I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 12-13.

    I was going to write about Nathan’s message to David, God’s judgment on David, and David’s failings as a father. However, as I re-read the passage in order to compose my thoughts, I was struck by David’s reaction to the illness and death of his son by Bathsheba. While the child was sick, David fasted and prayed. He laid on the bare floor and pleaded with God for the boy’s life. He did this to such a degree that his advisers and servants were afraid to tell him that the boy had died. However, when David realized that the boy had died, he got up, cleaned himself, got dressed, and went to worship God. Then he came back and ate. David’s advisers did not understand his actions.

    However, as Christians we should understand David. While the child was alive, David fasted and prayed. He had hope that God would be gracious and return the boy to health. However, once the child had died David knew that he was suffering no more. The child was with the Lord, where David could join him one day. The message of this passage really strikes home to me right now. In the last week my family held a funeral for a cousin who died after a long, painful struggle with cancer and celebrated my Mom’s 90th birthday. We should fast and pray for our loved ones when they are sick, asking God to end their suffering by healing them. However, if and when they die, we should rejoice because God has ended their suffering and one day we will be reunited with them in His presence. This is easier said than done.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 8-11.

    The story of David and Bathsheba shows us how one small mistake can lead us to make ever greater mistakes. David’s first mistake was to send the army out to war without going with it. There are two places where the author expresses his unhappiness with David’s decision not to lead the army. In chapter 11, verse one the author writes

In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight…

Then later the author expresses his dissatisfaction with David in the reason which Uriah gives for not going home to his wife. Having failed to do his duty, David was exposed to the temptation of seeing Bathsheba bathing. David succumbed to that temptation, then, to cover it up, he conspired to have her husband killed. It is worth noting that Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband was one of David’s most loyal followers.
    I want to make one last point. I have seen some people suggest that Bathsheba knew what she was doing when she went out to bathe that night when she caught David’s attention. While this is certainly possible I want to point out that nowhere in the Bible does any writer condemn Bathsheba for her affair with David. This is despite the supposedly misogynistic (anti-woman) characteristics of the Old Testament.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 4-7.

    When word reached Ishbosheth’s camp about Abner’s death, two brothers, who were minor commanders in his army, slipped into Ishbosheth’s house while he napped and killed him. They took Ishbosheth’s head to David, apparently expecting him to reward them for killing Ishbosheth. Rather than reward them, David ordered them executed. Throughout his career David consistently rejected the idea of punishing people solely because they were his enemies. When the people of Israel learned that Ishbosheth, the last of Saul’s sons, had died, they made David their king. I do not know if anyone else has ever noticed, but sometimes when I write this blog I write whatever comes to my mind hoping that God (or perhaps just my mental processes) will inspire me with a spiritual message from the passage. Some days that inspiration never comes. However, today is not one of those days…

    When David moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem he loaded it on a cart. This was contrary to the instructions which God had given the Israelites concerning how to move the Ark. As a result, when one of the men accompanying the Ark reached out to steady it, God struck him down. This may seem unfair, since a mere two generations earlier the Philistines had returned the Ark to the Israelites by sending it on a cart. However, the lesson here for us is that God holds those who know better to a higher standard. Or, perhaps a better way to say this is, God holds those who instruct others on right and wrong to a higher standard. We see time and again stories about people who tell others about how God wants us to live our lives getting caught up in a scandal, or otherwise having their life fall apart because they did that which they told others was wrong. If you feel called by God to tell others to live righteously make sure that you yourself are living up to your standard of righteousness, or, at least, be open about your failure to live up to what you believe is right.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 1-3.

    When a messenger came to David with news of Saul’s death, the messenger claimed to have killed Saul, at Saul’s request. I am not sure why the messenger claimed to have killed Saul, perhaps he thought David would reward him. Yet he appears to have been aware that the news would not be greeted with unmitigated joy by David, since he was careful to make clear that he only killed Saul at Saul’s request. David had the messenger killed for claiming to have killed Saul. It is not clear to me why David did this. However, David was sending a clear message that he had not been behind Saul’s death. He also sent a message that not only would he not reward people for assassinating his enemies, he would hold them accountable for doing so.

    In the story of Abner coming over to David we see the weakness in David’s approach to governing. When Joab killed Abner, David was unable to do anything about it because he needed Joab’s support. While Joab claimed to have killed Abner because Abner had killed Joab’s brother, there is reason to believe that Joab killed Abner because he saw Abner as a threat to his position as commander of David’s armies.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 25-27.

