Author: Bob Bronkema

It struck me this time as I was reading the beginning chapters that the story of the ministry of Jesus really doesn’t pick up until the middle of chapter 4 of Luke. On top of that se see the first two chapters are very very long chapters. In reality, we have the set up of Jesus as being consequential so that we are prepared for what comes next. Pretty much all of what we have read so far is Jesus who is performing miracles and all of the religious leaders as well as the people of the day are following him around to see what he will do next. He is potentially at the zenith of his itinerant career right now, in the early stages of his ministry.

It is also here where we see that he is about 30 when he begins his ministry and we know that three Passovers are mentioned which places the length of his ministry at 3 years. I do have burned in my mind that his disciples could have easily been teenagers when he called them. We also see that Peter and James and John were business partners in the fishing industry. There is so much detail in Luke, to say nothing of the birth narratives of John and Jesus that none of the other Gospels contain, that is fascinating. Luke is probably my favorite in setting the stage for the ministry of Jesus. He is at this stage of his career hugely popular. But we know that soon changes.

There are a couple of places in Micah that we find verses that we have used in the past. But the vast majority of it is the prophet complaining about the people of Israel to God. It is a stark reminder of what is happening in the land when God’s people disobey. The state of the land was such that the people of power were taking advantage of those who had no voice and making sure that they maintained their power.

The two verses that stick out are Micah 5:2 where we see the prediction of the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem. Appropriate for this time of year, and it was used by the seers of Herod to tell the wise men where they were supposed to go. We also see the very last verses in chapter 7 that seem to turn the tables from complaint to praise lifting up the faithfulness of God even in the midst of the unfaithfulness of the people.

There is a lot of conflict within the kingdom of David. Not only do the Philistines present themselves as a worthy adversary, but those within Israel and Judah go up against David as well. This was surprising to me to see how many times there is a “civil war” actively taking place within the kingdom of David. One would think that this portends to a bad leader, or someone who is not very popular among the people, I don’t know of another explanation. But I had never thought of David as someone who was not able to maintain the favor of the people.

He is driven out of Jerusalem more than once, but at the end of the day we see that he makes his way back into Jerusalem. There is one sequence where David sings a song after a victory and it is one that we know. It the one that goes: The Lord liveth, and blessed be the rock… You can see it below.

David’s strategy of putting a prophet mole in the house of Absalom works. But interestingly enough the advice that the mole gives is that Absalom should not pursue David, but rather hang back, and the other prophet says to pursue David. It seems at first like the King follows the advice of the mole, to the point that the one in Absalom’s house goes out and hangs himself because he is not being listened to. But then the next thing we see is Absalom pursuing David to his own defeat and eventually his own death, killed like a pinata.

The Psalms reflect David’s desire to have the protection and safety of God even in the midst of the violence that was ever a part of his life. This desire we see finds itself come true especially in these Scriptures where we see God protect David, even as it looks like David’s plans come to fruition with his mole prophet.

David is at the height of his rule over Israel, to the point where he is able to send out his most trusted general, Joab, and go into battle without the king. The Scripture makes it a point that David remains home in Jerusalem while the soldiers are out in the field fighting, simply because they no longer need David to win the battle. The battle belongs to the Lord and the Lord is winning the battle over and over again. But David sees Bathsheba and forces her to come to him and he rapes her. He then calls her husband into town to sleep with her because she is pregnant. He refuses to leave David’s side, he was so loyal. He send a letter to Joab by the hand of her husband to have him killed on the battle field, and it happens.

One of David’s own sons does something similar and sleeps with his sister and then flees. Another of David’s sons kills the brother, Amnon, who did this thing and then he flees. We don’t see any of this mess before David rapes Bathsheba, but now it seems that there is a lot of trouble in David’s family because of this egregious act that he committed against Bathsheba. David forgives Absalom but then Absalom makes moves to take the throne and succeeds. That is where we leave it. Look what happens from the time that David is at the height of his power to the sin that he commits because he is king and thinks he can do anything, to now he is forced out of his own home by his son. What a warning to us as we think that as life goes on we can be independent of the will of God. That is simply a false narrative.

