2 Samuel 5-9

David's reign over all of Israel is confirmed, as all the tribes anoint him as their king. David is a good and godly ruler, who realizes

that the Lord had established him as king of Israel and exalted his rule for the sake of his people Israel.

God then enables David and the Israelites to defeat the Philistines, and David acknowledges:

The Lord has scattered my enemies before me like waters that have broken free.

In thanksgiving, David has the ark of the covenant brought to Jerusalem, and celebrates joyfully with his people. Prefiguring the coming of Jesus, the Lord then promises David:

I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you. And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.

David praises God for his blessings and for this special promise. Looking backward, in a sense, David also finds it in himself to honor Saul (and his beloved friend Jonathan) one more time, by gifting all the property that had formerly been Saul's to his surviving grandson (and Jonathan's son), Meribbaal. He further honors Meribbaal by insisting that Meribbaal be seated with him at the king's table for his meals. 

1 Samuel 29-31

Saul comes to an ignominious end. Having heard from the conjured spirit of Samuel that his kingship would end badly, for he had disobeyed and displeased God, Saul was thrown into deep despair. The Philistines renewed their hostilities with Saul and his army, re-engaging them in a battle that ended in the death of Saul and his sons. Once badly wounded, Saul fell on his own sword rather than suffer indignity at the hands of the Philistine army. In death, his corpse was desecrated by the Philistines, and the book ends with the Philistines triumphant. In what is to me an odd sidelight, if I am reading correctly, David offered to go into battle with the Philistines against Saul and his army--but the Philistine lords rejected his offer.

Let me return one more time to a sentiment I expressed in an earlier post: I find Saul a very sympathetic figure despite his many faults. He is complex, for sure. More so, to my mind, than any character so far in the Old Testament. He is a father who loves his sons, and even loves his "adopted" son, David. He is a leader who loves his people. He feels things deeply. He admires the holy man, Samuel, who taught him the ways of the Lord. And he seeks to serve God. But he is also small-minded and petulant and jealous. He is willful and violent and egotistical. He is, in short, a man. He loses his himself in disobedience and egotism, and he cannot find his way back to God. Looking over Saul's life makes me sad.

1 Samuel 16-19

Having rejected Saul as the king of Israel, the Lord sends Samuel to Bethlehem to find and anoint a new king. Directing Samuel to the house of Jacob, the Lord instructs Samuel to select one of Jacob's sons. In doing so, the Lord cautions Samuel:

Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.

The Lord chooses David, the youngest of Jesse's sons, and Samuel anoints him. Soon after, because of is talents on the harp, David finds himself at Saul's side, playing soothing music to calm Saul when the evil spirit sent by the Lord is tormenting Saul. Saul becomes fond of David. When faced with a battle against the Philistines, Saul's army is terrified and their God insulted, by the giant, Goliath. Of all people, it is David who accepts the challenge to face Goliath one-on-one, saying:

I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted. Today, the Lord shall deliver you into my hand; I will strike you down and cut off your head.

And so he does. With his slingshot, he fells Goliath and cuts off his head--sending the Philistines fleeing in terror and securing victory for the Israelites. 

From this event, many consequences ensue. Saul's son, Jonathan, becomes a great friend and admirer of David's, as fond of him as if his life depended on him. The people of Israel see David as a hero and literally sing his praises. He becomes the head of Saul's army and leads them to many victories. But Saul becomes increasingly jealous over time, to the point that he schemes to bring about David's death. After marrying one of Saul's daughters, David is ultimately forced to flee his home to avoid death at Saul's hands. David finds refuge with Samuel to escape Saul's persecution. Saul finds him even there in that hiding place, but Saul himself is overcome with the prophetic spirit that had enraptured Samuel, David, and the others staying with them.

The Lord helps David, a handsome but otherwise ordinary seeming man, become a great hero, filling him with the spirit of the Lord. With that spirit, David--and all of us--can surely do great things. 

1 Samuel 13-15

Saul is basically a good man and a caring leader. He wants to follow God, he tries to do so diligently, he errs at times, and he is remorseful and seeks forgiveness when he falls short. Yet Samuel reproves him and he is punished--Samuel tells him "your kingdom shall not endure . . . because you broke the Lord's command." Saul can also be rash, and an oath he impulsively swears nearly results in the death of his own son, Jonathan. It is only because of the pleading of the very people saved by Jonathan's bravery in battle that he is spared from death. Saul led the Israelites to victory against many of the enemies surrounding Israel, and caused the Philistines to return to their own land. The Lord, through Samuel, then directed Saul to make war on Amalek, and to slaughter all of the people there and their animals. Saul waged the battle and claimed the victory, but he spared Agag, the king of Amalek, and the best of his animals, with the intention of sacrificing those animals to the Lord in thanksgiving for their victory. But again Samuel rebuked Saul for disobeying God's command and failing to fulfill the mission on which God sent him. He explained to Saul:

Obedience is better than sacrifice and submission [better than] the fat of rams. 

