Rizpah Respha
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(burning coal) (2 Sam. 3:7 and elsewhere)—a concubine of Saul and mother of Armoni and Mephibosheth. David delivered her sons, together with five sons of Merab, to the Gibeonites because of Saul’s former violence against them, and they were hanged on the hill. Rizpah spread sackcloth upon the rock and guarded the bodies day and night from the beginning of harvest until the rains, keeping birds and wild beasts away. When David learned what she had done, he gathered their bones and buried them with the bones of Saul and Jonathan in the family tomb of Kish. The source presents her vigil as a moving example of maternal love (2 Sam. 21:8–14).