In the Old Testament this week, we read about David. (I hope someone responds to this weeks summary and helps me understand what in the world is this all about…..)
We start this week with David not killing Saul. And then Saul responding to David , “Blessed be you my son David. ! You will do many things and succeed in them”, and David said in his heart, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul; …..” So David leaves Israel, and becomes the bodyguard of Achish, a Philistine. Samuel is dead and Saul contacts a medium and brings back Samuel. Samuel tells Saul, that he and his sons will soon die at the hand of the Philistines. Yikes!!
Davids city Ziklag, is captured by the Israelite’s and all the people are captured. David pursues them and defeats them and gets back everything including his first two wives. They then defeat Saul and Saul and his sons are killed. And then David continues to defeat anyone and everyone, leaving nothing behind in any of the battles.
We then return to getting the names of all Davids sons through all the different woman. Abner became strong in the house of Saul and Saul’s house and Davids house had a war. David requires that Abner give him Michal, whom he betrothed at the price of one hundred foreskins. Joab then kills Abner and David weeps for him. Rechab and Baanah kill Ishbosheth, told David what they had done, and David kills them. (Okay, Okay….what is happening here).
The Lord tells David he doesn’t want to be in a tent any more. The ark of the Lord was brought into the city of David. David dances and rejoices before the Lord, and Michal was not happy. So David says “I will be merry in the Lord”,, and then Michal has no children until the day she dies. Okay, I see now. He wants her for his wife. He takes her from her husband. When she isn’t happy, he makes her barren. Fair enough….
He then goes on a binge, killing thousands and thousands. But then he brings in Jonathons son to his house (he was crippled) and takes care of him for life. And then the strangest story ever is the story of Bathsheba. He has sex with her because she was beautiful She gets pregnant. He tries to get her husband to have sex with her but he won’t because he still needs to be in battle. David sends him back into battle and makes sure he gets killed and then he marries Bathsheba. Whaaaaaat? Uriah was a hero and he gets killed on purpose for Davids lust???? I am sure this will all come together in the end and make perfect sense.
Psalms – 107 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures for ever.
105 and 106 sort of remind me of the plight of the Israelite’s. They are good, and God is happy. They are bad and worship idols and God punishes them. They realize they are wrong and ask forgiveness. God forgives them and they go through the cycle again and again. “Save us O Lord our God and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
New testament – We finish up Luke with the Crucifixion and resurrection. The last couple of weeks I have been thinking about the scene, the morning of the resurrection. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James and the other women had been there were told that Jesus wasn’t there any more, by two angels. They went to tell the apostles and they did not believe them. In fact what we heard in a reading last week is that they didn’t recognize Jesus. Peter ran to the tomb and wondered what had happened. I wonder, if I always recognize Jesus when he appears, in the man or woman asking for money outside in the city, in the homeless, in the needy. Where has he been, that I haven’t known him? On the road to Emmaus? Could I have walked with Jesus and not know that it is him?
We then start John 1 and we hear about the “word”. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. That is something that I am reading through Peterson right now. Very interesting to think about. The beginning….
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”….. God made flesh, to be with us since we cannot be God.
And John baptized with water and Jesus with the Spirit. John said “Behold the Lamb of God!”
Then we hear of his first recorded sign, with the water into wine. Mary tells them to “do whatever he tells you”
And we end this week with Jesus overturning the money tables in the temple and saying “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” Another Yikes!! How could anyone even imagine what he was talking about here. Sooo much to think about. I hope you are all doing well. God bless you all.
The Journey Begins 
I did a little research on First and Second Samuel and found this nice summary.
4 lessons for our time:
1. Most times are times of trouble. Prosperity and Peace are the exception, not the rule.
2. Personal sins are national tragedies. Just as sins of the fathers have consequences in the lives of their children, the sins of rulers have consequences in the life of the nation. This doesn’t change when kings change to presidents.
3. Their exists an unavoidable law of spiritual cause and effect, as universal and as objective as the law of gravity: the only road to blessing is obedience, and the road to judgement is disobedience to God’s laws.
4. But it’s never too late. David’s repentance restored him to God’s favor, and although the sword remained in his house as a purgatorial punishment, David remained God’s man. He weakened the relationship with God by sin, but did not destroy it, and restored through repentance. If even a murderer and adulterer could be a great king and a great man of God, what can we be?
(This is from Peter Kreeft – “You can understand the Old testament”)
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I struggle so much with all of this. David is God’s beloved. A great man! Generations of people will refer to him when claiming the immensity of their forefathers. Jesus descended from this bloodline! It should bring me hope; David appears to be a selfish, self-centered, and even belligerent ruler. If God Loves him as much as scripture claims, His mercy is indeed limitless. The sins that David commits are unheard of for our time and circle of society. (Although, I will not disagree with you dad: it IS common within presidency and other positions of power.) I read these atrocities and wonder why God doesn’t strike David down. The same God who made the Israelites wander the desert for years is still on speaking terms with a man who kills thousands without wincing? Mind. Blown.
I am grateful for your extra information from Kreeft, Dad. In attempting to process all of this, I think it’s really important for me to get more information on the time and space that these stories took place…and the message that the Lord is trying to send in all of it.
Thanks so much for taking the time to write it all out. These summaries are very helpful!
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