Samuel went on to tell Saul that the kingdom of Israel would be torn from Saul. Samuel returned with Saul that they might worship the Lord. Samuel then ordered that Agag be brought into his presence, and Samuel himself killed him. Samuel then departed from there, never to see Saul again. The section ends by noting that Samuel:

grieved over Saul, because the Lord regretted having made him king of Israel.

I must say I am baffled by this passage. The all-forgiving God who showed such patience and mercy for the Israelites for many, many years, under one judge after another, has little patience for Saul.

1 Samuel 3-7

The story of Samuel being called by God gives me goosebumps. How many times in my own life have I heard God's call, sometimes even at night, alone, in the silence of my dark room, pulling at my heart? And yet how often have I resisted that call, or ignored it, or pretended i didn't hear it, or even promised myself that I would answer it only to forget my promise soon after? Too often to count. Yet God keeps calling to me. I am trying to do as Samuel did--to respond with "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening." But it is hard. I am happy and blessed and more or less comfortable where I am. Those are good things. Great things. Yet God may be calling me to something more or something different--something unknown. And unlike Samuel, I am afraid. 

The remainder of this passage tells of the Philistines capture of the Ark, the sufferings they undergo as a result, the return of the Ark to Israel, and the subsequent defeat of the Philistines. 

Comic moments (to me a least): the Philistines send back a guilt offering along with the Ark, in the form of golden hemorrhoids. Yup, golden hemorrhoids (according to my translation). Umm, ok. Also, two of the minor characters in this passage have names that we find, many centuries later, as prominent characters in classic works of literature: Ichabod (Crane) and Ebenezer (Scrooge). 

Judges 13-16

The story of Samson is next. Is he Achilles, the sometimes brooding warrior with a physical vulnerability that proves his downfall? Or is he Oedipus, an otherwise good king undone by a prophecy and a riddle, who ends life with his eyes gouged out? Or instead is he Hercules, a man born of woman and a god/angel, who performs superhuman feats of strength? I cannot help thinking of these legends while reading about Samson. He killed a thousand men with the "fresh jawbone of an ass"??!! Are you kidding me? His story just feels different to me than what I've read so far. 

But Samson is, at bottom, a man like me. He is volatile and impulsive. He is brooding and secretive. He is crafty and violent. He is vulnerable. He is a man. He was intended by God. And he was beloved by God, as I am in all my imperfections. One idea I take away from his story is that all of us, even I, can do heroic things, if I only call on God for strength as Samson did. Blinded, humiliated, chained to the temple columns, he called on God for strength and brought the temple down on the Philistines within it, himself included. A final act of trust in God, it brought about the destruction of the temple and his own death as well. It prefigures Jesus, who through his own death destroyed the old temple, and rose again in three days to rebuild it.

Even when I feel defeated, as I have lately, I must remember Samson and remember to call on God for strength.  And to be grateful because He is always there for me. Always.

Genesis 24:28-26:35

The Lord God has a direct hand in ensuring that Isaac marries a woman who is very beautiful. A woman who, it seems, turns out to be perfect for him. Indeed, "in his love for her, Isaac found solace after the death of his mother, Sarah."  As a husband, I find it comforting to think that in this way God can work in our own lives, to help us find and choose a mate who can be a help and solace to us. In contrast, I am distressed by the reference, after the story of the birth of Esau and Jacob, to the fact that Isaac favored Esau and Rebekah favored Jacob. Really? As a father, it is incomprehensible to me to think that I would favor or love one of my children more than the other.  This does not resonate with me at all, and we can already feel the echoes of the Cain and Abel story. So far, Genesis is not filled with particularly good modeling for parents. Although Abraham has other children after Sarah dies, it is to Isaac that he leaves everything he owns. And God makes it clear that Isaac is the heir of the covenant God made with Abraham.  Finally, I find some comic relief in the story of Isaac and Rebekah visiting the king of the Philistines, Abimelech. This poor guy is again lied to, this time by Isaac, who tells him that Rebekah is actually Isaac's sister.  Just as Abraham had done years before.  And once again, Abimelech and his retinue nearly commit the grave sin of lying with a married man's wife.  Eventually, seeng how prosperous Isaac and his relatives have become, Abimilech sends him away.