I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
Today’s passage recounts the war between David’s forces and those that remained loyal to the house of Saul. Reading the passage suggests that the only reason that any forces remained loyal to Saul’s son Ishbosheth was because of Abner (who had been commander of Saul’s army). At one point Joab, the commander of David’s army, led his forces out to battle Abner and his forces. When battle was entered, Joab’s forces were victorious and Abner’s forces retreated. Joab’s forces pursued them. In particular, Joab’s brother, Asahel, pursued Abner. Abner could not get away from Asahel and tried to convince him to go after someone else. Finally, when Asahel refused to turn aside, Abner killed him. Shortly after sunset, some of Abner’s troops took a stand on a hill, as Joab and his forces caught up to them Abner called out and convinced Joab to stop the pursuit. Both forces returned to their respective homes.
As time went on Abner became more powerful. Ishbosheth reprimanded Abner for sleeping with one of Saul’s concubines. Abner flew into a rage and threatened to turn Ishbosheth’s kingdom over to David. Ishbosheth was intimidated by Abner’s outburst, but Abner nevertheless began preparations to carry out his threat. Abner contacted David to start negotiations for him to become king of all of Israel. As part of these negotiations, David demanded the return of Micah, Saul’s daughter. Interestingly, it is Ishbosheth who returns Micah to David. After this Abner met with the elders of Israel, including Benjamin, the tribe of Saul’s family, and got them to agree to make David their king. Abner then went to David and offered to gather the people of Israel in an assembly to make David king. David threw a feast for Abner and sent him on his way.
Just after Abner left, Joab returned from a raid with a great deal of plunder. Joab was furious that David was treating with Abner and told David that Abner had merely come to spy on him. Joab then sent messengers after Abner to get him to come back. When Abner returned, Joab took him aside as if to speak privately. As soon as they were alone, Joab killed Abner in order to avenge his brother. When David learned that Joab had killed Abner, he was furious. David ordered Joab and all of those with him to mourn for Abner. On the day of Abner’s funeral (probably the following day), David fasted for the entire day despite being urged by his servants to eat. This convinced the people that David had no part in Abner’s death. David spoke to some of his men and praised Abner, lamenting his death. In addition, David expressed that he lacked the power to punish Joab and his remaining brother, Abishai.
In today’s passage, John describes Jesus washing His disciples feet. When He came to Peter, Peter at first refused to allow Jesus to wash His feet. Jesus told Peter that if he did not allow Jesus to wash him, he would have no part of Jesus. Peter’s response was “Then wash all of me.” Jesus then told Peter that those who had bathed were clean and did not need to be washed. Jesus then returned to His seat and asked if they understood what He had done. He then went on to explain that since He, their Teacher, had washed their feet, they should wash each other’s feet.
There are two lessons here that I think are important. The first is the obvious one. If Jesus bent down and did the lowly, servile task of washing His disciples’ feet, there is no task that is beneath us in serving our fellow-man. The second one is a lesson I have seen elsewhere, but I never noticed it here before today. When Jesus told Peter that He had to accept Jesus serving him by washing his feet, He was sending all of us a lesson. We need to let others serve us by doing things similar for us. Not letting others do for us, is as much against what Jesus taught as never doing anything to serve others. Some people are too proud to bend down and “wash someone’s feet”. But others are too proud to let someone else “wash their feet.” The latter is no more behaving as a follower of Christ than the former.
The psalm today reminds us that the route to happiness and joy is following God’s commands and seeking Him. As I read today’s portion of this psalm, there are two phrases that stand out for me. The first is a plea to God for His assistance, a plea that God is always glad to answer:
reflect your decrees!
The second phrase is a promise that I strive to fulfill:
that I might not sin against you.
I have worked at this latter from time to time with mixed success, but I will continue to strive to commit God’s words to my memory so that God can bring them to my mind when the time calls for them.
God is always far away from the wicked. This statement is a tautology. The wicked revel in doing evil and evil is the absence of good. Since God is the embodiment of good, by definition, the wicked must be far from Him. The second part is not so obvious. God will hear the prayer of those who strive for His righteousness, no matter how far away He seems.
The second of today’s proverbs reminds us to always keep a cheerful demeanor even when we are feeling down because by doing so, we can lift the spirits of others (and who knows, their renewed spirits may lift our own).