Blogging the Bible

Chapter 21 can be confusing. It sounds like God is the one who told David to conduct a census and then punishes him and the people for doing it.  But a closer reading and a check with other scripture (interpreting scripture with scripture is one of the most important principles of biblical interpretation), specifically 1 Chron. 21, we learn that it was actually Satan who tempted David to do this this.  That God “incited” David is likely a reference intended to communicate God’s sovereign control over all things.  Though God does not cause  all events, he does use them for his purposes. So Satan prompts David to do this thing and God uses it to bring about the final judgment on the house of Saul for all the evil he did. Under Saul Israel had sworn to save these people and used the name of the Lord in the oath. Then they violated that oath. Over and over again, Saul did this and, in so doing, led the  people away from the Lord.

The “evie” of the census is believed to lie in its pride and arrogance (“look how great my kingdom is!”) and in dependence on human power (“look how large my army is!”) rather than depending on the Lord for protection. If one surveys the history of David as king, his halmark had been his clear understanding that the Lord was his refuge and strength and that it was the might hand of the Lord that had brought the people out and given the land and victory over their enemies. His recorded song in these chapters also reflects this understanding.

The famine, likely resulting from a lack of rain, is part of God’s judgment and when the seven sons of Saul are executed, the rain comes, signifying God’s mercy returning to his people.

Once of the most revealing statemtents about God in this final story is David’s statement that he would rather be punished by the hand of the Lord than by his enemies, because he knew that the hand of the Lord was merciful (24:14). What an amazing statement! Like that of a loving parent, the discipline of God is far better than the consequences left to human will.

This blog entry will be the last entry for one week. Alfredo and myself will be on vacation for the week following Christmas.  We will resume the blog, following the schedule on the green sheet on the first day of the new year.  May you all have a very blessed Christmas, and experience the presence of Christ in fresh and life-changing ways!  We will trust in the Lord for 2008 and know that he is a God who is able to work in and through all that life brings us and accomplish his purposes which are to glorify his name in all the earth and love a people for his own.  How wonderful it is to be part of that purpose!

Explicit evidence of God working behind the scenes, using even human error and sin to accomplish his purposes is found in 17:16.  Because of Absalom’s sin and deceit the Lord uses the false counsel of Ahithophel to punish Absalom.  The impact of David’s ill directed love of his son is open for all the people to see (18:5ff; 19:1-8) and brings shame and discouragement and ruin on the kingdom God had given to David to rule in righteousness.

And the  pride and arrogance of Absalom is the very thing God uses to bring about his ruin.  His long beautiful hair(14:25-27) that was so admired by all is what God used to destroy him. When we disobey God and when we love anything more than God and when we teach our children the same, it brings destruction and ruin.

Chapter 20 the intrigue continues, even though Absalom is now dead. Another rises up to challenge the king and to continue the divide of Israel. 20:1 describes this man, Sheba, as a scoundrel. All of this warfare and intrigue can get in the way of our seeing the continues story of salvation in all of this history. The story of the “wise woman” ( 20:16) in chapter 20, is more evidence of God using unlikely people to ensure his plan of salvation through gathering the people of Israel in order to bring about the promised Messiah.  God indeed is an amazing God! He is powerful and compassionate, he is holy and merciful. He alone always does what is right and executes justice.

The lessons for us from these stories  are many. The main one being when we know what God asks us to do, will we listen and obey? When we have to choose between what feels good (not punishing a child for wrong doing) or what is right (honoring God’s word) which will we choose? Will we believe, no matter what the circumstances, that God really does have control of all things and knows what is best for us and that following his instructions leads to life? Every day we are given opportunities to choose to follow God or something or someone else.  What will be our choice?

We see from the story of Amnon and Tamar that sexual sin is not a new problem.  This young man was so consumed with lust (not love as it demonstrated by his actions and his loathing (13:15) of her afterward) that he did not care about any of consequences of his actions.  Sexual desire is a very powerful human appetite.  It was created by God to bond a man and a woman together in monogamous faithfulness.  When it is used for other purposes it only destroys.  This story is the tragic evidence of this fact.  And the story begins to fulfill what was prophesied to David–that his house would be a household of blood because of his own example in murdering Uzziah. Disobeying God always brings horrible consequences.  If only we would listen and obey!

