David and Solomon

We have been talking about David for a really long time in this class. In fact, we started the book of Samuel in September! Other than a short break in December for Advent, that’s a long time to be talking about Samuel, Saul, and David. Well today is the last story of David we’re going to study!

Last we saw David he was having some issues handling his kids. Amnon attacked his sister. Absolom killed Amnon and then tried to overthrow David and then in the end Absolom too died. That means David’s two oldest heirs, who should have been king are both dead.

So who is going to be king after David? That is the question. Please go get your Bibles and open to 1 Kings!

Someone please read 1 Kings 1:5-10.

(Note: Adonijah is pronounce ADD-eh-KNEE-jah)

5 Now Adonijah son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king”; he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. 6 His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?” He was also a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom. 7 He conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with the priest Abiathar, and they supported Adonijah. 8 But the priest Zadok, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the prophet Nathan, and Shimei, and Rei, and David’s own warriors did not side with Adonijah.

9 Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fatted cattle by the stone Zoheleth, which is beside En-rogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the royal officials of Judah, 10 but he did not invite the prophet Nathan or Benaiah or the warriors or his brother Solomon.

Adonijah is David’s fourth son. We’ve already talked about how Amnon was oldest and Absolom was third, and we don’t know what happened to David’s second son. For whatever reason, the second son is never discussed or considered in the running for the throne. So that means Adonijah, as the fourth son, is now the heir apparent for the throne of Israel.

So Adonijah starts acting like he’s going to be king, he starts acting like king already. He starts talking with generals and priests and basically preparing to be king someday. But not everyone supports Adonijah as the next king, and one of the people who doesn’t support him is Nathan—the current prophet of God. And Adonijah knows it, so when he goes to have  a party to basically celebrate how he’s going to be king someday, he invites everyone—except the people who don’t support his claim to be king, like the prophet Nathan or his brother Solomon.

Can someone please read 1 Kings 1:11-14.

11 Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king and our lord David does not know it? 12 Now therefore come, let me give you advice, so that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. 13 Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying: Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne? Why then is Adonijah king?’ 14 Then while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.”

Nathan is not happy about this whole Adonijah situation. So he goes to Bathsheba to devise a plan to stop this from happening. If you’ll remember Bathsheba is one of David’s wife, but she became his wife after a really horrible situation where David abused his power. A lot of the drama happening in David’s life is a punishment for his horrible abuses of power. But Bathsheba did nothing wrong, she was the victim, and she became David’s wife and had a son named Solomon. Who is now an adult and is the son of David that Nathan wants to be king after David.

Nathan says at some point David promised Solomon would be king after him. Now I couldn’t find the verse where David actually promised that, but it seems that both Nathan and Bathsheba believed David had intended Solomon to be king.

So David goes to Bathsheba and tells her to go to David and basically ask why Adonijah is going to be king instead of Solomon.

Someone please read 1 Kings 1:15-21.

15 So Bathsheba went to the king in his room. The king was very old; Abishag the Shunammite was attending the king. 16 Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance to the king, and the king said, “What do you wish?” 17 She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God, saying: Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne. 18 But now suddenly Adonijah has become king, though you, my lord the king, do not know it. 19 He has sacrificed oxen, fatted cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the children of the king, the priest Abiathar, and Joab the commander of the army; but your servant Solomon he has not invited. 20 But you, my lord the king—the eyes of all Israel are on you to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors, that my son Solomon and I will be counted offenders.”

Bathsheba goes to the king and bows before him and is basically like “hey, did you know Adonijah is going around pretending he’s going to be king? Didn’t you promise that your heir would be Solomon?” And then she basically calls David to task, saying it’s his job as king to stand up and proclaim who will be king after him. That everyone is waiting for David to do so.

She also points out that if Adonijah becomes King after David when many people knew that David had intended Solomon, Adonijah will probably kill Bathsheba and Solomon so that there is no counter claim to the throne—so that there can be no rebellion against him.

This is a pretty common practice back then, that when you become king you kill everyone else who has a claim to the throne. This is why Jonathan made David promise that he wouldn’t kill any of Jonathan’s family. Killing the other heirs family is super common. So it makes sense Bathsheba would be afraid for her and Solomon’s lives.

Alright someone please read 1 Kings 1:22-27.

