the town Saul came from. Long ago, people thought a whole family shared the blame for what one man did. That is why Saul's sons and grandsons were asked for.

7But the king kept Mephibosheth safe. He was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of Saul. David saved him because of the promise he and Jonathan had made before the LORD.

But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

NoteJonathan was Saul's son and David's closest friend. The two of them had promised, with God listening, to look after each other's families. David kept that promise here.

8The king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons Rizpah had borne to Saul. Rizpah was the daughter of Aiah. He also took five sons of Saul's daughter, whom she had borne to Adriel. Adriel was the son of Barzillai from Meholah.

But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

NoteOld copies of this book do not all say the same name here. Some say Michal, and some say her sister Merab. Both were daughters of Saul.

9He handed the seven men over to the Gibeonites. They hanged them on the hill before the LORD. All seven died together. It happened at the start of harvest time, when the barley was first cut.

And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

NoteBarley is a grain, like wheat, that people ground up to make bread. It was cut in the spring, near the start of the growing year.

10Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took rough cloth and spread it on a rock. She stayed there from the start of harvest until rain fell from the sky. She would not let birds land on the bodies by day. She would not let wild animals near them by night.

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

NoteRough cloth means sackcloth, scratchy cloth people wore when they were very sad. Rizpah spread it out to sit on. Guarding the bodies from birds and animals was her way of caring for her sons. And rain falling at last meant the dry years were over.

11Someone told David what Rizpah had done. She had been one of Saul's wives, but with a lower place in his house.

And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

12Then David went and got the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. He got them from the men of Jabesh-gilead. Those men had taken the bodies from the town square of Beth-shan. The Philistines had hung them there after they killed Saul at Mount Gilboa.

And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:

NoteThe Philistines were a people who lived near the sea. They fought against Israel again and again. Long before this they had killed Saul and hung his body up in a town so everyone would see. The men of Jabesh-gilead took it down because Saul had once saved their town.

13David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan back from that place. They also gathered the bones of the seven men who had been hanged.

And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.

14They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan in the land of Benjamin, at a town called Zelah. They laid them in the grave of Kish, Saul's father. They did everything the king had told them to do. After that, God answered the prayers for the land.

And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.

NoteA grave like this was a small cave where one family laid their dead. Being buried with your father and grandfather was a way of coming home.