Musings about Faith

Read the text here: II Samuel 11:1-15 Sinner and Saint We began this series back in June with a lesson from I Samuel 8 – Israel Demands a King.   In this passage the prophet Samuel explains to the people of Israel what the consequences of having a King would be: These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you…   he says, and then he goes on to list a series of potential abuses of power that the people should expect from their human king. Included in the list is conscription for the army in order to engage in endless (and pointless) wars, excessive taxation, the appropriation of land, and the taking sons and daughters to use as he sees fit.   The people push all of this aside and demand a king anyway – so they can be like the nations! (See I Sam 8:10-22)   And in our lesson today – in the very well known story of David and Bathsheba – we see that Samuel’s predictions are coming true.   David has become a petty despot and a tyrant who uses ...

Read the text here - II Samuel 6:1-23 God Rains on David’s Parade! In the movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” the action-hero archaeologist Indiana Jones is attempting to locate the lost Ark of the Covenant and to get hold of it before the bad guys get it.  They hope to harness the power and glory of God to advance their evil plans.  Finally at the films climax, the evil Belloq, dressed in High Priestly regalia ceremoniously and victoriously opens the top of the Ark of the Covenant and unleashes the power and glory of the Lord, which promptly melts Belloq and his Nazi collaborators.  God’s glory will not be harnessed or used! This is also a lesson that David needs to learn in our lesson for today.  David has finally been crowned King of all the united tribes of Israel. He has taken the city of Jerusalem and made it the capitol. Now, in a rather blatant ploy to consolidate his power, he determines to move the Ark of the Covenant to the new capitol. ...

Read the Text Here: II Samuel 5:1-12             David has finally done it! Today our lesson celebrates David’s finally reaching this goal.  But it was not an easy climb.  In fact, it was a dirty and bloody climb. First there was the issue of Saul and his sons.  Last week we learned that they had all been killed in battle.  But that did not completely clear the way for David.  Jonathan had a young and lame son named Ishbosheph.  He had been injured in the haste of evacuation after news of Saul’s death had arrived.  But General Abner and 11 of the tribes had at first rallied to Ishboseth as Saul’s rightful successor and the result was a civil war between these 11 tribes against the tribe of Judah, who had proclaimed David as King.  Eventually after about 7 years of ruling Judah alone from Hebron a truce is negotiated, David’s General, Joab, murders Abner (chapter 3); and then two of ...