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Part VII — The Report Research Note: Word of Rizpah’s vigil reached David. The king, who had once sung of Saul and Jonathan, now heard of a mother who would not leave the bones of Saul’s house exposed. (2 Samuel 21:11) Question for Meditation: What happens when the endurance of one overlooked woman forces leaders to act? The report did not arrive in a single voice. It began as rumor, carried by traders who had passed the hill. They spoke of a woman who sat on a rock, her sackcloth spread beneath her, her eyes fixed on the bodies that swayed above. They told of her arms rising again and again, driving away the birds, of her voice whispering names into the wind. The rumor grew in the market. Merchants repeated it as they weighed barley and figs. Some laughed, calling her mad. Others lowered their voices, uneasy. “She has not left,” they said. “Not through heat, nor dust, nor night.” At last the story reached the ears of a scribe. He listened, his hand tightening on the scroll he carried. That night, by lamplight, he wrote the words carefully, his ink dark and deliberate: A woman of Saul’s house keeps vigil on the hill. She has not left since the day of the hanging. She drives away the birds by day and the beasts by night. She whispers the names of the dead. The scroll was sealed and carried to the palace. David sat in the hall, the weight of famine still heavy on the land. Courtiers murmured in low tones. Soldiers shifted their spears. Servants moved quietly with pitchers of water, careful not to spill. The king’s eyes were shadowed, his face lined with care. The scribe bowed low, unrolling the parchment. His voice was steady, but the words shook the air. “My lord, there is a woman on the hill of Gibeah. Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, concubine of Saul. Since the day the seven were hanged, she has not left. She spreads sackcloth on the rock. She drives away the birds by day and the beasts by night. She whispers their names. She endures.” The hall fell silent. David’s hand stilled on the arm of his chair. He closed his eyes, and for a moment the years fell away. He saw Saul again, tall and fierce, the first king of Israel. He saw Jonathan, his brother in covenant, whose love had been stronger than the sword. He saw the battlefield where they fell, the lament he had sung: How the mighty have fallen. And now...this woman, bent with grief, guarding the bones of Saul’s house. A captain shifted uneasily. “My lord, she is only a concubine. Her vigil is nothing.” But the words rang hollow. Everyone in the hall felt it. Her vigil was not nothing. It was a rebuke. David rose slowly, his robe brushing the floor. His voice was low, but it carried. “She has done what we did not. She has remembered.” The courtiers bowed their heads. No one spoke. David turned to his servants. “Gather the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son. Gather also the bones of those who were hanged. We will bury them with honor in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father.” The order went out. Messengers mounted their horses, riding hard for Jabesh‑gilead, where Saul and Jonathan had been laid. Others rode toward the hill where Rizpah kept watch. In the palace, the sound of hooves faded into the distance. Dust rose in the courtyard, then settled. The hall was quiet again, but the silence was different now. It was heavy with decision, with the weight of what had been set in motion. David remained standing, his eyes fixed on the doorway where the messengers had gone. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword, but his thoughts were far away...on a battlefield, on a covenant, on a song of grief that had never truly ended. And on a woman, nameless to many, who had forced a king to remember. ____________________________________ Part VIII — The Gathering of Bones Research Note: When David heard of Rizpah’s vigil, he ordered the bones of Saul and Jonathan to be gathered, along with the remains of the seven, so they could be buried with honor in the tomb of Kish. (2 Samuel 21:11–14) Question for Meditation: What does it mean that one mother’s endurance moved a king, and that her vigil brought dignity not only to her sons but to the whole house of Saul? The soldiers came at dawn. Their steps were heavy, their faces set. They carried ropes and jars of water, their armor glinting in the early light. Sandals found the worn places on the path, the places birds had learned to land and jackals had learned to skulk. The sound was steady, a cadence that belonged to duty, not derision. Rizpah rose from the stone, her body trembling, her eyes fixed on them. They did not mock her. They did not call her mad. They moved with reverence, their voices low, as though the hill itself had become a sanctuary. One knelt, a knife catching a pale strip of light, cutting the ropes that had held her sons. The fibers frayed, then snapped. The bodies sagged, then lowered slowly, carefully, as