The other  human weakness seen in this story is the power of family ties and entanglement.  Because of David’s misplaced love for son  he did not take any action to  punish or vindicate Tamar (13:21) .  This is often a parent’s downfall.  Out of thinking we are loving our kids, and out of fear of losing their love, we act in ways that are disobedient to God’s word.   This is why Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate mother, father, sisters, and brothers, yes, even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26  The use of hate is a hyperbole.  Jesus is saying, you must love me so much more than anyone or anything else that in comparison it is as if you hate them.  David loved his sons and loved the love of his sons more than he loved God.  This always brings harm not good even though on the surface it appears right.

Chapter 15 reveals the shallowness of the love of David’s family. Though David loves Absolam and forgives and restores him, Absalom answers with arrogance and betrayal as he “steals the hearts” of the people and plans to usurp the throne.  This is a family full of intrigue. God’s heart must have been greatly distressed by what had happened to David and his family from their disobedience and sin.  But as usual, God remains faithful and continues to work in and through the cirucmstances–whatever they are–in order to accomplish the salvation that he promised.  The God above all gods is ever at work behind the scenes of history to bring about his eternal purposes.

Wow! Scripture is so full of amazing stories and truths! This David is such a man of contrasts! Hmmmm. . . seems like I have said this before! Chapter 9 starts out with such evidence of why God called David a “man after his own heart.”  David shows kindness to the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, even though Saul had tried to destroy David most of his adult life.  David remembered Jonathan’s friendship and kindness to him and repaid it to Mephibosheth many times over.  The fact that Mephibosheth was crippled was very significant given the values of the king’s household. David shows great kindness and mercy.

Then chapter 10 is a 180! David sends to the Ammonite king to demonstrate kindness to him as well. When the gesture is suspected and spurned, David lashes out in vengeful anger.

Chapter 11 and 12 are the beginning of the end of God’s full favor on David. For lust of the eyes–sexual pleasure–David goes against everything that he believes and knows to be right. How very powerful sexual sin is. This is why the scripture treats it so seriously. David not only commits adultery, but then, has the woman’s husband killed in battle to covere his sin.  12:1 makes it clear that the Lord is not pleased and the very judgement David proclaims to Nathan should be given such a scoundrel, becomes his own.  God uses the affliction of David’s child to teach him a lesson and the sins of the father really are visited on the sons and the sons, sons.  Not because God supernaturally causes it, but because withdraws his favor and transforming power and David’s family reaps the consequences of their lust for sex and power.

But chapter 12 also reveals that God continues to keep a remnant–a loyal people for himself.  God had a special love for the second son of David born by Bethsheba and it is through this child that God will continue to work to accomplish his purposes.  Solomon, too, will be a man fashioned by God and yet, fallen like all human beings and in need of God’s great forgiveness and mercy.

There truly is no God like this God! He can use sinful, broken people to accomplish his purposes and through it all, God is glorified and people are redeemed and fitted for an eternity God has prepared for them.

I love the underlying theme of this part of the Old Testament. In all that is revealed about the frailty and sinfulness of humankind, as consistent is the revelation of God’s favor. 5:5 is the often repeated phrase, “the Lord was with him.” Every time human beings are used by God and there is victory and the advance of God’s kingdom, it is attributed to the fact that “the Lord was with” the person, or the “favor of God” was on the person. How I pray for that to be true for my meager attempts to serve God.

The factor of human involvement that is parallel to God being with a person is that person “inquiring of God” for guidance and wisdom in order to know what to do. 5:5, 23, are examples of this. Unlike most of David’s predecessors, he sought the Lord for direction in leading the people. This, too, I want to be true for me.

Chapter six is an interesting mix of God’s great power and humankinds great sin. The instructions regarding care of the ark were explicit. The rings and rods to carry it were designed so that no person would touch what was holy. This was a visible symbol to the people of the great and awesome holiness of God. Even though his intention was to protect the ark from falling, Uzzah underestimates the seriousness of obeying the commands of God (does God need to be protected?) and he touches the ark and is struck dead for this reason. Even David is angry with God about this. (vs. Again, more important than the specifics of the circumstances are the principles that are being taught to Israel as they are formed as God’s people and being prepared to carry the promise of God for salvation for all people. The right worship of God and the salvation of the world is the highest end to which God uses all of history.

