Daughters Of Rizpah

Trauma recovery and healing get a lot of attention these days, but in situations of war and violence trauma is also a social experience set within the larger conflict context. The authors examine an ancient biblical story full of violence and trauma that makes most readers turn the page quickly. The reader is invited instead to sit with the story, listen to the voices of the characters, and feel the full range of their emotions. There is much to be learned through the story that offers insight for trauma healing and reconciliation, and motivation for deep and abiding social change. The biblical story becomes a doorway into a journey of discovery about traumatized people, specifically women, who choose not to remain as victims. Instead, they rise up in transformative nonviolent action. The authors lift up the Rizpah story and contemporary stories of “Daughters of Rizpah” from around the world to inspire hope amid the traumatizing turmoil of the twenty-first century.

"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." II Samuel, 21:10

Trauma recovery and healing get a lot of attention these days, but in situations of war and violence trauma is also a social experience set within the larger conflict context. The authors examine an ancient biblical story full of violence and trauma that makes most readers turn the page quickly. The reader is invited instead to sit with the story, listen to the voices of the characters, and feel the full range of their emotions. There is much to be learned through the story that offers insight for trauma healing and reconciliation, and motivation for deep and abiding social change. The biblical story becomes a doorway into a journey of discovery about traumatized people, specifically women, who choose not to remain as victims. Instead, they rise up in transformative nonviolent action. The authors lift up the Rizpah story and contemporary stories of "Daughters of Rizpah" from around the world to inspire hope amid the traumatizing turmoil of the twenty-first century.

April Westbrook explores the intentional inclusion of woman stories (those displaying significant female presence) within the David narrative in the books of Samuel. These stories are made prominent by the surprisingly high number of their occurrences as well as the sequentially progressive literary pattern in which they occur in the larger narrative. Westbrook shows that the dramatic and detailed accounts within the story repeatedly challenge the reader to consider the experiences of women and their contribution to the purpose of the larger narrative. When viewed collectively, these woman stories serve to stir the reader's responses in ways which systematically call into question the nature of the monarchy itself as a power system-both its impact upon the nation and upon the kings who rule. Although King David is often held up as a paragon of virtue, the experiences of the women in his life frequently reveal a different side of his character, and the reader must wrestle with the resultant ambiguity. In the process, the reader must also think deeply about the inevitably negative aspects of hierarchical social structures and why this biblical text is apparently designed to press the reader toward unavoidable and uncomfortable personal confrontation with these realities concerning the use of power within community life.

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. II Samuel, 21:10

This volume brings together disparate views about biblical texts in the books of Samuel, Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah and examines their influence in the life of contemporary communities, demonstrating how today's environments and disorders help readers to acquire new insights into such texts. The contributing scholars hail from different continents - from East Asia to the United States to Europe to South Africa and Israel - and count themselves as members of various Jewish and Christian traditions or secularist ways of life. But, in spite of their differences in location and community membership, and perhaps in the spirit of the times (2020 and its global discontents), they share preoccupations with questions of ethics in politics and life, 'proper' death, violence and social exclusion or inclusion. This volume offers readers a better understanding of how politics and faith can be melded, both in ancient and contemporary contexts, to serve the interests of certain classes and societies, often at the expense of others.

Saul was dead, and David was now Israel's king. Rizpah, Saul's concubine, was the mother of Saul's two youngest sons. Rizpah barely had time to grieve before being hit with the most inconceivable news any mother can imagine. David had sent out an evil decree. If anyone knew the whereabouts of Saul's sons, they must tell David at once.When King Saul's son, Ish-bosheth, was viciously slain in his own bed as he slept, Rizpah immediately went into hiding. Jona

Athalya Brenner presents fictionalized "autobiographies" of a dozen women and women groups in the Hebrew Bible, and also lets them share a conversation session. This allows her to include how these women have been interpreted - not only in the Bible itself, but also in Jewish and Christian traditions and by modern commentators. The result is a thoroughly engaging and insightful look at women, from a leading biblical interpreter who has a very creative edge to all her work.