22 While she was still speaking with the king, the prophet Nathan came in. 23 The king was told, “Here is the prophet Nathan.” When he came in before the king, he did obeisance to the king, with his face to the ground. 24 Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne’? 25 For today he has gone down and has sacrificed oxen, fatted cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king’s children, Joab the commander[a]of the army, and the priest Abiathar, who are now eating and drinking before him, and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ 26 But he did not invite me, your servant, and the priest Zadok, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon. 27 Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king and you have not let your servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

As planned, Nathan comes in while Bathsheba is talking to David. And Nathan basically underscores everything Bathsheba just said: that Adonijah is setting himself up to be king and that some of the king’s men are supporting Adonijah as king. Nathan also tells David that it is his job to declare the next king, and David is basically shirking its responsibility.

Now David of the past may just let it ride, and not actually do anything. After all the David who messed up with Amnon, Tamar, and Absolom didn’t like interfering with his children’s lives. So let’s see what David does now. Can someone read 1 Kings 1:28-31?

28 King David answered, “Summon Bathsheba to me.” So she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king. 29 The king swore, saying, “As the Lord lives, who has saved my life from every adversity, 30 as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ so will I do this day.” 31 Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and did obeisance to the king, and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”

In the end however David actually listens. Before Bathsheba, Nathan, and God, he swears that Solomon shall succeeded him and be king after him. But it’s not enough for him to proclaim it to just Nathan and Bathsheba. David also needs to tell all the people. Can someone read 1 Kings 1:32-40?

32 King David said, “Summon to me the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king, 33 the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. 34 There let the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan anoint him king over Israel; then blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ 35 You shall go up following him. Let him enter and sit on my throne; he shall be king in my place; for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.” 36 Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, so ordain. 37 As the Lord has been with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.”

38 So the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and led him to Gihon. 39 There the priest Zadok took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” 40 And all the people went up following him, playing on pipes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth quaked at their noise.

David summons his men and makes a plan. He says they are to take Solomon out in the city, put him on a mule, blow a trumpet, and declare Solomon the king so that everyone knows that it is Solomon and not Adonijah will be king after David.

So these men do it, they take Solomon around on a mule and lead him around and then in the end they anoint Solomon as the next king and declare it. So now all of Israel knows that it is Solomon who has been chosen to be king.

But Adonijah hasn’t been told. How do you guys think he’s going to take this?

Well let’s see. Someone please read 1 Kings 1:41-48.

41 Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished feasting. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is the city in an uproar?” 42 While he was still speaking, Jonathan son of the priest Abiathar arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a worthy man and surely you bring good news.” 43 Jonathan answered Adonijah, “No, for our lord King David has made Solomon king; 44 the king has sent with him the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they had him ride on the king’s mule; 45 the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan have anointed him king at Gihon; and they have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you heard. 46 Solomon now sits on the royal throne. 47 Moreover the king’s servants came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours, and make his throne greater than your throne.’ The king bowed in worship on the bed 48 and went on to pray thus, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who today has granted one of my offspring[a] to sit on my throne and permitted me to witness it.’”

This all happens while Adonijah is having his feast, but they hear the trumpets and celebrating in the city and they’re like “What is that?” A man arrives soon and tells them what happened—that David made Solomon king while Adonijah was out partying.

Someone please read 1 Kings 1:49-53.

49 Then all the guests of Adonijah got up trembling and went their own ways. 50 Adonijah, fearing Solomon, got up and went to grasp the horns of the altar. 51 Solomon was informed, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon; see, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’” 52 So Solomon responded, “If he proves to be a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the ground; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” 53 Then King Solomon sent to have him brought down from the altar. He came to do obeisance to King Solomon; and Solomon said to him, “Go home.”

Adonijah and his people are terrified, because now that David has declared Solomon king before all the people, then Solomon might have Adonijah killed. Someone tells Solomon that Adonijah is afraid, but since Solomon is a good man like his father, he promises that as long as Adonijah is a good man he doesn’t have to fear anything. But if he continues in his desire to be king and works against Solomon, well then that will be a different story.

So Solomon calls Adonijah before him and tells him that and sends him home in peace.

Someone please read 1 Kings 2:1-4.

2 When David’s time to die drew near, he charged his son Solomon, saying: 2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, be courageous, 3 and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. 4 Then the Lord will establish his word that he spoke concerning me: ‘If your heirs take heed to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.’

