In 2 Samuel 21:8-10 was Rizpah’s use of the sackcloth a sign that the land had repented of its sin?

Question

[KJV]2 Samuel 21:

8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: 9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. 10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

This is the touching story of a Mother's love for her children even in death.

I know that sackcloth was used for morning the dead, but then it was worn on the body. It didn't say she wore it . It said she spread it upon the rock.

I wondered if her use of sackcloth instead of something else was an indication of the land's repentance. For in the Bible I see it used that way, (ex.

[KJV]Nehemiah 9:1: Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.)

Answer 1

I don’t believe there is biblical evidence that the land could repent. Sackcloth was worn by many people in the OT to reflect certain states of mind.

Used as sign of mourning:

Genesis 37:34 (AKJV) 34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

Used as a sign of repentance.

Nehemiah 9:1 (AKJV)

9 Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.

Used as in a call for deliverance:

2 Kings 19:1-2 (AKJV) 19 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. 2 And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

So, in reference to 2 Samuel 21: 8-10, I would say that the context supports personal mourning.

Answer 2

I think not. I think that the poser of the question associates "sackcloth" (σάκκος) with "repentance" but in reality sackcloth was used by the Jews for multiple purposes involving mourning.

Given the context it seems most compelling that she spread out the sackcloth as a rough blanket or bed but the symbolism of the cloth relates to her tremendous grieving, not to repentance.

Answer 3

The use of the sackcloth seems to be just a practical necessity.

Keil and Delitzsch:

And Rizpah took sackcloth, i.e., the coarse hairy cloth that was worn as mourning, and spread it out for herself by the rock - not as a tent, as Clericus supposes, still less as a covering over the corpses of those who had been executed, according to the exegetical handbook, but for a bed

It was a token of her mourning and used practically as a bed over many days.

"from the beginning of the harvest till water was poured out upon them (the crucified) from heaven," i.e., till rain came as a sign that the plague of drought that had rested upon the land was appeased; after which the corpses could be openly taken down from the stakes and buried,

Answer 4

I believe that Rizpah laying down the sackcloth on the rock was a symbol and a type of a mother laying her grief down upon the Rock that represents Yeshua.. While she fought for the dignity and justice for her sons!

The sackcloth was her grief and mourning. She had to lay it down until justice was realized.