    We see in this passage the beginnings of how David built his power base. While David was in the wilderness hiding from Saul he had gathered men who followed him. In order to support those men, David could have turned bandit, stealing supplies from the wealthy. Instead of doing so, David set his men to protecting the property of men like Nabal from bandits. David then expected the men whose property his men had protected to provide them with some support. Over time, the majority of people to whom David provided such protection would have become fond of David.
    The root of David’s power base contrasts with that of Saul. David rose to power by building good will among powerful people. Saul had risen to power on the basis of raising and leading an army to defeat a cruel enemy of the Israelite people. Saul’s power relied on his control of the army. As a result, he viewed anyone else who developed a power base as a threat. David, on the other hand, was always dependent on maintaining the loyalty of various people who controlled independent power bases.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 21-24.

    At the end of yesterday’s passage David fled from Saul’s men in the middle of the night. David chose to go to the priest Ahimelech in Nob to obtain supplies. We are not given any reason why David went to Ahimelech. Ahimelech’s reaction to David arriving alone (the passage tells us that Ahimelech trembled) suggests that Saul had earned a reputation for sending agents to kill people. Further, Ahimelech found David’s response about being on a secret mission for Saul believable. Further down we read of Saul’s reaction to Doeg the Edomite telling him about this. The entire account of Saul’s reaction to David, and now to Ahimelech, reminds me of modern totalitarians. When David’s success began to give David support among the people that did not derive from Saul, Saul began to perceive him as a threat and started to take action to eliminate David. When Ahimelech offers support for David, not knowing that David has fallen out of favor, Saul orders Ahimelech and his entire family killed for their perceived disloyalty.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 18-20.

    Every time I read this passage I feel bad for Jonathan. All of the accounts we have of Jonathan portray him as a good man with great faith. Yet, because of his father’s failings, he died in battle so that David could become king. The contrast between Saul and Jonathan is interesting. Saul is jealous of David. He justifies his attempts on David’s life by stating that David will become king in Jonathan’s place. Yet, when Jonathan defends David, Saul attempts to kill Jonathan. Jonathan, on the other hand, recognized how God was with David and was willing to be second to David.

    Another thing which always strikes me in these passages is Saul’s fits of rage. On one occasion, Saul attempted to kill David in a fit of rage, yet a short time later, David is once more in Saul’s favor and being assigned important tasks. In a similar manner, Saul attempted to kill Jonathan, his own son. Yet Jonathan remained his second in command and heir. I think these fits explain why Saul’s dynasty ended with him. However, I also believe that there is a connection between these fits and Saul’s failure to obey God described in earlier passages. It was Saul’s lack of trust in God which led him to have such an explosive temper.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 16-17.

    This passage shows us that the 1 Samuel is a compilation of stories from other sources. It recounts the story of David being summoned to play for Saul and becoming his armor bearer before the story of Goliath. Yet, in the Goliath story, Saul does not know who David is. Every time I read this story I am struck by how Eliab, David’s oldest brother, reacted to David asking questions about Goliath. I am the youngest of six children, so I think I understand why Eliab reacted the way he did. As the youngest, David had learned how to get what he wanted and Eliab thought David was trying to egg people on so he could see a battle. Eliab’s anger at David would have been well placed if he had been right about David’s motives. As it turns out, Eliab did not know his little brother quite as well as he thought. David was not trying to get someone else to challenge Goliath, or start a battle, so that he could watch. He was trying to get someone to ask him to fight Goliath (or at least give him the chance to do so). David knew that he could not just walk up to someone in authority and say that he would fight Goliath.

    I want to spend a few moments examining why David saw that he could defeat Goliath, but no one else saw it as a possibility. Obviously, the first part of that came from David’s faith in God. That faith played the primary role in David’s success. However, there was one more thing that led to David’s success, one that we must keep in mind as we face our “Goliaths”. Everyone else allowed Goliath to define the terms of the confrontation. They saw Goliath out there with a sword, spear, and shield. They assumed that they had to meet him using those same items. When David realized that he could not fight Goliath with the armor and weapons of a warrior, he did not give up. Instead, he fell back on what he knew. His faith in God let him realize that he did not have to face Goliath as a warrior. God would use the skills which He had given David to show His might and power. God has given us the skills to face the challenges he sends our way. We cannot become trapped into thinking that because we do not have the skills others believe are needed that we cannot do that to which God has called us.