RIZPAH AND THE HANGING OF OUR REMAINING FLESHLY WORKS

2 Samuel 21:1-6  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. 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.) 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? 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.   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, 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.

2 Samuel 21:8  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,

2 Samuel 21:10-14  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. And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done . 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: 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. 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.

When David was king a famine hit Israel for three years.

• Saul's wicked kingship had ended and he was dead.
• But when David asked God why they were not blessed with rain and a famine was persisting, God told Him it was due to Saul and his BLOODY HOUSE.
• During Saul's reign, he slew 85 innocent men of the Gibeonites, whom Israel swore an oath the always protect.
• This oath went back to the time of Joshua when they entered Canaan in Joshua 9.
• The bible does not say when he slew these men.

When Saul asked the Gibeonites what he could do to repay them, they said they wanted to hang 7 of Saul's remaining sons.

• Two of those sons were of a concubine of Saul named RIZPAH, and 5 others were from Michal, Saul's daughter - grandchildren.

Rizpah was obviously so distraught about her two sons being taken and hanged, that she went to where they were hanged and refused to leave, day and night.

• She drove away the scavenger birds at daytime and beasts at night, to leave those bodies intact until they were properly buried.

David let them hang, since the rain had not come still.

Notice the curse was not immediately lifted when these boys were hanged.

They say it was from Passover until October that she sat there and would not leave.


Let's go back a little and see what happened when Saul died.

1 Samuel 31:2-6  And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.

Note verse 6 emphasizes Saul died with his three sons the very same day.

1 Samuel 31:8-10 KJV  And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa.  (9)  And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.  (10)  And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan.

The hanged him against the wall.

So he was hanged just as his 7 other sons were hanged years later.

They did not use a noose in those days to do what they called "hang" people.

• They fastened them up by their hands in various ways.
• It was called gibbeting.
• MUCH LIKE THE CRUCIFIXION.

1 Samuel 31:11-13 KJV  And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul;  (12)  All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.  (13)  And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

What was done to Saul was done to the seven sons of Saul.

• God made sure of that.
• He moved upon the Gibeonites to demand a hanging and coincided that with Saul's hanging.

So there is a picture of the cross in all of this.

Saul's death and hanging represents the crucifixion that we experienced when we were saved.

Romans 6:3-6 KJV  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  (4)  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  (5)  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:  (6)  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Our salvation occurs as we are crucified with Jesus, because His crucifixion was judgment for nothing He did, but for all of our sins.

• He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
• So the old man of our old lives as sinners was destroyed.
• This was so we could be redeemed.
• When we were saved, we were crucified.

Saul's death and hanging represent our salvation when our old man died.

But Saul's three sons died the same day.

• Special emphasis is put upon that same day aspect.
• If Saul is our old man, then the sons of Saul would be works of the flesh, or sinful activities produced because of the OLD MAN sinner we used to be.

My grandfather is a classic example of how some works of the flesh are immediately destroyed the moment our old man is destroyed when we first get saved.

• His drunkenness and alcoholism was a legend around the place he lived.
• His family had accumulated a relatively fine little fortune with two farms that he actually drank away in buying liquor.
• And he could not quit.
• But when he saw his eldest son, William, get saved, William was so changed that after my grandfather threatened him to move out of hte house, he went to hear the gospel, himself.
• And grampy was saved and was absolutely set free from alcoholism and addiction.
• You could say the old man died along with two of his sons, alcoholism and addiction.

Many of us can testify to being freed from former works of the flesh, and offspring of the old man when we were first saved.

• But after Saul and his three sons were dead, other sons were still alive who actually brought a curse upon Israel for three years, when no rain fell and famine hit.
• Just as with Saul's house, though some of our old man's offspring of works of the flesh were removed at the same time the cross crucified our old man, there are several works of the flesh that do not belong to our new Christianity that still are alive and well.
• AND THESE THINGS HINDER THE BLESSINGS OF GOD FROM FALLING UPON OUR LIVES.

Just as Saul and the three sons were HANGED, the HANGING is required for the 7 other sons that are still alive.

• 7 means completeness or fullness.
• God wants to completely rid us of the rest of the works of the flesh THAT CARRIED OVER from our lives before our salvation.
• And He wants to do it by the same work of the cross that initially saved us to begin with.

When Gal 5 lists the works of the flesh, we read:

Galatians 5:24 KJV  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

This is in a chapter of the works of the flesh!

• The bible says we can commit works of the flesh after being saved.
• But they who are Christ's HAVE crucified the flesh with its lusts.

God need not lift another finger to provide any further means of solving these lingering works of the flesh than by the cross that already death with everyone else's old men and all their works of the flesh, including our other works of the flesh that stopped when we were first saved.

• It is just that we REQUIRE FAITH in that same finished work to deal with these remaining little monsters.

Rizpah sat there by her sons for months!

• The bible says the rain did not start just because David let them get hanged.

Imagine Rizpah's purpose to stay there that long.

