The "Mother's Day" sermon you never heard

As I prepare the message for Father's Day soon coming my daily reading reminds me of the Mother's Day message you're not likely to ever hear.

In 2 Samuel 21, as recently reviewed, King David had to make amends to the Gibeonites to get back into God's good graces.  The solution required the lives of 7 of King Saul's descendants.  Enter "Rizpah".

Rizpah was the mother of 2 of those whose lives God required to settle the debt.  Understandably, she was distraught but her reaction was unique.  The Message version relates this story:  ¹⁰ "Rizpah daughter of Aiah took rough burlap and spread it out for herself on a rock from the beginning of the harvest until the heavy rains started. She kept the birds away from the bodies by day and the wild animals by night."  

Maternity spans a myriad of aspects but I find this to be particularly telling.  She couldn't countermand the order of the King.  She couldn't keep her sons from being killed.  What she could do was attempt to prevent the further desecration of their bodies and ultimately her diligence was rewarded.  ^11-14 David was told what she had done, this Rizpah daughter of Aiah and concubine of Saul. He then went and got the remains of Saul and Jonathan his son from the leaders at Jabesh Gilead (who had rescued them from the town square at Beth Shan where the Philistines had hung them after striking them down at Gilboa). He gathered up their remains and brought them together with the dead bodies of the seven who had just been hanged. The bodies were taken back to the land of Benjamin and given a decent burial in the tomb of Kish, Saul's father.

When I visited my daughter Ariel in Israel years ago she took me to Beth Shan.  At the time I failed to recall the significance of the location.  More importantly though, had it been marked, I think I would have preferred to see the barley field where this mother took her last stand for her children.