Another interesting interplay of God’s power and human sin is revealed in chapter six. David has obeyed the Lord and is triumphant over his enemies and returns rejoicing with song and dance. His wife Michal sees him and is jealous and she “despises him” because of it (6:16). David’s response to her is the source for one of my favorite contemporary Christian songs, “Undignified.” GIVEN has led us in this song of worship a couple of occasions. David tells Michal that for the sake of worship and praise he will be even more “contemptible” than this! The song says, “Nothing Lord, is hindering this passion in my soul!” Oh that we would abandon ourselves in worship this way!

Chapter 7 has a wonderful example of the primacy of God’s plans over human plans. David, out of exuberance for all that God has done decides to build God a house. But, to his credit, he asks Nathan, the prophet to inquire of God, as he has always done. God responds by saying, basically, “Have I asked you to do this? Did I say I needed a house?” Then he reveals to David that indeed, he will be built a house, but not by David, but by one of David’s offspring. Even the best of intentions are subject to the will of God and to God’s plan. That is why the scripture says, “Man makes his plans, but the Lord directs his steps.” (Prov. 16:9)

Finally chapter eight repeats the significance of the Lord’s hand in all that is accomplished in his name. The Lord “brought victory wherever David went.” (8:6, 14). God is the one at work behind the scenes of all history using whatever circumstances and situations and people are available in order to accomplish his purposes. There is never any doubt, if one reads carefully, who is in charge and who is the One who has control of all of history. It is the Lord strong and mighty! It is the Holy One of Israel!

These chapters are filled with bloodshed. It is hard to read and understand because of the vast cultural divide that exists between the time of David and now. But if you can put aside all the warring and fighting and acts of vengeance for just a moment, something else quite remarkable is revealed.  An important aspect of the character of David, the man whom the scripture describes as “a man after God’s own heart,” is revealed in these stories.  Even though Saul had turned from following the Lord and had tried to kill David, David continues to show honor to Saul because he was the Lord’s annointed.  He could have easily set aside any claim Saul had to the throne and pursued it quickly, knowing that God had revealed that he would be the new king over Israel. But David does not take this matter into his own hands.  David waits on the Lord to accomplish the thing.  And David goes beyond that. He  publicly punishes those who do harm to Saul. And not only did he honor Saul, but his offspring as well. David displays for the people his humility and obedience to God by his public mourning over the death of his enemies who had been God’s appointed rulers. It is an important lesson in character–character that trusts God to bring about what God has promised and to do it in God’s time.

This is a lesson for modern day believers also.  Though the cultural circumstances God is working in today are very different that the time of David, the principles are the same. When God promises something, God always keeps his promises.  And through whatever circumstances are presented, God is faithful to use any and all of them. Even the circumstances that appear against us or evil, God can use  for his own purposes. The purpose in the time of David was to maintain the kingdom of Israel in order to see through the promise of the Savior from the line of David and the tribe of Judah. That promise is fulfilled in the birth of Christ.  Now that same promise involves proclaiming the salvation found in Jesus to all peoples and all nations.  In this promise, God does use adverse circumstances.

My good friend Peter Kuzmic, an evangelist and minister of reconcilation in the Balkans, has preached the gospel for many years all over Eastern Europe. But many of the countries did not allow religious freedom and there were many obstacles to sharing the good news of the gospel with many people. When the Balkan Wars broke out in the 90’s all of sudden Croatia and Slovenia were flooded with refugees from surrounding republics of the former Yugoslavia. The ravages of war brought the opportunity to preach the gospel to people who never before had the chance.  Peter did not only preach to them, he also fed and clothed them and gave them hope. His benevolent work across ethnic and religious lines opened avenues for preaching the gospel to many more people than he could have imagined. God really can use evil for good just like Joseph said way back in Genesis 50 when we began our reading through the bible.  It was true for Joseph. It was true for David, and it is true for you and for me.

Chapter 29-30 brings more challenges for David, he was force to live among the philistines, but still he does not have a good reputation in their sight. I like the fact that even though David was rejected by the lords of the philistines to go to war against Israel (1 Samuel 29: 6-11) he was given an opportunity from God to rescue his wives and his soldiers wives and all their families and properties from the Amalikites.

