2 Samuel 19-24

David's humanity continues to be on full display as he mourns the death of his son, Absalom. Let's face it, his wayward, ungrateful son. But a son David loved nevertheless--as God the Father loves me. The image of the grieving father again appears in the Old Testament. How much more, I imagine, did God the Father weep and mourn at His blameless Son's suffering and death!

Finally, though, Joab tells David that mourning so deeply and openly at his son's death is actually bringing David to shame with his people, since it appears to them that David is loving one who hated David (that is, Absalom), while hating those who love him (that is, the people of Israel). Joab admonishes him: "Go out and speak kindly to your servants." This strikes a chord with David, who is a leader at heart, and he takes successful steps to again win the Judahites over. 

In short order, David reconciles with others as well. Shimei, who had made David suffer by calling him a murderer in public, comes to David now seeking forgiveness with these heartfelt and beautiful words:

May my lord not hold me guilty, and may he not remember and take to heart the wrong that your servant did the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. For your servant knows that he had done wrong.

David forgives Shimei. 

Meribbaal, son of Saul, also seeks, and receives, David's mercy. David shows favor to Barzillai, who helped David during the period when he had been driven from Jerusalem.  Soon, though, some of the Israelites--led by Sheba--rebel against David and the Judahites. But Joab brings about Sheba's death and ends the rebellion.

After so much has transpired, David sings a beautiful song of thanksgiving to the Lord, which includes the words:

In my distress I called upon the Lord
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice, 
and my cry reached his ears.
*      *      *      *
He set me free in the open, 
and rescued me because he loves me.
*      *      *      *      
You are my lamp, O Lord!
O my God, you brighten the darkness about me.
*      *      *      *
He is a shield to all who take refuge in him.
*      *      *      *
The Lord live! And blessed be my Rock!
Extolled be my God, rock of my salvation.

Such beautiful words of praise and thanksgiving from a man who was truly blessed in the eyes of the Lord--but who also sinned much and suffered much. 

We can do great things in our own lives, trying to live as God asks us, showing mercy and generosity to others. And even though we sin and fall short, as David did, God will still hear our cry, will still set us free, will still brighten our darkness, shield us from our enemies, and be a rock for us.  Wow!

Judges 9-12

This passage provides a glimpse of an especially flawed character. Abimilech, son of Gideon, assembles a band of shady characters, paying them with silver shekels from the temple of Baal. Together, they murdered Gideon's 70 (!) other sons--all except the youngest, Jotham, who escaped. Jotham warned the citizens of Shechem of what would befall them if they placed their faith in Abimilech. As time passed, a conflict with Shechem arose and Abimilech and his army captured that city and slaughtered its inhabitants in most gruesome ways. He and his army proceeded to the city of Thebez, where he was undone by a woman who dropped half a millstone on his head from a tower that he and his army were storming. To avoid the "shame" of being slain by a woman, Abimilech ordered one of his own men to take his life before his millstone injury killed him. This is presented as God's justice providing an appropriate punishment to Abimilech. Two more judges, Tola and Jair, appear and disappear with hardly a mention, and then Israel falls into the hands of the Ammonites and Philistines because of their unfaithfulness to the Lord. 

For 18 years the Israelites suffered, and at first God turned a deaf ear to their cries for mercy, offended by their disobedience and by their lack of gratitude for all He had done for them. But the Israelites continued to cry out, "We have sinned. Do to us whatever you please. Only save us this day." They cast out the false idols they had been worshipping. In a beautiful image, we learn that the Lord was moved: "He grieved over the misery of Israel." Isn't that an incredible notion? God grieved for the Israelites because their lack of gratitude, their faithlessness, their sinfulness, their turning away from Him, had resulted in deep suffering in their lives. 

Does God grieve for me when I turn away from Him and cause myself to suffer? Does God the Father suffer when I suffer in this way? There was a heresy known as Patripassianism about which I hope to write more at some point. It advanced this notion that God the Father suffers. But there is apparently no room in Catholic doctrine or philosophy for this concept. If God is perfect, He has no lack. Suffering implies a lacking of a sort--an emptiness or absence where happiness or joy or fulfillment should be. Since God lacks nothing, He cannot suffer. Only in the humanness of Jesus Christ does God allow Himself to experience suffering. But God the Father cannot suffer. I find this difficult to accept. Not because God the Father isn't perfect, but because God the Father is a father, like me. It is hard for me to conceive a father NOT suffering in watching his children suffer. This passage, where God "grieved over the misery" of the Israelites is a far more fatherly image to me than the Father I meet in Catholic doctrine. The parables of Jesus, such as the Prodigal Son and the Good Shepherd reinforce this notion of a suffering Father for me.

This passage continues with the story of Jephthah and some other minor judges, leading up to the time of Samson, to be covered in the next passage.