I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
Despite David’s failings as a father, he demonstrates his skill as a general and a politician as he makes plans while he flees Jerusalem. He sends the priests back into the city with the Ark of the Covenant with instructions to send him information about Absalom’s plans. David then instructs his adviser, Hushai, to stay in the city and tells him how to convince Absalom that he has switched loyalty. David is counting on Hushai giving Absalom advice that will counter the advice he receives from Ahithophel, a former adviser to David who has switched loyalty to Absalom. As David is fled Jerusalem, Shimei, a member of the clan that King Saul came from, came out and cursed David. When Joab’s brother, and David’s cousin, Abishai wants to go kill Shimei for his actions, David tells him not to. David’s response, referring to “you sons of Zeruiah”, suggests that Joab and Abishai often had impulses that David felt a need to restrain. My reading is that Joab and Abishai were fiercely loyal to David, but their loyalty was to their cousin and clan leader, not to the king of Israel. David, on the other hand, recognized that as king of Israel there were actions he needed to take, or not take, that as leader of just his clan he would do differently. I think perhaps this situation is one of those. As leader of just one clan, in this situation, where someone is cursing you and celebrating your misfortune, it might be in your interest and that of your clan to show that doing so is not safe and have that person killed. But as king of all Israel, there is a certain amount of benefit from allowing people to express their dissatisfaction with your rule, especially when that dissatisfaction is not directed as support for your political enemies. Shimei did not express support for Absalom, merely satisfaction in seeing David forced to flee.
When the Jewish religious leaders, who were also the Jewish political leaders, brought Jesus to Pilate they would not go into Pilate because that would have made them ceremonially unclean. So Pilate had to come out to them. When Pilate asked them what the charge was against Jesus, they don’t actually give him an answer. All they say is that they would not have brought Him to Pilate if He wasn’t a criminal. Pilate’s response was basically, “If you aren’t going to tell me what crime you are accusing Him of, you can take Him and punish Him according to your laws.” The Jewish leaders response was that they were not allowed to execute Him. Pilate returns to his palace and begins to question Jesus to see if He is an insurrectionist. When Pilate asks Jesus if He is a king, Jesus answers that His kingdom is not of this world. That if it was, His followers would have fought to keep Him from being arrested. I think there is no clearer teaching on the Christian approach to politics than this. Jesus did not come to institute God’s political system on this earth and His followers are not called to do so either. Jesus came to change the hearts and minds of individuals. We are not called to pass laws or build government programs. We are called to reach out as individuals to those individuals in need around us and show them God’s love, so that they may also come to understand His will for their lives. When Jesus says that He has come into the world to testify to the truth, Pilate asks Him, “What is truth?” There are many people today who ask the same question, who do not believe that truth is knowable. I believe that here and elsewhere Jesus and the Bible teaches us that truth is knowable and can be found through seeking God.
After this Pilate brings Jesus out before the Jews and tells them that He can find no basis for executing Jesus. The Jewish leaders insist that Pilate crucify Jesus. Pilate attempts to release Jesus, but the Jewish leaders threaten to accuse him of fomenting insurrection if he does so. As part of that, the Jewish leaders declare that they have no king but Caesar. By doing so they declare that their first loyalty is not to God but to the state. This is the other side from “My kingdom is not of this world.” This is our choice. Either “We have no King but Caesar” or we worship the One who said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” Either we count on God to make things right in this world, or we count on the state to do the same. When Pilate has Jesus crucified he has the soldiers post a sign that makes the decision of the religious leaders clear. The sign read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Pilate is telling everyone who sees the crucifixion that the Jewish leaders have chosen Rome over an independent Jewish state.
The psalmist continues his theme of the importance of following God’s decrees. I read this psalm and it touches my heart, both to impart joy for the opportunity to study the Bible and to challenge me to do a better job of avoiding sins that God has convicted me of. It, also, challenges me to begin a program of memorization. Today. I will make an effort to come up with a plan of memorization. I had the conviction of doing this blog as my daily devotional for a long time before I mustered the discipline to actually do it. I have been blessed by the process of reading the scripture and writing my thoughts down on this blog. I regret not starting this sooner. I will not put off another blessing because I am too lazy to move forward. Today, I will strive to begin taking the actions that reflect my belief in what the psalmist writes here:
your word is my source of hope.”
The two proverbs today speak of God’s will for behavior in the world. The first says that those with governmental authority should judge fairly and with honesty. The second says that our dealings in the marketplace should be the same to all and they should be honest and fair. At one time, the standard in the market was that people priced what they were selling at a particular price, but everyone knew that you could get it for less than that. It was just a question of how much less. You had to haggle to get the best price. Those selling were able to make more profit from those who were less able to haggle and/or who were less well informed as the actual costs involved in obtaining the item in question. At some point, a group of merchants decided that the right thing to do was to price their goods at what they considered a fair price for the cost they expended and the effort they put out to bring the goods to market. My understanding is that these merchants were Quakers. My understanding is that it was not exactly a decision they reached as a group, but rather a decision that they reached from their study of the scripture. These merchants were more successful than other merchants, which meant that those who wished to be successful in the market needed to emulate their practices. It is my belief that this approach to selling goods and services led to the explosion of trade which led to our modern strong economies and may have played a significant role in the rise of the industrial revolution. In recent years, those who study marketing have made the “discovery” that different people are willing to pay different amounts for many goods and services. This has led them to encourage companies to set up their pricing structure to attempt to capture additional revenue from those who are willing to pay more. This sounds like good business until you consider that now rather than basing your price on a reasonable profit over and above the costs to deliver the good or service to market, you have to spend the time to discover how much different market segments are willing to pay for your good or service. In addition, as those who supply you with goods or services adopt the same practice, you must spend time and effort to determine how much they might be willing to lower the price they charge you. Now instead of just being good at delivering a particular good or service, you must also be good at negotiating prices for goods and services in order to be successful. I believe that, despite the apparent advantages of adjusting your price according to what you believe that a particular customer is willing to pay, those who follow this proverb will find greater success in the marketplace.