How do you react to the limitations in your life? Limitations could be new opportunities to be blessed in ways that we did not imagine before.

 In the other side of the story King Saul was engaged in battle that will terminate his life. He was very persistent in his purposes but at the same time very ungodly in his lifestyle. Saul is a very clear example for us that when do God’s work we need to do it very close God’s heart otherwise we will end up ruining our lives and the lives of the people that is connected to us.

Other important lesson that I think we need to learn from Saul is our necessity to be accountable. Yes we need to depend on God but also we need to depend on others men and women of God that can nurture and advice us in our journey in the Kingdom of God.

I do not like sad ending, but the reality is that without God there is not any happy ending. Saul had a great beginning, but a very sad end.

Chapter 25 is a very breath taking story. Again we can see another wonderful woman Abigail who saw the bigger picture of the circumstances in her life and acted according to that. She was brave and took the risk of preventing a revenge that by that time was fair.

She not only preserved her life but also allowed herself to be part of the future kingdom of David.  History has full examples of people doing the right thing in the right circumstance who later got promoted to a position of honor.

In chapter 26 we see Saul persecuting David again; he really did not understand that God would not allow him to catch David. David would demonstrate to him again that God is the one in charge of people’s life.

Saul definitely was late when he inquired from the Lord. He was supposed to have done that before his life became the mess that it was already in. God did not answer him by any means (1 Samuel 28: 3-7) so instead he went and looked for help from a medium, something that was completely forbidden for the Israelites (Leviticus 19: 31) but he was determined to find an answer with or without God.

Make sure that God is your real help in any situation, because when you lose track of God you never know to whom you will turn to. Let us say like the psalmist: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46: 1)

Saul the great man of God has developed into a very dangerous person. We cannot understand how a man who had been so blessed by God is now trying to keep his blessings through violence. The last years of his life would be spent chasing David from place to place.

We can see how Saul’s life deteriorates when he kills the priests of the city of Nob (1 Samuel 22: 11-19) after this episode, for him there is no limit now. He will eliminate everything and everybody that is not on his side. Saul became a slave of his fears, and everything he was doing was leading him towards the destruction of his kingdom.

What is your greater fear? Do not let it lead you into the wrong direction. The best thing we can do is to seek God’s help and guidance in all our challenges. David did this even though he was in a very desperate situation. Chapter 23: 1-4 tells us that “David inquired from the Lord” this was the main difference in his life; he learned that you cannot control life but you can cooperate with God to have a better outcome in life.

David’s life was not easy, but he did not sit and complain about his difficulties instead he did whatever was possible for him at the moment. He could have killed Saul in the wilderness of En-gedi but instead he humbled himself before the king to explore the possibility of reconciliation (1 Samuel 24: 16-22).

Saul showed some repentance before David. But the next chapter will demonstrate to us that in reality he just gave David a little break, but his hate and madness were about to get worse.

How far can are weaknesses take us?  

Chapter 16 ends with a sweet and bitter taste, David is chosen by God as the new king and Saul is rejected, but it is very interesting that David is brought to action precisely to comfort the afflicted king Saul(1 Samuel 16: 14-23.)

David had a lot of confidence in God, the same confidence that made him a good pastor will help him develop as a great leader of the people of God. When everybody was trembling because of Goliath he went ahead and defeated the giant.

Trusting in God has its consequences too. The powerful king Saul did not see David accomplishment as something to celebrate, but on the contrary to be aware of.  The women of Israel were celebrating the victory of David over Goliath, and the victory of Israel over the Philistines with dance and Songs, but Saul was worried about the possibility of losing his kingdom.(1 Samuel 18: 6-16)

Now a beautiful friendship was developing between David and Jonathan. This friendship would be a providential one for David. Again Jonathan would demonstrate to have greater spirit than his father, even thought David is central in this narrative, I think Jonathan is a great example of character and devotion to God.

 These days the Christian church needs great leaders like David, but also wonderful friends like Jonathan. Yes we need reliable people who are willing to take care of others even though it might represent a risk for them. Jonathan was willing to risk his own security just to bless his beloved friend David.

Saul on the contrary was willing to risk the whole kingdom to avoid the possibility of David becoming the next king. The saddest thing for me is that Saul has spent much of his energy trying to preserve something that God had already taken from him.