{"id":61052,"date":"2019-08-13T14:43:38","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T11:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=61052"},"modified":"2023-03-06T11:28:23","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T09:28:23","slug":"responding-to-injustice-with-a-vigil-for-human-dignity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/responding-to-injustice-with-a-vigil-for-human-dignity\/","title":{"rendered":"Responding To Injustice With A Vigil For Human Dignity"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[383,700,391,604,484],"acf":{"old_id":"61052","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":39842,"related_cahpter":"284","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"It is necessary to redress injury even when it is not proximate to us","content":"

Rizpah bat Ayah, a concubine of King Saul, has been absent from the text for a long time when we meet her once again in this chapter. This renewed encounter is a tragic one; she sits, guarding the bodies of her children, the grandchildren of Saul, when they are impaled upon stakes by the Gibeonites and left to rot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a gruesome scene. Rizpah sits on sackcloth, invoking — and experiencing — the imagery of mourning, while guarding the corpses from pecking birds and hungry beasts. She keeps vigil for months, in all weather, protecting the dignity of the bodies of her family insofar as she can. To hang a corpse on a stake is a shaming gesture, one of dominance and power. This is in sharp contrast with the respect for human life that is demonstrated by care for a dead body.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rizpah\u2019s persistence in her guard over the bodies eventually impacts King David. When he learns of her actions, and is spurred to correct a similar cruelty that Rizpah opposes by means of her care. David retrieves the bodies of King Saul and his son Jonathan, which were too denied a dignified burial.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is significant that as David reacts to the news of Rizpah\u2019s actions, in addition to Saul and Jonathan he works to redress the situation of the bodies of her family that she has been protecting. He is moved to honor the bodies of Saul and Jonathan, and in addition, is moved to care for the rest of Rizpah\u2019s family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is crucial that we not simply be moved by acts of care and acts of justice to make change close to us. It is easy to be inspired by the hard work of others. But we must take seriously their real needs and claims, too: it is necessary to redress injury even when it is not proximate to us. We must engage in the hard work of righting wrongs even when they do not stir us directly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Gustave Dor\u00e9 , Rizpah\u2019s Kindness toward the Dead, 1866, Dor\u00e9’s English Bible \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":61047,"id":61047,"title":"2sam21-rizpah1","filename":"2sam21-rizpah1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam21-rizpah1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/to-suffer-a-mothers-grief\/2sam21-rizpah1\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam21-rizpah1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":61046,"date":"2019-08-13 11:28:11","modified":"2019-08-13 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