David is very old, so he brings Solomon before him to give him so last advice. He gives Solomon three charges: (1) Be strong. (2) Be courageous. And then finally the most important one (3) he tells Solomon to obey God. Because while God promised David’s throne to last forever, that is reliant on David’s heirs being faithful!

David also continues by advising Solomon on how to deal with the different people, so that Solomon will be set up well as king of Israel.

Now can someone read 1 Kings 2:10-12.

10 Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. 11 The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12 So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established.

In the end King David dies. The Bible says he ruled Israel for 40 years. And then Solomon becomes king. And unlike David, Solomon’s kingdom is not one started at war. It’s an established kingdom and all Solomon has to do is continue his father’s work and obey God and Israel will continue to flourish.

We’ll discuss next week Solomon as king, but for now I want to pause and discuss David’s legacy.

We’ve spent a lot of time on David, and that’s because Biblically he is extremely important. We’re going to see references to David over and over again. David is called over and over a “man after God’s own heart.” Despite all his sins and wrong doings, David was a man who loved God and sought him, and always asked for forgiveness when he did something wrong.

In the end we’re going to see that David’s throne doesn’t last forever. Israel is going to fall. It will be taken over by foreign nations and have no kings. But even during this time of exile, when the people of God weren’t living in their promised land and had no temple, God still promises that King David and his throne will come back. Can someone please read Ezekiel 34:23-24.

23 I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

This is a promise God is making to Israel, that he will set up a shepherd over them—his servant David. And David will take care of them and be their shepherd and God will be their God but David will be a prince to them.

This isn’t actually talking about God bringing David back from the dead to rule over us. When Christians read this passage, we read it God’s promise of a perfect shepherd, a perfect prince who will be brought to us, to care for us.

Not King David himself brought back from the dead, but an heir of David. And who is that? [Let them answer]

That’s right. It’s Jesus.

Someone read John 10:11. This is Jesus speaking.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 

Jesus says he’s the good shepherd, the shepherd promised to us by God.  Jesus is David’s heir, and unlike David he is perfect.

This is partly why when Jesus came people expected Jesus to be a warrior. Like King David, they expected him to be a mighty warrior who could throw out the Romans. But Jesus came to be the good shepherd who would take care of us.

And that’s why studying these old stories is so important. It gives us perspective on why people in Jesus’s time reacted to him like they did. And what promises God was meeting by sending Jesus to us.

And that’s it for this week. Next week we’ll pick it up and talk about Solomon as King of Israel, and we’ll see how well…or not…that goes.

Crash Course in Lent

Today we’re taking a break from our discussion of King David, because today we’re going to talk about the part of the church calendar that just started: Lent. Today we’re going to talk about what is Lent? What exactly do Christians do during Lent and how can you guys as youth celebrate Lent or not.

This is going to be a basic crash course in Lent. We will study all of this in far more detail when we study Jesus next year. But for now at a high level let’s talk about Lent.

At it’s most basic level Lent is very similar to Advent, in that Advent is how we count down to Christmas and Lent is how we countdown to Easter. However, other than they are both countdowns the two events are quite different. Advent is full of hopeful looking forward. Lent tends to be a little more serious.

As we studied at Christmas, the word “Advent” comes from Latin and basically means waiting for an arrival. So what does Lent mean?

Well it certainly doesn’t mean the same thing as dryer lint. In fact church lint is spelled differently, it’s L-E-N-T. Turns out lent is a shortened form of an Old English word, “Lencten” which means “springtime” or “spring.” Turns out there is also some connection to some old German words and Middle Dutch that are similar that also seem to refer to spring and the lengthening of days during spring. So Lent means Spring, which is also when Easter takes place. But it sure doesn’t make Lent seem like a special word, if it just means springtime.

Generally Lent takes place in very early spring, starting in February and ending in March or April. So you can imagine that early Christians were talking about springtime and this church event was always taking place in springtime so the two words over time just slowly became synonymous.

So why does the start of Lent and the date of Easter change every year? Does anyone know?

Well the date of Easter is dependent on the date of Passover. And Passover’s date is dictated by the Jewish calendar. In America and in a lot of world we used what is called “the Gregorian calendar.” That’s the calendar we use for every year that has the months we know, has leap ear, and all of that kind of stuff. But Judaism has its own calendar, the Hebrew calendar. Your average Jewish person is going to use the Gregorian calendar for their regular lives—work and school—but the Hebrew calendar dictates when the major Jewish holidays will be, including Passover.

