Rizpah

 *Rizpah* - _a mother's cry for justice_

🪶She was nothing but a possession, never a wife but a concubine with no legal rights. Amasa too exploited her for his own benefits (2 Sam 3:6-8). 

🌿She became a widow, with no one to support her. 

The only comfort she had was in her two sons - Armoni and Mephibosheth but, they were cruelly taken away (2 Sam 21:8) because of their father's sin.

🔅There was no one to argue for her, for *who can stand against the king and a society blaming her children for a drought?*

🪶People blame God for this injustice, but did God order the hanging of the 7 descendants of Saul? *NO!*

🌿David consulted God, after the three-year famine (2 Sam 21:1) but when it came to solving the problem, David consulted the Gibeonites (pagans) and not God (2 Sam 21:5-6). Killing 7 innocent men and not allowing their bodies to be buried was an evil pagan act. David could not interfere because he had rashly told them that he would do whatever they wanted (2 Sam 21:4).

🪶Knowing she would not get justice at human hands; this broken woman took up a vigil at the foot of the stakes on which the 7 men had been displayed. She was determined that the birds and animals would not eat the bodies as this was the ultimate disgrace (Deut 28:26b).

🌿She lived there for nearly 6 months (2 Sam 21:10 states that this took place from the beginning of harvest until the start of the late rains, which is a 6-month period). 

🔅It was not easy for she was driving away predators, constantly alert, not even able to sleep or rest in her duty. It was not a pleasant job, for the bodies would have been decaying in front of her eyes.

🪶 *She persevered until the rains came, signalling the end of the drought.* It was only at this moment that David moved; feeling remorse for his callousness, he *buried the bones of the 7 men, along with Saul and his sons in the tomb of his father, Kish* (2 Sam 21:14).

🌿Notice that vs 14 tells us that it was _only after this act of compassion, that God answered the prayers of the people, for the land !_

🔅Some people go through such situations, where those who should protect them betray them. They have nothing with which to fight back like Rizpah – no money, no power, no influence… The only comfort they have is that God is watching. At the right time, He will make a move filled with compassion, to mete out true justice.

✨ *If you are in a Rizpah-like situation, don’t give up. Do what you can. Keep praying for justice. God will answer your prayers. It may take 6 long months or years for no one knows His timing. But get up each day, knowing that His justice will come.*

✨ _Let us pray for such Rizpahs today. Let us pray that the God of Justice moves to right the wrongs that are perpetuated daily on this earth_. Stay blessed.

Adeline Albert