if the air itself had become a pair of hands for gentleness. Rizpah’s breath caught. She pressed her hand to her chest, steadying her heart. Her lips moved, whispering their names one last time, the syllables soft as a prayer braided into the morning. Then her eyes turned to the others. She mouthed their names silently, as she had done each day, shaping breath without sound. “Merab’s sons,” she whispered, and her voice cracked, but she held the word like a vow she would not break. The soldiers worked carefully, cutting each body down and laying them on cloths. Water poured from their jars, not in torrents but in measured streams, rinsing dust from foreheads and cheeks, tracing clean paths through months of wind and ash. They did not speak of the past. They honored the present. Cloth took weight, darkened, folded; hands tied knots that would not slip. The air filled with the mingled scent of dust and water, leather and linen, the quiet breath of men who understood that silence can be as holy as speech. They gathered the bones of Saul and Jonathan as well, carrying them with honor. Litters were prepared, bindings checked twice, then a third time. The men moved slowly. They kept their eyes lowered. No one hurried. No voice rose above a whisper. It was the kind of work done with the whole body...strength and care, patience...and respect...because some sorrows require hands to carry what words cannot. Rizpah watched, torn between relief and fresh grief. For months she had kept them safe from birds and beasts, her body a shield, her vigil unbroken. She had learned to read the wind and the wing, to measure the night by the distance between howls. She had named them in order, in reverse, in pairs and alone, until memory itself felt like a woven rope that would not fray. Now they were leaving her. Her task was ending, but her heart clung to them still. The men lifted the bodies onto litters, their steps slow, deliberate. The air was heavy with silence, broken only by the creak of wood, the shuffle of sandals, the murmur of prayers that rose and fell like breath. Dust lifted in faint clouds and laid itself back down, veiling the bundles as they moved along the slope. Rizpah followed as far as the edge of the hill. She did not cry out. She did not fall. She stood straight, her eyes burning, her lips moving in silent prayer. Sackcloth hung from her shoulders, damp with the dew of morning and the long sweat of nights. She kept her place...witness, sentinel, mother...anchored to the stone that had held her vigil. The soldiers carried them away, down the path, toward the tomb of Kish. The line of men became a slow river of honor, winding between thorn and rock, past places where she had once shaken sticks at circling wings. Shadows stretched long across the stones, then shortened as the sun lifted. Dust rose behind them and drifted like a veil, gentling the sight until bundles became shapes and shapes became a memory moving into distance. Rizpah sank back onto the stone, her sackcloth still spread, her hands empty now. The hill was bare. Ropes swayed in the wind without weight, making a sound like low grass rubbing against the hem of time. For the first time in months, there were no bodies to guard. The silence pressed in, not cold and cruel, but strange...like a wound newly closed, tender to touch, refusing both denial and comment. She lifted her eyes to the sky. The air was heavy, thick with the scent of rain waiting just beyond breath. The horizon had gathered itself, clouds drawn in and shouldered close, their bellies dark and full. Light edged them in gold for a moment, then vanished as if swallowed. A wind moved across the hill...not the hot wind that scours, but a cool, attentive wind that asks you to listen. Her vigil was finished. Her sons were gone. The stone beneath her knees bore every hour of her watch: scar where a torch fell, stain where dew pooled, smoothness where bone and skin met rock night after night. It had borne witness. It had remembered. It had taken the weight of her endurance and made a place for it in earth. She traced the outline of the stone with her eyes, not with her hands. She measured what had been kept...names, prayers, small obediences...as if lining them in rows only she could see. The hill felt larger now, empty yet full, like a house after guests have gone and the table still carries the echo of their voices. Below, the line of soldiers bent toward the city. Beyond, the tomb of Kish waited, a dark mouth to receive the bones of a house and the testimony of a woman’s steadfastness. In the city, some would wake to rumor made visible. Some would remember their own losses. Some would whisper the name of Rizpah as a kind of prayer. She did not follow them down. She followed with her eyes. She followed with her breath. She followed with a whispered amen that no one heard but the One who remembers. And as the last of the bones were carried into the tomb, the heavens darkened. The wind stilled. The land held its breath.

