RIZPAH'S DETERMINATION TO UNDERSTAND THE HANGING

November 4, 2012
MF Blume

  Scripture Text:


2 Samuel 21:1-10  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. 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. 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:  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. 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.

Hosea 6:1-3  Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.  After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.   Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

I first preached this a week after 9-11 occurred.

God wants us to be able to know what to do in the state of pain and turmoil and troubles in life.
Imagine this MOTHER trying to come to grips with the devastating tragedy of her children being slain.
·    Mothers are mothers, no matter how bad or wrong their children are.
·    They brought those children into the world.
·    And the agony that must have hit Rizpah when her sons really did not do anything, anyway!
·    Imagine her trying to come to grips with the situation.
·    What a horror.
·    No child should have to die before their parents do.

This message will help us all in our struggles and pains.

We need to bring the cross into the visible world where we hurt and suffer.

Israel had a famine hit the nation for three full years.
·    David realized God was not blessing the nation.
·    He prayed and God informed him that Saul had committed evil and it brought a curse on the land that was not resolved.
·    Justice was never served for the crimes Saul committed.
·    Many GIBEONITES were killed by Saul.
·    If you recall a message I preached a few weeks ago about false bread and wine, you will remember that the GIBEONITES fooled Israel into thinking they were ambassadors from a far country, and not actually people from the land of Canaan whom Israel was going to destroy.
·    They made Israel vow a promise to them that they would be protected from any harm.
·    They used old broken wineskins and moldy bread to convince the Israelites they were from such a far country outside Canaan that their fresh provisions turned bad due to the length of their journey.
·    By the time Joshua realized the truth, it was too late.
·    They already vowed to protect the Gibeonites.

Saul violated that promise years later.

God did not inform David of what to do, so David went to the Gibeonites and asked what he could do to settle their dispute.
·    David knew that justice served for this unfair act of Saul’s would cause God to bless the land again.
·    The Gibeonites did not ask for money or gold or silver.
·    And Saul’s family descendents continued to be wicked people like Saul, because God called them a BLOODY HOUSE.
·    They carried on in the wicked spirit of Saul.

The Gibeonites demanded 7 of Saul’s sons to be hanged to serve justice.
·    Two of the seven were sons of Saul’s concubine named Rizpah.
·    And the bible stops and focuses on this little mother who obviously suffered torment and anguish.
·    No one can know the sorrow over the loss of a loved one LIKE A MOTHER.
·    A mother’s sorrow must be the most extreme there could be.
·    After David searched to God for the answer to the curse on the land, this little mother searched to God to come to grips with the deaths of her boys.
·    She sat in sackcloth and ashes which was the tradition back then during times of fasting.
·    SOME SUGGEST SHE STAYED THERE FOR MONTHS.

This entire act of hers was indication that SHE MADE UP HER MIND SHE WOULD UNDERSTAND WHY THIS HAPPENED.
·    And she sought God to learn why.

The bible informs of something that proves very symbolic in all of this.
·    The sons were hanged in a specific time.
·    At the beginning of the barley harvest.
·    Remember that the famine in the land was the problem that made David reach out to God for answers.
·    So when the beginning of harvest started, it seems David offered the lives of these sinful family members as a sacrifice to God, because he did it at the start of the time of Harvest as a plea for God to accept this justice and bless by sending rain.

Notice this:  “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.”

She stayed there fasting UNTIL WATER DROPPED DOWN FROM HEAVEN.
·    This is not saying that the rain made her uncomfortable, so she gave up.
·    She would not have fasted so long if she would give up over a little rain.
·    SHE CAME TO GRIPS WITH THE SITUATION and accepted it, and that is why she stayed til then.
·    The moment she came to grips with her dilemma was ALSO THE MOMENT GOD WAS SATISFIED WITH JUSTICE BEING SERVED when He started to BLESS THE LAND AGAIN.

She looked and looked at the hanged bodies until she resolved the issue in her heart.

She battled through the pain and the agony and bewilderment.
·    She held on in a time of seeking God during it all.
·    And God came through for her at the same time BLESSINGS came on the land.
·    THIS SHOWS US THAT BREAKING THROUGH OUR PROBLEMS by revelation of the HANGING OF THE CROSS is actually bringing blessings BACK TO US AGAIN.

When troubles come our way, we must be determined to understand in order to get hold of ourselves and the situation we’re in.

As the land was cursed due to Saul’s actions, MANKIND IS CURSED due to Adam’s sin.

Romans 5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Romans 5:19  For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

But along with the reference to this curse,. We read ONE MAN JESUS CHRIST OBEYED GOD AND MANY WERE MADE RIGHTEOUS!

How did he do this?

The way to understand the CROSS requires us to know what Moses said about curse.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23  And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Someone who is HANGED is considered to be ACCURSED.
·    Jesus would STAND AS A CURSE in order to PAY the price of death for the rest of the human race who would accept that by faith.
·    A man who is cursed has to be removed by death through HANGING.
·    Jesus did nothing to deserve being accursed.
·    BUT HE DID IT BECAUSE HE WAS TAKING OUR ACCURSED STATUS.

Galatians 3:13-14 Christ hath redeem-ed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

He became a curse FOR US so the BLESSING COULD COME AGAIN.
·    Note that the LAND WAS ACCURSED and David wanted the BLESSING to return!
·    The BLESSING CAME BACK after the boys hanged there.
·    RAIN is considered a BLESSING.

