Poole on 2 Samuel 21:10-14: Rizpah's Vigil over the Crucified

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Verse 10:[1]  And (2 Sam. 21:8; 3:7) Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, (see Deut. 21:23) 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.

Spread it for her, as a tent to dwell in; being informed that their bodies were not to be taken away speedily, as the course of the law was in other and ordinary cases, Deuteronomy 21:23, but were to continue there until God was entreated, and did remove the present judgment.  And God was herein pleased to dispense with his own law, that it might plainly appear that these were not put to death by David for politic reasons, as that he and his sons might be freed from competitors, which doubtless David’s enemies were ready to suggest; but by God’s special command, who was pleased to execute this judgment upon them, as partly and principally for the punishment of Saul’s sin, so secondarily for the stablishing of David’s throne to himself and to his seed for ever, as he had promised.  Upon the rock; in some convenient place in a rock, near adjoining.

[Until water dropped]  How long she kept these watches is not evident (Sanchez).  Until September, when the rains fall, namely, the latter rains (Rabbis in Sanchez).  See Joshua 3:15.  If it be so, she kept watch through a number of months, in a singular example of piety.  She was possessed of a superlatively manly heart, inasmuch as she was not at all daunted, either by the discharges and putrefaction of the corpses, and the stench exhaling thence, or by wild beasts, etc. (Menochius out of Sanchez).  Here she remained, beseeching the Lord, that because of the punishment of her sons He might turn away His wrath, and give rain, etc. (Munster).  Until water dropped, etc., and thus it appeared that God was placated:  for famine happens through drought (Grotius out of Munster, Vatablus, Piscator, Estius, Menochius).  It is signified that rain was soon given.  For the bodies of the crucified were not able to be left hanging (Estius).  Because the sin of Saul was hindering the rain, it is probable that not much after the crucifixion of these the rains fell (Menochius out of Sanchez).  It was not necessary to keep the bodies from wild beasts until September, since after so many months nothing would be left of them (Sanchez).

Until water dropped upon them out of heaven, that is, until they were taken down; which was not to be done till God had given rain as a sign of his favour, and a mean to remove the famine, which was caused by the want of it.  To rest on them, that is, on their carcasses.

[Nor beasts, etc.]  Hence I gather that crosses were not always tall; otherwise beasts had not been able to mutilate the corpses, unless the bodies were hanging near the ground.  So Lipsius thinks, Concerning the Cross[2] 2:13.  Martyrs on the cross were wont to be torn by wild beasts:  Eusebius’ Church History 5:1.  Thus Martial, On the Amphitheater 7:

Thus Laureolus offered his breast to the Caledonian bear,

Suspended from no feigned cross.

It is certain, that among the Gentiles the bodies of the condemned were left on the cross; hence that saying in Horace, Epistles 1:16, thou shalt not feed ravens on the cross (Sanchez).  Question:  Why do these bodies hang for so long a time, which were to be taken down from their crosses on the same day, according to Deuteronomy 21:23?  Responses:  1.  In that passage it is treated of one that on account of his own crime is crucified as punishment; but in this passage of those that are crucified on account of alien and public guilt, and so they are made an expiatory offering of the whole people to bring back the rain (Lapide out of Tostatus).  2.  This crucifixion was not done by the Hebrews, but by the Gibeonites (to whose will David relinquished this whole matter [Sanchez]), who were not bound by Hebrew law; just as Christ and the thieves condemned by a Roman judge would not have been taken down from their crosses on the same day in keeping with the law of the Jews, unless the Jews had obtained it from Pilate by petitions, John 19:31.  But the Gibeonites wanted to hang the bodies for so long a time, that there might be for a long time a public monument of the divine vengeance and of their protection, lest anyone should thereafter attempt anything similar against them (Tirinus out of Sanchez).  The Gentiles, although in other things they embraced the Jewish religion, were not bound to all the ceremonial and judicial laws (Osiander).  3.  God specifically wanted it thus to be done on this occasion.  He imposed laws on men, not on Himsel (Martyr).  God signified this His will through Nathan (Lyra).  The end of which was able to be, that thence all might know how hateful to God was the crime of a broken covenant previously sworn (Sanchez).  4.  The King decided to hang them from the cross until rain came, because that was a sign of the obtaining of divine mercy, for the winning of which these were hung, and they were asking for that in their own manner (Menochius).

Nor the beasts of the field; from which she might preserve herself and them by divers methods.

Verse 11:[3]  And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

It was told David; who heard it with so much approbation, that he thought fit to imitate her piety, being by her example provoked to do what hitherto he had neglected, to bestow an honourable interment upon the remains of Saul and Jonathan, and, with them, upon those that were now put to death, that the honour done to them herein might be some comfort to this dejected and disconsolate widow.

Verse 12:[4]  And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of (1 Sam. 31:11-13) Jabesh-gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan, where the (1 Sam. 31:10) Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa…

[And he carried off the bones of Saul, etc.]  Roused by the example of Rizpah (Lapide).  The imitation of good things is prescribed to us by God; and He wants us to imitate not only holy men, but also ants, Proverbs 6, and the fowls of the air, Matthew 6.  Many are so arrogant, that they do not deign to imitate anyone.  For they think themselves to be the wisest.  Both severity and στοργὴ/love, and indeed mercy, are pleasing to God (Martyr).  Thus David shows that he had forgotten the injuries inflicted upon himself by Saul, and that he recompenses good for evil[5] (Lapide).

