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Aiah was the father of Rizpah, who was a concubine of King Saul.
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Aiah is mentioned in the Bible as the father of Rizpah, a concubine of King Saul. Rizpah had two sons with Saul, named Armoni and Mephibosheth. (2Sa.21.8)
After Saul's death, Abner, the commander of Saul's army, had relations with Rizpah, which was considered a challenge to the authority of Saul's son and successor, Ish-bosheth. This led to a conflict between Abner and Ish-bosheth. (2Sa.3.7).
Later, during the reign of King David, a famine struck Israel for three years. The Lord revealed that it was due to Saul's bloodguilt against the Gibeonites. To make amends, David handed over seven of Saul's descendants, including Rizpah's two sons, to the Gibeonites, who killed them. (2Sa.21.1-9)
Rizpah then took sackcloth and spread it on a rock, guarding the bodies of her sons and the other five men from the beginning of harvest until the rains came. She protected them from scavenger birds during the day and wild animals at night. (2Sa.21.10)
When David heard about Rizpah's actions, he was moved and ordered the retrieval of the bones of Saul, Jonathan, and the seven men who had been killed. They were buried in the tomb of Saul's father, Kish, and after that, God answered the prayers for the land. (2Sa.21.11-14)
Aiah's daughter, Rizpah, demonstrated remarkable courage, loyalty, and maternal love in her actions, which ultimately led to the proper burial of Saul and his descendants.
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AI'AH (hawk). 1. The father of Rizpah, Saul's concubine. 2 Sam 3:7;2 Sam 21:8,1 Kgs 16:10,Rev 1:11. The son of Zibeon, 1 Chr 1:40 ; called Ajah in Gen 36:24.
AI'AH (hawk). 1. The father of Rizpah, Saul's concubine. 2 Sam 3:7;2 Sam 21:8,1 Kgs 16:10,Rev 1:11.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
4 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H0345
Now Saul had a concubine named Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. So Ish-bosheth questioned Abner, “Why did you sleep with my fatherʼs concubine?”
But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons whom Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, as well as the five sons whom Merab daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain from heaven poured down on the bodies, she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
When David was told what Saulʼs concubine Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, had done,
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.