SEV Biblia, Chapter 21:10
¶ Tomando luego Rizpa hija de Aja un saco, se lo tendió sobre el peñasco, desde el principio de la siega hasta que llovió sobre ellos agua del cielo; y no dejó a ninguna ave del cielo asentarse sobre ellos de día, ni bestias del campo de noche.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 21:10
Verse 10. Rizpah-took sackcloth] Who can read the account of Rizpah's maternal affection for her sons that were now hanged, without feeling his mind deeply impressed with sorrows? Did God require this sacrifice of Saul's sons, probably all innocent of the alleged crime of their father? Was there no other method of averting the Divine displeasure? Was the requisition of the Gibeonites to have Saul's sons sacrificed to God, to be considered as an oracle of God? Certainly not; God will not have man's blood for sacrifice, no more than he will have swine's blood. The famine might have been removed, and the land properly purged, by offering the sacrifices prescribed by the law, and by a general humiliation of the people. Until water dropped upon them] Until the time of the autumnal rains, which in that country commence about October. Is it possible that this poor broken-hearted woman could have endured the fatigue, (and probably in the open air,) of watching these bodies for more than five months? Some think that the rain dropping on them out of heaven means the removal of the famine which was occasioned by drought, by now sending rain, which might have been shortly after these men were hanged; but this by no means agrees with the manner in which the account is introduced: "They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. And Rizpah-took sackcloth, and spread it for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest, until water dropped upon them out of heaven." No casual or immediately providential rain can be here intended; the reference must be to the periodical rains above mentioned.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 10. And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth , etc.] Both as a token of mourning for her sons, and as fittest to defend from the weather, the heat by day of cold by night: and spread it for her upon the rock ; the hill on which her sons were hanged; this she spread as a canopy or tent to sit under, and be covered with it; not to cover the bodies with it, but herself, and where she sat to mourn the loss of her sons, and to watch their bodies, that they might not be devoured by birds and breasts of prey, as after observed: and here she sat from the beginning of harvest until water dropped on them out of heaven ; that is, as the Jews say f356 , from the sixteenth of Nisan, when barley harvest began, to the seventeenth of Marchesvan, when the former rain fell; that is, from the beginning of April to the beginning of October: but it is not likely that she continued so long watching the bodies, nor would there be any need of it to keep the birds and beasts from them; for after they had hung so many months, there would be nothing left for them; but rather the meaning is, that she continued there until it pleased God to send rain from heaven, which had been restrained, and a famine came upon it, because of the ill usage of the Gibeonites: and very probably the order from the king was, that the bodies should hang till rain came, that it might be observed what was the reason of their suffering; and no doubt Rizpah sat there praying that rain might come, and which, as Abarbinel thinks, came in a few days after, though not usual in summertime; but this was an extraordinary case, as in ( 1 Samuel 12:17,18); and was done to show the Lord was entreated for the land; and so Josephus says f357 , that upon the hanging up of these men, God caused it to rain immediately, and restored the earth to its former fruitfulness. According to the law in ( Deuteronomy 21:22,23), the bodies should have been taken down and buried the same day: but these men suffered not for their own personal, sins, but for the sins of others, and to avert a public calamity, and therefore must hang till that was removed; nor were they executed by men bound by that law; and besides their continuing on the tree was according to the will of God, till he was entreated, who could dispense with this law; to which may be added, the ceremonial and judicial laws, of which this was one, gave place to those of a moral nature f358 , as this did to that of sanctifying the name of God in a public manner; hence the saying of one of the Rabbins upon this f359 , which is by many wrongly expressed, “it is better that one letter should be rooted out of the law, than that the name of God should not be sanctified openly;” that is, a lesser precept give way to a greater, or a ceremonial precept to a moral one, such as the sanctification of the name of God is: and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day ; as it is usual for crows and ravens, and such sort of birds, to light on bodies thus hung up, and pick their flesh: nor the beasts of the field by night ; for it seems it was usual to make the gibbets, and so in some other nations the crosses, so low, that wild beasts could easily come at the bodies and devour them; so Blandina was hung upon a tree so low, that she might be exposed to the wild beasts to feed upon her, but not one of them would touch her body f361 ; now Rizpah, by her servants, had ways and means to frighten away the birds, and beasts from doing any injury to the carcasses.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 10-14 - That a guilty land should enjoy many years of plenty, calls for gratitude; and we need not wonder misused abundance should be punishe with scarcity; yet how few are disposed to ask of the Lord concernin the sinful cause, while numbers search for the second causes by whic he is pleased to work! But the Lord will plead the cause of those wh cannot or will not avenge themselves; and the prayers of the poor ar of great power. When God sent rain to water the earth, these bodie were buried, for then it appeared that God was entreated for the land When justice is done on earth, vengeance from heaven ceases. God is pacified, and is entreated for us through Christ, who was hanged on tree, and so made a curse for us, to do away our guilt, though he wa himself guiltless.
Original Hebrew
ותקח 3947 רצפה 7532 בת 1323 איה 345 את 853 השׂק 8242 ותטהו 5186 לה אל 413 הצור 6697 מתחלת 8462 קציר 7105 עד 5704 נתך 5413 מים 4325 עליהם 5921 מן 4480 השׁמים 8064 ולא 3808 נתנה 5414 עוף 5775 השׁמים 8064 לנוח 5117 עליהם 5921 יומם 3119 ואת 853 חית 2416 השׂדה 7704 לילה׃ 3915