Because the Hebrew calendar and Gregorian calendar don’t line up exactly, the date of Passover shifts within the Gregorian calendar.

But Christians didn’t like to be dependent on Jewish people for the date of Easter. They didn’t like to have to wait for Rabbi’s to declare when Easter is. So Christians dictated their own way of calculating when Easter should be. It’s all very complicated, and difficult to follow. It has to do with the first full moon after the equinox. If you’re really interested in it, you can google it and figure out all about calendars.

Generally, Easter is going to be the Sunday after Passover. At least that’s the generally accepted date for Western churches—like ours. “Orthodox” Churches, which is a different denomination of Christianity, have their own system for calculating when Easter is. Which makes everything more complicated because now there are two dates out there floating around for Easter.

Who’s right? It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what date we celebrate Easter. The point of Easter is to commemorate Jesus’s resurrection. And whatever day you do that on, what matters is remembering and commemorating that, not that we have the date perfectly right.

Okay so Lent means spring literally but that doesn’t tell us what it means in a church sense.

Lent is the lead-up to Easter. You’ll hear people talk about the “forty days” of Lent. 40 is a Biblically important number. During the story of Noah’s ark, the flood lasted forty days and night. The Israelites wandered in the desert for the forty years. The prophet Elijah walks for 40 days and 40 nights. The number 40 was chosen for Lent because of Jesus. Please get your Bibles and open to Matthew 4:1-11.

While you guys flip there, some context. This takes place right before Jesus starts his ministry. So for most of his life, Jesus lived like just a normal dude, a carpenter’s son in Galilee. But eventually Jesus needed to start his ministry—that is start preaching and reaching out to people and telling them who he was. To prepare for this, Jesus goes into the wilderness to fast. Now someone please read Matthew 4:1-2.

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished

Jesus goes into the desert and he fasts for forty days and forty nights. Then at the end of that time, he is tempted by the devil. And we’ll study that story in more detail when we eventually study Jesus. But for now, the important part for Lent, is that in order to prepare for his ministry, in order to prepare for starting everything, Jesus felt the need to go into the desert and fast.

What is fasting? Fasting is basically giving up food for a while and replacing it with prepare. It’s a pretty common practice in the Old Testament for leaders or people to fast as part of holiday or before making big decision. Sometimes fasting is just not eating food during daylight hours, but then you can eat at night. And sometimes fasting means not eating at all. The idea is that you would replace all that time you would normally spend eating with prayer, and focusing on God.

So Jesus prepared for his ministry for forty days and nights, forty days of fasting. And that’s kind of the basic idea of Lent, fasting like Jesus for forty days. Except the generally accepted practice of Lent doesn’t involve fasting from food. Forty days is a long time, and I don’t think any churches expect people to not eat during that time. Instead the general practice has become that people would abstain or fast from one particular food type or other thing.

[Direction to leader: Give example of a time when you gave up something for Lent] For me, in the past I’ve given up soft drinks, particularly Coke, for Lent. I love Coca Cola and soft drinks. And then every time I craved a soft drink during Lent, it would make me think “Oh I’m not supposed to be drinking this because of Lent.” And then it would make me think about God and Jesus and Easter. In the middle of my work day, when normally I’d be drinking a Coke, I was instead thinking about God.

And that’s the purpose of this. That’s the purpose of giving something up. It helps you focus on God.

We’re supposed to spend our time during Lent reflecting on God, and reflecting on the sacrifice of Black Friday and the joy of Easter.

Let's brainstorm some things we can give up for Lent. Realistic things. You can’t give up things you have to do: like school or sleep or homework. But we can give up our excesses and use that time to focus on God and the amazing gift he has given us in Jesus Christ.

[Brainstorm on the board some idea!]

So Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, which in our case was this past Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday people come to church and reflect on repentance and forgiveness. Often ashes are placed on people’s forehead in the shape of the cross. Why ashes? Why do we do this?

Someone please read Genesis 2:7. This is from the story of the creation, and how God created Adam.

7 then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground,[a] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

Okay can someone now read Genesis 3:19?

By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.”

This verse comes from the story of Adam and Eve. It’s after Adam and Eve take the apple and during the part where God is telling them what their punishment will be. So in the first verse, it says that God made man from dust. That he shaped the dust and breathed life into it. Here in this punishment section, God reminds Adam he is made of dust, and that in the end “to dust you shall return.” Basically, that he will die, that because of sin, all men will die and return to dust.

