I. Past Sin with Lingering Consequences

II. A Plan from the Wrong Source

III. Another Woman Awakens the King
Verse 11 – “When David was told what Rizpah had done…” Verse 14 “After that God responded to the plea for the land.”

God repeatedly uses the socially vulnerable to expose what the powerful have forgotten. And over and over women in Scripture are not peripheral but become truth-bearers, covenant witnesses, testifiers to the
resurrection, and instruments of God’s heart. Rizpah fits that pattern. Psalm 51 gets at this same truth: “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it… The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.” I think it’s likely that Rizpah’s actions and what David learned here are what he expresses in Psalm 40 echoes the same truth: “Sacrifice and offering you have not desired. Sin offering and burnt offering you have not required…I delight to do your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.” And the prophet Micah later summarized the heart of God’s desire: “He has told you what is good and what God requires – to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

IV. Learning what God Desires

V. Battling Giants when even the King needs some help

VI. The Kind of King We Need

Conclusion – what we learn from Rizpah on the Rock
Rizpah stayed on the rock for months. Birds came. Animals came. Seasons changed. But she stayed. Her love refused to abandon dignity. Her faithful vigil awakened a king. And through her quiet faithfulness God taught Israel again what His heart is like. The kingdom of God does not advance through cruelty. It advances through justice, mercy, humility, faithfulness, and love. The chapter ends with giants defeated and the king protected by his friends. That final image reminds us that no one carries God’s work alone. God sustains His people through one another. And over all of it stands the greater King, Jesus Christ, whose strength
does not fade and whose mercy never ends.

Let’s be those who treat people as fellow image bearers and stay faithful at it.

Let’s be those who by our compassion and faithfulness awaken love and mercy in the lives of others. Jesus said it like this – “Let your light shine that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

And let’s be those who remember and remind one another that salvation belongs to the Lord.