[Who had stolen]  See 1 Samuel 31:12 (Piscator).

Verse 13:[6]  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 gathering the bones, etc.]  Hence it is perceived, that they, after they had been taken down from the cross, were burned, as the men of Jabesh had done to Saul, etc.  It is Brachylogy[7] (Piscator).

They gathered the bones, etc.:  Having first burnt off the flesh which remained upon them when they were taken down.  Compare 1 Samuel 31:10, etc.

Verse 14:[8]  And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in (Josh. 18:28) Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father:  and they performed all that the king commanded.  And after that (so Josh. 7:26; 2 Sam. 24:25) God was intreated for the land.

[They buried them with the bones of Saul, etc.]  There is a certain honor in being buried in the tombs of one’s ancestors, rather than elsewhere.  See 2 Samuel 2:32; 2 Chronicles 35:24 (Grotius).

[In the side[9]]  Of some hill outside the town of Gibeah, in accordance with the custom of the Hebrews, who had their tombs outside of town (Menochius).  ‎צֵלָע/Zelah is the proper name of a place:  thus Pagnine, Vatablus, Sà, and Salian (Menochius).  In Zelah (Montanus).  It is the name of a city, concerning which see in Joshua 18:28 (Malvenda).

Zelah; a place in Benjamin, mentioned Joshua 18:28.

[God was made favorable to the land again, ‎וַיֵּעָתֵ֧ר אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָאָ֖רֶץ [10]]  And God was reconciled to (was open to entreaty for [Montanus], was entreated for [Junius and Tremellius, Piscator]) the land (Pagnine, Syriac), the very land (Junius and Tremellius), that is, the land of the Israelites (Piscator), the inhabitants of the land (Arabic, Piscator).

[After these things (thus Pagnine, Montanus, Jonathan, Munster, Tigurinus), ‎אַחֲרֵי־כֵן]  Afterwards (Syriac, Jonathan), after that (Junius and Tremellius), that is, after they were hanged; for the relative is referred to the remoter antecedent.  See 1 Samuel 7:16 (Malvenda out of Junius).

After that; after those things were done which were before related, that is, after they were hanged up; for by that God was pacified, and not by their burial.  So the relative belongs to the remoter antecedent.  Or if this relate to what was last mentioned, the meaning is, that God was pleased to restore the blessing of plenty to the land.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎וַתִּקַּ֣ח רִצְפָּה֩ בַת־אַיָּ֙ה אֶת־הַשַּׂ֜ק וַתַּטֵּ֙הוּ לָ֤הּ אֶל־הַצּוּר֙ מִתְּחִלַּ֣ת קָצִ֔יר עַ֛ד נִתַּךְ־מַ֥יִם עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם מִן־הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וְלֹֽא־נָתְנָה֩ ע֙וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֜יִם לָנ֤וּחַ עֲלֵיהֶם֙ יוֹמָ֔ם וְאֶת־חַיַּ֥ת הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה לָֽיְלָה׃

[2] De Cruce.

[3] Hebrew:  ‎וַיֻּגַּ֖ד לְדָוִ֑ד אֵ֧ת אֲשֶׁר־עָשְׂתָ֛ה רִצְפָּ֥ה בַת־אַיָּ֖ה פִּלֶ֥גֶשׁ שָׁאֽוּל׃

[4] Hebrew: ‎וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ דָּוִ֗ד וַיִּקַּ֞ח אֶת־עַצְמ֤וֹת שָׁאוּל֙ וְאֶת־עַצְמוֹת֙ יְהוֹנָתָ֣ן בְּנ֔וֹ מֵאֵ֕ת בַּעֲלֵ֖י יָבֵ֣ישׁ גִּלְעָ֑ד אֲשֶׁר֩ גָּנְב֙וּ אֹתָ֜ם מֵרְחֹ֣ב בֵּֽית־שַׁ֗ן אֲשֶׁ֙ר תָּלוּ֥ם שָׁ֙ם֙ הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים בְּי֙וֹם הַכּ֧וֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּ֛ים אֶת־שָׁא֖וּל בַּגִּלְבֹּֽעַ׃

[5] See Romans 12:17-21.

[6] Hebrew:  ‎וַיַּ֤עַל מִשָּׁם֙ אֶת־עַצְמ֣וֹת שָׁא֔וּל וְאֶת־עַצְמ֖וֹת יְהוֹנָתָ֣ן בְּנ֑וֹ וַיַּ֣אַסְפ֔וּ אֶת־עַצְמ֖וֹת הַמּוּקָעִֽים׃

[7] That is, a concise form of expression.

[8] Hebrew:  ‎וַיִּקְבְּר֣וּ אֶת־עַצְמוֹת־שָׁא֣וּל וִיהוֹנָֽתָן־בְּ֠נוֹ בְּאֶ֙רֶץ בִּנְיָמִ֜ן בְּצֵלָ֗ע בְּקֶ֙בֶר֙ קִ֣ישׁ אָבִ֔יו וַֽיַּעֲשׂ֔וּ כֹּ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֖ה הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ וַיֵּעָתֵ֧ר אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָאָ֖רֶץ אַֽחֲרֵי־כֵֽן׃ פ

[9] Hebrew:  ‎בְּצֵלָע.  צֵלָע/zela can signify side.

[10] עָתַר signifies to pray or supplicate.