Bible Strands
2 Samuel 3:7
Now Saul had a concubine named Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. So Ish-bosheth questioned Abner, “Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ish-bosheth confronts Abner during the active conflict between the houses of Saul and David, immediately after Abner had been consolidating his power within Saul’s household.
The words — The Hebrew פִּלֶגֶשׁ (pilgeš) literally means concubine, indicating a recognized secondary wife, while the verb שָׁכַב (shakav) in “sleep with” denotes sexual intercourse but functions here as a direct political accusation rather than a moral complaint.
The thread — Rizpah reappears in 2 Samuel 21:8 as the mother of Saul’s executed sons, and the political symbolism of a king’s concubines surfaces in 2 Samuel 16:21, where Absalom’s counselor orders him to lie with Saul’s remaining concubines to publicly demonstrate his claim to the throne.
Why it lands — The verse records Ish-bosheth explicitly linking Abner’s sexual act with Rizpah to a seizure of royal authority, requiring the reader to see how control over a deceased king’s household directly dictated succession and legitimacy in ancient Israel.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and Ish–bosheth said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father’s concubine?
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 21:8 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.
- 2 Samuel 12:8 I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.
- 2 Samuel 16:21 Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”
- 1 Kings 2:17 Adonijah replied, “Please speak to King Solomon, since he will not turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”
- 1 Kings 2:21 So Bathsheba said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.”