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2 Samuel 21:1-14

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David inquired of the Lord. The Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites; although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.) 3 David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make expiation, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?” 4 The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put anyone to death in Israel.” He said, “What do you say that I should do for you?” 5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6 let seven of his sons be handed over to us, and we will impale them before the Lord at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord.”[a] The king said, “I will hand them over.”

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul. 8 The king took the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab[b] daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 9 he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they impaled them on the mountain before the Lord. The seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

10 Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it on a rock for herself, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell on them from the heavens; she did not allow the birds of the air to come on the bodies[c] by day or the wild animals by night. 11 When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12 David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the people of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them up, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. 13 He brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan, and they gathered the bones of those who had been impaled. 14 They buried the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of his father Kish; they did all that the king commanded. After that, God heeded supplications for the land.

“Impatience with Injustice”

from I Asked for Wonder by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Turning from the discourses of the great metaphysicans to the orations of the prophets,

one may feel as if they are going down from the realm of the sublime to an area of trivialities.

Instead of dealing with the timeless issues of being and becoming, of matter and form, of

definitions and demonstrations, one is thrown into orations about widows and orphans, about the corruption of judges and affairs of the market place. The prophets make so much ado about

paltry things, employing the most excessive language in speaking about flimsy subjects. So what if somewhere in ancient Palestine poor people have not been treated properly by the rich? 

. . . Why such immoderate excitement? Why such intense indignation?

Their breathless impatience with injustice may strike us as hysteria. We ourselves

witness continually acts of injustice, manifestations of hypocrisy, falsehood, outrage, misery, that we rarely get indignant or overly excited. To the prophets, a minor, commonplace sort of

injustice assumes almost cosmic proportions.

“Centering the Marginal” 

Rev. Dr. Kate Winters

Your pastor TJ told me that you are using an alternate lectionary to the version I’ve been using for over thirty years. Ad you know, prepared by Rev. Wilda C. Gafney, it centers women in the Bible. I was looking forward to it. Then she sent me the readings…and I was immediately in dangerous territory, as I wrestled with this scripture. And wrestled I did…..with this culture of active violence. The peoples of the time vied not only for survival but dominance in the land they inhabited. Sound familiar? The God that appears is often portrayed in the people’s image – a God of vengeance, supporting retribution.

My initial response was an anguished “How long, O God?” How long must humankind live with such chaos? How long will we be so short-sighted as to think that what we do to others does not come back to us? Or, better yet, what we do to others is what we do to ourselves. Surely, the story of the Israelites and the surrounding peoples sounds eerily contemporary. From the bloodguilt on Hamas for the slaughter of young festival goers and the avenging army of Israel taking on all of Gaza, and now Hezbollah and Lebanon. I can’t believe I thought that the Gibeonite response to David was actually more civilized! All they wanted to avenge their dead is seven sons to be handed over to be impaled (perhaps crucified) on the mountain of the Lord. They were not demanding total annihilation as are violence-addicted leaders today. How did I ever think we were advancing as a species?

Of course, this was hardly a civilized solution for Rizpah, mother of two of Saul’s sons who were sent with the five sons of Merab to their horrific deaths. These women faced the annihilation of their families. They were merely pawns in a man’s game of evening up a score. I had believed we have come a long way from the time when the primary purpose of women was to provide children to populate the patriarchy, with no say about what happens to them. Was this merely wishful thinking?

Sadly I have no children, and I am hearing too much in public discourse lately questioning my

purpose and place in life. Not doing my part, not being as worthy, or even as humble! Now, women may roll their eyes and laugh at such obsolete thoughts being resurrected these days. But let me tell you, these comments hit their mark, burdening even the strongest of us with the fear that life is more dangerous and not as stable for us as it once seemed. There still remain forces that do not believe us to be equal, strong, or free. We need to take this seriously.

Let’s get back to the scripture: Does it have any guidance for us today? In a culture in which

power is top-down and absolute, it is important to look at the people at the margins to see what they are doing. And this is where the women are doing what they need to do. Rizpah has no power to keep her sons safe in the monarchy. But this does not mean that she is without recourse. Even in her grief, Rizpah has the courage to respond in a way that will not only be noticed, but will move the King to act in a more humane way. With her action, even God is moved to heed the prayers of the suffering.

Rizpah refuses the role of victim and becomes a witness. A witness to the sacredness of life,

living and dead. A witness to the grief that is inflicted by agreements made by those in power, those seeking only to even the score between their peoples, without compassion for the lives that are destroyed. Rizpah calls out to us from 3,000 years ago to do what it is we can still do as our nation and our world seem to be spiraling into more chaos and too many innocents are sacrificed.

This woman found a way to make a difference in a culture that set her up to be invisible. She

refused to accept that for herself. And now I ask: Are any of you feeling invisible or powerless in these times?........I know I’ve been walking around in a bit of a haze, not feeling fully engaged or seen, struggling to know how to respond to our nation’s challenges. The atmosphere of hostility frightens me, and fear tends to render us more invisible, wary of stepping out or stepping on toes.

Having recently retired from the church in Belfast, I have learned some things. Retirement hasn’t been easy, mainly with health issues, but also from a sense of having lost a recognized role in the community, even in the church. For pastors, there is the expectation that you become invisible to your former church community in which you once had a strong presence and voice. Speak about being sent to the margins!

On top of that, there is that aging component! In the last two years, I have been doing lots of

reading, dialogue, and reflection on the subject of aging in our culture. I have heard from multiple sources how older people feel invisible - not seen, not needed or acknowledged. Kind of like the woman in patriarchy who fails to deliver the expected child. Through my research and prayer, I have learned how shortsighted this marginalizing of the aged is. In fact, I have come to believe that it is only as elders reclaim their purpose and power, and are recentered in spheres of influence, are we to heal our terribly turbulent world.

Why? This message would be way too long if I went too far into this, but here is the essential

nugget. Humankind has evolved to live 20-30 years longer in just the last century. Evolution is not useless change, but always has a purpose to benefit the species. What are these 20-30 years for? When I studied faith development through the lifespan in my doctoral work, I felt it was pretty well documented, until we got to the elder years. Then there was a deficit of information.

I’ve come to the conclusion that these are the years that spiritual development must take center stage as other responsibilities have lessened. There is much to be done in the spiritual domain, although up to now we have few models for it. And this is what is required to bring all people to the saving grace we need - knowing that it is our divisions that are killing us. Once you have experienced the oneness of being, not just talked about it, but experienced it in development and practice, you have attained the potent and active wisdom the world needs.

Some call it Christ-consciousness, but this is certainly not solely a Christian endeavor. It is a

universal, even cosmic, spiritual awareness. An awareness that cannot divide the world between us and them and thus cannot enact vengeance on anyone since there are no “others”. All are one. Love is truly what we are made of. We are all meant to be, and can all become, profoundly wise spiritual beings for the sake of the world.

So, I end this message with a call to elders. We may have our most important work ahead of us.

Not staying in the margins like Rizpah, we must reject the invisibility that our culture cloaks us in, and become strong witnesses to the oneness of being. For then there are no margins, no victims, and all are centered in God’s love. This is what these years are for, our evolution into healed and whole humanity. Let’s get to it. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Kate Winters

October 20, 2024

Hancock UCC