One of David’s more ignoble acts centered around Rizpah. There was a three-year famine, and in an attempt to relieve it David ordered the ritual execution of Rizpah’s sons and the five sons of Merab, Saul’s oldest daughter. He also ordered that the bodies were to be left unburied. This was done in retribution for Saul’s mistreatment of the Gibeonites (2 Sam. 21:10ff.). Rizpah stood over the seven bodies from April until the rain fell (probably the first rain after the dry season, in October), driving