Day 23 - through to near the end of 2 Samuel

Today was the third day we have spent reading about the life of David, and I think it is fair to say it is the least impressive so far. Yesterday, we finished by reading about the affair with Bathsheba, and the murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite. Today, we read about the consequences that followed from that. Here are a few of my musings from the last couple of days:

i) the nature of the bible - this is no hagiography, no whitewashed account. Here we get an honest and graphic account of the failings of this man after God's own heart;

ii) the dangers of imitation and hero-worship - looking at David's later period as king, we see a listless, often passive figure, who sometimes doesn't even seem to recognise who his friends or enemies are. We remember, rightly, David the faith-filled, fearless slayer of Goliath, David the writer of psalms, but there are other sides we read about that should give pause for thought. A man who fathers more than a dozen children by a dozen different mothers would be more likely to feature on the front page of the Daily Mail than be held up as a role model for God's people. Equally, as we shall read next, on his deathbed none of his wives were to be found to comfort him in his old age.

iii) all our experiences should turn our thoughts to God. Having dissed David in the previous point, the balance should be maintained by looking forward to reading David psalms. As we shall see, several of the psalms have superscriptions indicating when psalms were written in response to which episode (Pss 34, 51, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60). In these times of distress, David turned to God for comfort and strength (1 Sam 30:6b). In those times of difficulties, his focus remained of God, content to wait for the outworking of His plan, and not trying to chivvy it along, but striking down the Lord's anointed.

I heard Don Cole, a wise old pastor, talking about psalm 23 on an episode of Michael Card's radio show a couple of years back. He said that while we do not know when David wrote the psalm, it is not the psalm of a young man. He then encouraged us to enter in with our imagination to the life of David and see the experiences which could have led him to write it. He then drew us to 2 Sam 17:27-29, where David is fleeing from Absolom. Away down the valley, David's army can see the camp fires of Absolom's much larger army, when this table is laid for him - a feast in the midst of the most tremendous struggle. "You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies," (Ps 23:4).

I like Andrew Peterson's almost whimsical take on David reminiscing.

These are disparate thoughts, which I shall not attempt to draw together in a neat simple thread. If I were to attempt to, it would be to reflect that we serve great David's greater son. As Peter said on Pentecost, you can go and see David's tomb (I went there a couple of years ago), but the tomb of the great king of the line of David is forever empty, for He is risen indeed. He has conquered sin and death and now reigns of high. Hallelujah Risen Lord Jesus!