Ash Wednesday is to remind us of that.

This is a really somber and dark thought. Ash Wednesday is basically this reminder of “hey you’re going to die.” It was funny because this year Ash Wednesday was Valentine’s Day, and one of my pastor friends said, that when people have to asked for his Valentine’s Day plans he would say, “I have to work and remind everyone of their inevitable deaths.”

So where Christmas Advent is all hope coming out of the darkness, Lent instead starts with this dark reminder that “hey you’re going to die someday.”

Why so somber? Well Lent is about repentance and fasting and preparation for the coming of Jesus’s death and resurrection. It’s natural that when thinking about how Jesus died for us, we would think about our own deaths.

So Ash Wednesday kicks Lent off and then it goes on for presumably forty days, right?

Weirdly no. We say the forty days of Lent, but that forty days only counts non-Sundays. So Sundays don’t count, meaning Lent is actually 46 days. And the next big day of Lent is Palm Sunday, which is the sixth Sunday of Lent.

Palm Sunday is all about Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus comes to Jerusalem for Passover, the week before his death, and this is at the very end of his ministry so everyone knows who is he and Jesus is just this superstar. Everyone wants to see him and touch him and be near him. Though they don’t necessarily understand who he is. They’ve just heard about the amazing things he’s done, the miracles.  Someone read Luke 19:36-40.

36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying,

“Blessed is the king
    who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
    and glory in the highest heaven!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

When we talk about Palm Sunday in church it’s usually from two perspectives. First off they focus on that Jesus is worthy of praise and deserved the praise that people were giving him when he came to that city. Frankly that’s how Jesus should have been greated every time he entered the city. And when some people in the crowd told Jesus that he shouldn’t let people praise him so, he told them if they were silent the very rocks on the earth would cry out praises. Because Jesus is God and all of creation calls out to God’s greatness.

However, the second thing pastors often focus on during Palm Sunday is that these people who are praising Jesus? These people who are crying out his goodness and that he is king, they are the very same people who betray him little more than a week later.

People are fickle, meaning their loyalties change quickly and easily, especially when someone doesn’t meet the expectation they thought. These people who were praising Jesus? They were expecting him to come in and overthrow the status quo, to make a new Jerusalem now, where Rome no longer controlled them. But that’s not why Jesus was there. And when Jesus failed to meet their expectation, they turned on him. And they called for his death.

Palm Sunday is the beginning of what people call “Holy Week.” This is the week between Palm Sunday and Easter.

The Thursday of Holy Week is called “Maundy Thursday” which sounds kind of like “Monday Thursday.” But it’s Maunday. Maunday Thursday commemorates the Last Supper. Someone read Luke 22:7-16.

7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus[a] sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.” 9 They asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparations for it?” 10 “Listen,” he said to them, “when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ 12 He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.” 13 So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

14 When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it[b] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

The reason why Jesus comes to Jerusalem and has his triumphal entry in the first place is so that he can celebrate Passover in Jerusalem. This was really common that Jewish people would come to Jerusalem and celebrate Passover there. So Jesus has his disciples go find a room for them there to celebrate in. They find a room upstairs, this is often translated as “the Upper Room.” When people at this church call the room where the high schoolers have Sunday School “the Upper Room” that’s a pun on this room where Jesus shared a last Passover with his disciples.

Every Gospel—Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John—tell this story. A story of Jesus sharing one last meal with his closest friend and giving them a commandment that we still commemorate as Communion. But Maundy Thursday is not all about intimate dinner with friends. That very night after the dinner, Jesus is betrayed and arrested.

The next day of Holy Week is Good Friday. Now I always thought it was weird as a kid that we called it Good Friday because Good Friday is the day we remember Jesus’ death on the cross. What’s good about Jesus’s death? So I actually googled this, and I think this goes back to very old English uses of the word “good.” In oldish English, “Good” can just mean “a day or season observed as holy by the church.” So it’s not that Good Friday is a particularly happy day, it’s that this is a very holy day.

Jesus death is a very somber thing, but it is a critical aspect of our faith.

Can someone read Matthew 27:45-51?

45 From noon on, darkness came over the whole land[a] until three in the afternoon. 46 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” 48 At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”[b] 50 Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.[c] 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.

