Have you ever read those hard portions in the Old Testament and thought that God was unfair, even cruel? That the punishment just didn’t fit the crime? I have, too. I came upon one such passage recently in 2 Samuel 21. I read that when David was king there came a famine in the land of Israel. After seeking the Lord, God told David that it was on account of something Saul did while he was king. Saul had broken a covenant that Israel had had with the Gibeonites. He had put the Gibeonites to death even though Israel had made a treaty with them.
David summoned the Gibeonites and asked, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make amends so that you will bless the Lord’s inheritance?” Amends needed to be made because the Gibeonites had every right to call down curses and not blessing on Israel for the breaking of the covenant. The Gibeonites asked David for seven male descendants. Seven men related to Saul would pay the price, not for their own sin, but for Saul’s sin. “So the king said, ‘I will give them to you.’”
David chose seven of Saul’s descendants, put them to death, and hanged them on a hill before the Lord. The mother of two of the men, Rizpah, took sackcloth, a garment of grief, and spread it out for herself and held a vigil, grieving over her sons “from the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies.”
Then I read, “After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land.” I thought, “How do I understand this, Lord? Why would it please you that seven innocent men would bear the sins of another? That is so unfair!” But He said, “Isn’t that what happened to my Son for you? Was He not innocent of the crimes that you have done and yet He groaned upon the tree?” And suddenly I appreciated this story in a completely new light. What a tremendous picture of Christ and us!
Amends had to be made so that the Lord could bless His chosen people. A curse was upon us, the curse of sin, “for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’” We had broken God’s holy law. While it took seven men (the number of completeness) to bear the curse for Israel, it took one perfect (complete) Man to bear the curse for us. He was put to death and hung on a cross. Paul said, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’”
Too, the men had to be related. Not just any seven men would do; they had to be descendants of Saul. This is exactly why the Son of God came into this world and became a man. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death…for this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest.” (Hebrews 2:14,17)
The text says that the men were hung on a hill in the presence of the Lord. Rizpah, the mother of two of the men bearing the curse for Israel, took sackcloth, a garment of grief, and spread it out on a rock for herself, and there she grieved. What a beautiful picture of Christ bearing the curse of mankind on the hill of Calvary in the presence of His grieving Father.
Rizpah grieved “from the beginning of harvest till the water poured down from the heavens on the bodies.” Harvest is a metaphor for a time of judgment. Those men hung there reaping the consequences of Saul’s sin until waters poured forth from Heaven, so ending the famine. Christ also hung on a tree, taking the judgment owed to us, and He hung there until the waters of judgment poured forth upon His soul, so ending any judgment for us. It is finished. The rains from heaven marked the end of the famine and God’s wrath poured out on the Lord Jesus marked the end of our judgment. “And the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” After that, there was no curse on the land and God could bless Israel. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.”
Let us say with David, “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” (Psalm 30:11-12) He is so worthy.
