2 Samuel 21:10 - Meaning and Application

Here we have Saul’s sons not only hanged, but left hanging in chains, with their dead bodies exposed until the drought ended and rain came on the land. They died like sacrifices, in a sense offered up, not by fire all at once, but slowly under the open air. They died as men under a curse, and this shameful treatment showed them as accursed, because guilt was laid on them. When our blessed Savior was made sin for us, he was made a curse for us.

But how do we fit this with the law that said anyone hanged on a tree must be buried the same day (Deuteronomy 21:23)? One Jewish rabbi even wanted this story removed so God’s name would not seem dishonored by what looked like a violation of his law. But this was an unusual case and did not fall under that law. In fact, the reason for that law supports this exception. A man left hanging is under a curse, so ordinary criminals must not be treated that way. But these men were treated as a sacrifice, not for the justice of the nation, but for the nation’s sin, which was no small thing, since it meant breaking public faith and bringing a great famine on the land. They were made like the refuse of the world, a public spectacle (1 Corinthians 4:9, 1 Corinthians 4:13), by God’s appointment, or at least with his allowance.

Their bodies were watched by Rizpah, the mother of two of them. This was a deep sorrow for her in old age, to see her two sons, who likely had once supported and comforted her, cut off in such a terrible way. We never know what grief we may yet face. She could not see them buried in honor, but she made sure they were cared for. She did not try to undo the sentence that they should hang there until God sent rain. She did not steal their bodies away or forcefully remove them, though she might have appealed to God’s law in her defense. Instead, she patiently put up a sackcloth shelter near the bodies, and there, with servants and friends, she protected them from birds and wild animals.

In doing this, she gave her sorrow free rein, as mourners often do, though that brings no real help. When grief threatens to become too much, it is better to calm and turn it aside than to feed it. Why should we cling so tightly to sorrow? She also showed her love. She made clear to everyone that her sons did not die for their own wrongdoing, as stubborn sons who had disobeyed their mother. If that had been so, she might have let the ravens and eagles deal with them (Proverbs 30:17). But they died for their father’s sin, so her heart could not turn away from them because of their sad end. There was no way to save them, but they would at least die pitied and mourned.

At last their bodies were given an honorable burial, together with the bones of Saul and Jonathan, in the family grave. David was not offended by what Rizpah had done. In fact, her action moved him to honor the house of Saul, including these sons. This showed that he had not acted from personal dislike toward that family, and that he had not wanted this sad day, but had been forced to act for the public good. He now remembered to move the bodies of Saul and Jonathan from the place where the men of Jabesh-gilead had buried them quietly and without honor under a tree (1 Samuel 31:12, 1 Samuel 31:13). Though Saul’s shield had been cast away in disgrace, as if he had never been anointed with oil, royal bones should not be lost among common graves. Common kindness tells us to respect human bodies, especially those of the great and good, because of what they were and what they still are.

With Saul and Jonathan, David buried the bodies of those who had been hanged, because once God’s anger was turned away, they were no longer to be regarded as a curse (2 Samuel 21:13, 2 Samuel 21:14). When water fell from heaven, that is, when God sent rain to water the land, perhaps not many days after they were hung, then they were taken down, because it was clear that God had been moved to mercy for the land. When justice is done on earth, judgment from heaven stops. Through Christ, who was hanged on a tree and made a curse for us to take away our guilt, though he himself had no guilt, God is made peaceful with us and is moved to mercy toward us. Acts 13:29 says that when they had done all that was written about him, to show the full offering was complete and accepted by God, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.