This is clearly a block of Scripture which describes the multiple victories of David as King. But to begin this section we see that God makes a covenant with David as king that his house shall forever, but we see at least through Solomon, retain God’s favor and power. David expresses a desire to build a house for God, but his prophet, Nathan, has a vision that it will be David’s son, but this is all within the context of David having his family blessed as no other individual has had their family blessed in regards to rule over Israel. Abraham had a similar promise, but it was for the land. Here, David’s covenant is directly related to kingship.

As soon as we hear about his promise then David is off to the races and conquers those around him and does so in a way that thousands upon thousands fall upon the fields of victory. That is what the two psalm are about that we read. They are psalms of victory which obviously must have worked because of the prodigious amount of blood that David spills. We will see later this becomes a problem for David as he tries to build the temple, but I don’t want to steal the thunder.

As you follow along in this Scripture you will see that David is anointed at least three different times. Twice alone in these Scripture that we read, and once by Samuel, I may have even missed one so it could be 4 times. It took time, over 7 years, for David to take over the throne as the lone king. Saul’s son was in place and reigned for a number of years and others came and ruled as well. But David persevered and continued to rule in a way that all of the nation of Israel eventually came to him. We see him settle in Jerusalem which eventually becomes the city of David. It there were we see him build his house as well. It is because of this that eventually he asks the Lord if he could build the temple since he has a house for himself it makes sense that a house of the Lord be built as well. We will see the Lord’s answer in a bit.

The demise of Saul is hard to watch because we can’t help but wonder: what if? Do you ever find yourself in that state of mind where you are asking yourself, what if? What if I had made a different decision, taken a different job, dated a different person, spent my money on something else, didn’t go with that person and make a mistake. Our lives could be filled with what ifs, but instead should be filled with: this is the direction that the Lord wants me to go and I am going to go that direction no matter what. Saul was a tormented soul, he battled with jealousy and self-doubt and as a result made decisions that worked against him time after time.

In these final chapters of Samuel we see his death along with the death of his children. We can imagine how upset David will be for the death of Jonathan, maybe not so much for Saul. Psalm 57 is a psalm where David asks for protection from Saul after he pursues him all over Israel. In these chapters he decides he has had enough of that and goes and lives with the Philistines with whom he would be safe because Saul would not be able to go and pursue him. Let’s see what happens as David tries to take the throne.

We continue along with David’s story and inserted in that story is the death of Samuel. David continues along with his life as an outcast hiding away so that Saul, who is after him and wants his life, is not able to find him. We see the first of at least two stories of David sparing the life of Saul when clearly the Lord delivered him into his hand. It provides some relief for David, even though it is short lived. We see the story of one of David’s wives, Abigail, and how she was wise in saving her household even as she is married to a grumpy man who almost caused the entire household to come crashing down.

Psalm 34 has a wonderful line which states: O taste and see that the Lord is good. I love the image of being able to taste that the Lord is good. Yes, this has to do with food. I have noticed within our culture we do have a bit of a food worship going on with how important it is to us that what we eat is made in a way that provides the most possible taste and variety. Food used to simply be a means provision, now it is a way in which we are able to separate ourselves from others. But the tasting of the Lord is a concept which I love which reminds us that his presence is ubiquitous.

Who doesn’t love a good story about David? There are quite a few of them in our reading for today. We see David as a youth take down Goliath even as his brothers are frightened by this soldier that no other Israelite wants to face. It is interesting that it seems like Saul has never met David before, and that his advisers don’t know who he is, because when he kills him Saul asks who he is. If you remember earlier David played in Saul’s court when he would be tormented. Saul then makes him a soldier and becomes jealous when the women of the town regale David more highly than Saul.

There is also a very interesting dynamic between Jonathan and David whose souls become bound to each other. This description of the love that these two men have for each other should not threaten us. Some jump to conclusions that this must be interpreted in a way that is not fraternal, but why do we impose 21st century morality on a beautiful story of friendship that contains the type of profundity that we ought to have with our Savior. Our desire ought to be that we have friendships where our souls are bound to each other as a result of our common love for our Savior.