• SHE WAS TRYING TO COME TO GRIPS WITH IT ALL.
• Why did God require this?
• Why her sons?
• Imagine the anger, the frustration and the sorrow and the whole storm of emotions she must have experienced as she stayed and stayed and stayed there.

She drove off all the birds and ravenous beasts.

The bible mentions a similar picture here:

Genesis 15:10-13 KJV  And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.  (11)  And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.  (12)  And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.  (13)  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Genesis 15:17 KJV  And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

Abram drove away beasts from eating the sacrifices he made.

• And suddenly something shone like a light and a furnace as God manifested in fire like a lamp.

Luke 8:5 KJV  A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

Luke 8:12 KJV  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

It is like the hanging represented the work of the cross that slew our old man as well as some of the works of our flesh.

• And we need a real revelation to sink in, and that takes time, so that the same power of the cross can remove all the remaining works of the flesh we still struggle with long after we are saved.
• And as we put forth an effort to COME TO GRIPS WITH THE CROSS in order to see victory, like Rizpah tried to come to grips with the deaths of her sons, the devil would come along and try to devour the picture before us, SO WE DO NOT GET THE REVELATION.

It's like the seed sown that does not go into the heart.

• Satan knows that seed can give revelation to a soul and cause LIFE to come forth.
• So he tries to ensure it NEVER gets into the heart if it is not there already. by stealing the word away.

We need a revelation of the cross so that it sparks faith in our hearts and we finally "get it" in its work to remove the rest of our works of the flesh as well as what it already rid us from.

• Rizpah represents someone focusing on the work of the cross until she gets a revelation and THEREBY COMES TO GRIPS with the reality and the need of the cross.
•  And she drives away the enemy that tries to steal it from her heart before she gets the revelation.
• Abram drove away the scavengers until finally GOD MANIFESTED and he got the revelation.

Notice that God told Abram "KNOW OF A SURETY..." after Abram ensured the sacrifice not be devoured.

• When we ensure the devil does not steal our focus away from getting the revelation, by getting the thought of the sacrifice and the cross out of our minds, we continue to brood over the thought.
•  And the more we seek understanding by FOCUSING upon the TRUTH of the "hanging", desiring the come to grips with it all, IT WILL HIT US and when it does we get an explosion of FAITH, and believe the kind of belief that God needs in order to work a miracle in our hearts and CRUCIFY THE REST OF THE WORKS OF THE FLESH quite supernaturally!

It's the same pattern for prayer for a great need.

• Much of our time spent in prayer is required to simply get our hearts focused on the need so that we increase so much faith until we believe God WILL WORK.
• God cannot move until our faith is great.
• And we drive away fowls of the air that try to keep us from looking at the truth of how God can answer and give a miracle.
• It's even how preachers get revelations from God.
• So many distractions can occur and redirect us away from focus on the TRUTH.

After months, Rizpah finally satisfied her desire to settle it and come to grips with it.

• She watched those carcases decay and, in the heat of the famine all summer long, they decayed and eroded away quickly.
• We need to grow in faith and thereby watch those works of the flesh decay.
• More and more they erode away.
• Finally we have full faith and we reach that breaking point past the flesh barrier, and BLESSINGS EXPLODE!

David was told was Rizpah was doing.

• He sent to Jabesh-Gilead for the bones of Saul and the three sons, and took the bones of the seven other sons and buried them all int eh same plae.

It is a powerful revelation that the same cross and the same tomb that destroyed my old man and the works of the flesh that ended the moment I got saved is the same cross and tomb that deals with the works of the flesh I still have remaining.

• As important as it was for the bible to EMPHASIZE Saul and the three sons died the same day, it was important that it also EMPHASIZE the little detail that the bones of Saul and the three sons were buried in the same place all the other 7 other sins that still lived after were buried together.
• The message is that your revelation victory required to end the remaining works of the flesh has to do with how in reality, the same cross that occurred long ago and the same tomb where you were buried with Christ when you were first saved actually dealt with all the rest of the works of the flesh you still experienced later.
• It's just that until you had FAITH in THAT ALL INCLUSIVE CROSS (inclusive of not only your sins and old man, but works of the flesh), God could not REALIZE the end of those works.
• HE NEEDED YOUR FAITH FOR EVERYTHING, not just your sins and your salvation and SOME works of the flesh, before He could realize it for you in the real world.
• You had faith for SOME, and the most important part was for salvation.
• But to believe God to REMOVE ALL THE WORKS OF THE FLESH from your life is something not many people ever get.
• But we can get it.
• RIZPAH shows us the key!

PERSIST.

• Drive away the devils that try to steal it from your heart when you persist.
• The devil knows the revelation will get to you if he does not get those precious truth seeds away from your heart.

Luke 8:10-11 KJV  And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.  (11)  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

Matthew 13:19 KJV  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

Truths of the cross are indeed word of the Kingdom!

• And when we do not understand it, the devil seeks to remove it, OR ELSE WE WILL UNDERSTAND IT and he knows it!!