“Rizpah was not a victim of her circumstances rather she became a victor over her adversities. “ Teaches you to take life indignities with dignity!

We dont have enough money to provide the coverage.

Today, we hit 29°C thanks to strong cool coastal south-easterly winds, but tommorow it will be 39°C with winds coming from the northwest bring in the hot inlamd desert heat. Then on Thursday, we will have 26°C cooler day. It is only the middle spring here and summer doesn't start for another 6 weeks.

Hey! I shower once a week, if I need it or not.!!...... Yeah, just kidding.....😁

Any smell in big concentration is unpleasant, even perfumes. So, let’s remember about air ventilation regardless our age 😁

At the regional convention in 2019 it was mentioned that we should not start a GoFundMe campaign for others, especially without their knowledge. The point was not that using GoFundMe is wrong, just that we should not embarrass our brothers telling others about their problems and situations. There is no objection to start a GoFundMe for yourself if you wish.

Does the fact that being a part of the Roman Catholic Church is a requirement for citizenship in Vatican City, automatically ban Jehovah's Witnesses?[emoji28] It would be interesting to go there with a cart and do public witnessing[emoji28] Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-S911B met Tapatalk

Kenny Loggins slams Trump for unauthorized use of 'Danger Zone' in AI video | Fox News https://share.google/CAAcTfRU0tv0VsCGH

We actually had a brother in our congregation who used to make up words like this to sound educated 🤭

I have heard that music author has sent a mandatory request to delete his music from Trump`s opus. My opinion it is just disgusting video.

Regarding Trump / KGB relations? Please look e.g. here: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/03/13/fact-checking-online-claims-that-donald-trump-was-recruited-by-the-kgb-as-krasnov

This is interesting: 'Trump believes he's set trap': analyst on high-stakes Budapest summit "It was not for nothing that Putin called on Thursday, October 16; the Kremlin initiated a phone call with Trump. Because the Russian Federation calculated that a thousand Tomahawks are not needed, 50-60 units are enough to cause a blackout in the European part of the Russian Federation by attacking seven critical points of the Russian energy system, or to stop the export of oil from Russia by blocking the ports in the Baltic and Black Seas. This was a calculation. And 50-60 Tomahawks is quite realistic, based on various launch scenarios," commented Ihor Chalenko.https://global.espreso.tv/russia-ukraine-war-trump-believes-hes-set-trap-analyst-on-high-stakes-budapest-summit

It’s not contempt. It’s humour. I think his AI stuff is usually pretty funny.

Severe heatwave warning with Birdsville tipped to reach 46 degrees [115F] 🔥 Outback Queensland is sweltering with temperatures more than 10 degrees Celsius above the October average, and the heat is expected to build over the coming days. See map: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-21/severe-heatwave-warning-south-west-qld-birdsville-46-degrees/105911858 Not exactly where I live, but the same country... And this will affect Sydney where filming takes place: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-21/winds-wild-storms-record-heat-for-south-east-australia-weather/105912462)

this is why you only see spelling bees in English 😫😂

People always called it old-people smell where I come from. Never considered it an insult since it's not "unpleasant"; I put it in the same category as new-baby smell. Now, "teenage-boy smell" - that's an insult.

Lume deodorants are a miracle. Seriously. ❤️ https://lumedeodorant.com/?utm_term=lume deodorant&utm_campaign=Brand%3A+Core+Brand+Lume+Exact&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=638567044983&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18071231412&gbraid=0AAAAAC4SCozAdqWecF8BFfSbasxyDaldu&gclid=CjwKCAjwu9fHBhAWEiwAzGRC_78AcDjFtBa4GDzqH7ojwOex2ohAe66fUEQQDBEZRBHG3mSgd-WBYBoCjJUQAvD_BwE

I knew this existed, but I felt it bad manners to bring it up. So thank you for giving it a name and dignifying it for me!

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Patience isn’t passive—it’s strength under quiet control. Like a farmer waiting for rain, we keep working, trusting Jehovah’s timing even when the sky looks empty. Impatience drains faith; patience builds it. Each time we wait calmly instead of reacting, we protect our peace, strengthen our congregation, and mirror the steady heart of our Father who never rushes, yet never fails.

Cutting extra expenses is part of UN 80 reform 😁 Cutting extra expenses is part of UN 80 reform 😁

I better order all the chocolate I can get before they really crash. The end is near.

Amazon Web Services outage: Internet users ‘at mercy’ of too few providers, experts say. Crash that hit apps and websites around world demonstrates ‘urgent need for diversification in cloud computing’ By Dan Milmo and Graeme Wearden Mon 20 Oct 2025 12.25 EDT Experts have warned of the perils of relying on a small number of companies for operating the global internet after a glitch at Amazon’s cloud computing service brought down apps and websites around the world. The affected platforms included Snapchat, Roblox, Signal and Duolingo as well as a host of Amazon-owned operations including its main retail site and the Ring doorbell company. Amazon Web Services outage shows internet users ‘at mercy’ of too few providers, experts say. Article link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/20/amazon-web-services-aws-outage-hits-dozens-websites-apps?CMP=share_btn_url

Can I ask you to show where you have this information from?