Grace Gems

I am constantly challenged and moved by my daily diet of Grace Gems.  The men of God who have gone before me are mentors and teachers to me and I am wise to learn from them.  Below, I have reposted a daily feed I received from Grace Gems as well as the full text surrounding the verse mentioned in the post.  Read the section in its context and then read the article.  Be challenged to walk worthy of the calling to which God has called you.

My Prayers are with you...

2 Samuel 21:1-14 (English Standard Version)

David Avenges the Gibeonites

1Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David(A) sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, "There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death." 2So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but(B) of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3And David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless(C) the heritage of the LORD?" 4The Gibeonites said to him, "It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel." And he said, "What do you say that I shall do for you?" 5They said to the king, "The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the LORD at(D) Gibeah of Saul,(E) the chosen of the LORD." And the king said, "I will give them."
7But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of(F) the oath of the LORD that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8The king took the two sons of(G) Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab[a] the daughter of Saul, whom(H) she bore to(I) Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 9and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest,(J) at the beginning of barley harvest.

10(K) Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. 11When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead,(L) who had stolen them from the public square of(M) Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. 13And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in(N) Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that(O) God responded to the plea for the land.





Those ghastly corpses might well have affrighted Rizpah!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Then Rizpah, the mother of two of the men, spread sackcloth on a rock and stayed there the entire harvest season. She prevented vultures from tearing at their bodies during the day, and stopped wild animals from eating them at night." 2 Samuel 21:10

If the love of a woman to her slain sons, could make her prolong her mournful vigil for so long a period--shall we be weary of considering the sufferings of our blessed Lord? She drove away the vultures--and shall not we chase away those worldly and sinful thoughts which defile our minds? Away, you evil birds! Leave the sacrifice alone!

Rizpah bore the scorching heat of summer, the night dews and the rains, unsheltered and alone. Sleep was chased from her weeping eyes--for her heart was too full for slumber. Behold how she loved her children! Shall Rizpah thus endure--and shall we give up at the first little inconvenience or trial? Are we such cowards--that we cannot bear to suffer with our Lord? She even chased away the wild beasts, with courage unusual in her gender--and will not we be ready to encounter every foe for Jesus' sake?

Her children were slain by other hands than hers--and yet she wept and watched. What ought we to do--who by our sins, have crucified our Lord! Our obligations are boundless, our love should be fervent, and our repentance thorough!

Those ghastly corpses might well have affrighted Rizpah! 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 Savior! To abide by His cross--will be our solace.