Deuteronomy 28:12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

SEVEN OF SAUL’S SONS were hanged.
·    The number SEVEN means ALL.
·    That FULLNESS satisfied God’s judgment.
·    THE CURSE WAS REMOVED BY THE HANGING.
·    That represented THE CURSE REMOVED FROM MANKIND BY JESUS’ CROSS.
·    God was SATISFIED and SENT THE RAIN!

Isaiah 53:10-11 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Look at how CHRIST’S RESURRECTION on the THIRD DAY is associated in prophecy with BLESSING OF RAIN!

Hosea 6:1-3  Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

The third day saw US RAISED!
·    We will live.
·    This means there must have been a DEATH in US!
·    Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection were all for us to experience a death, burial and resurrection!
·    SO WE WERE RAISED with Jesus!
·    WE LIVE.
·    Like Rizpah, you have to KEEP LOOKING AT THE CROSS UNTIL YOU GET STRUCK WITH A REVELATION!
·    You let the truths of the cross sink in and sin in until it hits you.
·    You hear people tell you that you can have victory over life’s struggles.
·    But they’re just words to you.
·    YOU NEED that to hit you, yourself!
·    You need to pore over the truths that the bible teaches about the cross.
·    Go over what we’ve preached week after week for months about what the cross DID FOR YOU!
·    YOU were raised!
·    You died with Jesus and resurrected with Him!
·    LET THAT SINK IN until it strikes a chord in your heart and you GET IT!

When it hits you, then all the struggles suddenly seem like NOTHING!
·    You meditate on the truths of the cross and concentrate on what they mean to you.
·    You realize you died with Jesus, and that means you were freed from the power of sin.
·    He that is dead is freed from sin and its dominating force over you.
·    AND YOU DIED TO SIN THROUGH DYING WITH JESUS.
·    That means that SIN IS NOW UNDER YOUR POWER!
·    You have the power and authority to rebuke, and bind the devil and command the power of God Almighty against Him.
·    Whatever damage sin has done to your home or your family, or in sickness, YOU HAVE POWER to stop it.
·    When this truth hits you, it explodes faith in your heart.
·    And THAT EXPLOSION OF FAITH destroys all fear and worry and doubt.
·    It supercharges you to strike out at your surroundings and conquer them.

And like I said last week, sometimes God does not want you to be freed from a tribulation or trial.
·    But this explosion of faith changes you from depression to DOMINION.
·    And you CAN GLIDE THROUGH THIS TRIAL with JOY AND HAPPINESS.
·    THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH.
·    And when you get a revelation of the power of the cross, YOU DRAW WATERS FROM THE WELLS OF SALVATION WITH JOY!

Sometimes VICTORY is being able to take anything handed out to you because your faith does not allow it to discourage you nor get you down!
·    Blessings will come like the former and latter rain altogether!
·    And if those blessings do not include deliverance from the problem itself, they bring deliverance from the depression and the discouragement.

God takes your discouragement and throws it back 2000 years ago to the cross where Jesus died.

RAINS represent the SPIRIT OF GOD.
·    We’re made from the dust of the earth and the RAINS REFRESH US!
·    LIFE RETURNS.
·    THIS IS RESURRECTION LIFE!
·    RETURN, RETURN RETURN, Hosea said.
·    RESURRECTION is a return to the DOMINION God gave Adam.

A harvest speaks of the GARDEN BLESSINGS.

She fought the birds and beasts from devouring the flesh of her boys.
“and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.”

This is the same thing Abraham did when he made a sacrifice to God.

Genesis 15:8-13  And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 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. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 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;

While Abraham waited after his sacrifice, before the answer came, fowls came to devour the sacrifice.
·    This speaks of the enemy coming to ROB THE TRUTHS of the cross from your heart so you do not grasp them and get a revelation.
·    He has to interfere before you muse on the word long enough until it strikes you with revelation.

What do the fowls represent?

Luke 8:5  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 .

Jesus explained the symbols of the story.

Luke 8:12  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.

The fowls speak of the devils who come to steal away the words preached.

·    The seeds are the words preached.
·    And wayside soil is soil beside the furrowed rows where the seeds can successfully germinate.
·    This soil is the hearts of people who are not determined to understand, and continue to suffer and agonize in a cursed existence.
·    They hear the word and their hearts are caught up in the distracting pathways of life.
·    The devil can easily come and steal away the words of truth and keep us in sorrow.

·    It takes time.
·    It takes determination.

Rizpah, in effect, drove any devils away from her thoughts that would try to remove the picture in her mind of the boys hanging there.

·    She was determined to resolve the dilemma.
·    And her determination to know paid off, and it was just then that the rain fell!    
·    The blessing hit!
·    Her life was changed and the problems were solved.

We need to look at the cross no matter what problem we face in life.

Make up your mind that no devil is going to rob you of the victory revelation that needs to hit you, that you know WILL COME if you remain determined to understand.
·    And then it will come!
·    God even allows for distractions and demons to try to steal the word from your hearts.
·    He tests you to see if you are determined enough to find the will of God more than anything else in life.
·    He could drive them away Himself, but He wants to know if you seek first His Kingdom or not.