Rizpah
Rizpah is Saul's concubine in the Old Testament .
etymology
The name Rizpah ( Hebrew רִצְפָּה) can probably be derived from the verb רצף razaf . The associated noun רֶצֶף rezef means " glow coal / glow stone". A connection to the neuhebr. רִצְפָּה "floor" does not exist. In the Septuagint the name is ρεσφα resfa .
biography
Rizpah was a daughter of Ajah and a concubine of Saul. Abner , Saul's general , had an affair with her, which Ishbaal accuses him of . Perhaps Abner was thereby claiming the throne. Rizpas herself only plays a passive role at this point, it is not clear whether she had reciprocated Abner's efforts so that she would be complicit ( 2 Sam 3.7 EU ).
Among the seven sons of Saul, whom David handed over to the Gibeonites because of Saul's blood guilt, there are also two sons of Rizpah, Armoni and Mefi-Boscheth ( 2 Sam 21.8 EU ). They are executed, the bodies remain unburied. Rizpah mourns, sitting in her mourning robe on a rock with the corpses, from the beginning of the harvest to the rainy season (around April to October) and thus protects them from birds and wild animals. When David learns of Rizpa's deed, he has the bones of Saul and Jonathan fetched to be buried with those of Saul's sons in Saul's family grave ( 2 Sam 21: 1–14 EU ).
literature
- Georg Hentschel: Rizpa. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.