Jesus dies and at the very moment he dies, the veil in the temple is torn. We’ve talked about this before, but in the Temple—the place that was basically considered God’s home on earth—only certain people were allowed to go to certain places. Most Jewish people could enter the courtyard, but only priests could go inside and only the highest of priests could enter the holy of holies—the place where they said the spirit of God dwelled. In Old Testament times, that’s where the Ark of the Covenant would have been, but by Jesus’s time the ark is already missing.

This veil that splits, is the veil between the holy of holies and the rest of the temple, and this represents that with Jesus’s death, there is no barrier anymore. It’s not only the holy of holies where God dwells. He dwells everywhere. And we can all have access to him.

So yes Jesus’s death is sad and tragic—he didn’t deserve to die—but for us there is freedom. Because for Jesus death is not the end. And that’s why we have Easter Sunday. Because Easter Sunday is the next Sunday after Good Friday, and that’s the Sunday where we celebrate Jesus being raised from the dead.

Now when I was your age, I used to get really confused because everyone would say Jesus was dead for three days. And I would be like “well Good Friday is Friday and Easter is only two days later. How is that three days?” So we’ve talked about this a little before, but the Roman calendar didn’t work like ours. When we count how many days there are until something we don’t count the day we’re on. So if you’re doing something on Wednesday, you would say it’s only three days away, because today is Sunday and you would count Monday, Tuesday ,Wednesday—that’s three days. But in Roman times, you would count the day you were on. So that would be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, four days.

So when the Bible says Jesus was dead for three days, they’re counting Friday. So it’s Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Three Roman days between Good Friday and Easter. But then it’s Easter Sunday. And I’m sure you guys already know what that’s all about.

Easter is the day we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.

Can someone read Matthew 28:1-8.

28 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he[a] lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead,[b] and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

In this time period, after someone died, they would treat the body with oils. We don’t do that now because we have embalming techniques they didn’t know about—ways to preserve the body. Normally women would apply these spices and oils to the body right after death. But in Jesus’ case they couldn’t do that because Jesus died right before the Sabbath—the day Jewish people aren’t supposed to work. They barely had time to take the body away and put it in a tomb. Because the Sabbath starts on sundown of Friday. Sunday morning would be the first time they would be able to actually apply the oil and spices to Jesus’s body.

So early Sunday morning, these women go to the tomb. And instead of finding a body that’s already started to decay and smell bad, they find an angel who tells them that Jesus isn’t there that he has been raised from the dead and that they need to go tell everyone.

We talked about this a few weeks ago, but it’s actually amazing that God chose to reveal Jesus’s resurrection to women first. Women were not considered believable witnesses back in the day, they were not trusted. And in fact, as soon as they women go and tell the disciples, they don’t believe them, and the men go to check out the situation for themselves. They basically think the women are hysterical and making things up.

But God revealed Jesus’s resurrection to these women first, and made them the first ones to share the good news.

And this is the good news. Jesus’s resurrection is literally the linchpin of all of Christianity.

Someone read 1 Corinthians 15:14.

14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain.

The book of Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul and here Paul says in no uncertain terms, “if Christ has not been raised from the death, then our faith is in vain.” What does that mean? When someone says something is “in vain.” In vain means “without success or result.” Basically, what Paul is saying here is that if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead—if that’s not true—then Christianity is not true.

All of our belief and our faith hinges on this very fact, that Jesus was raised from the dead. Not by any person, but by himself—by God—because he is God.

Christmas is a great and fun holiday where we talk about hope and light in the darkness, but Easter—Easter is why Christianity exists. It’s what our faith is about. And that’s why Lent and Easter are so important. Jesus was raised from the dead for us, to bring us salvation.

Someone please read Galatians 2:19-20.

19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20 and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,[a] who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is another book of the Bible written by the apostle Paul. And here Paul is talking about how it is through Jesus’s death and resurrection that we have hope, that we have faith, that we have life.

This is what Easter is about. Celebrating our new lives in Christ, about how God loved us so much that he sent his Son to save us. And that’s why we spend so long preparing for Easter, for putting ourselves in the right mindset.

That said, there is no Biblical mandate to fast for Lent. There is no mandate that says you must do this. I don’t fast from something every year. But doing it is a great tool for us to put our hearts and minds in the right frame so we can appreciate what God has done for us.

David and Absalom

Last week we discussed how the repercussions of David’s sins trickled down into his children. David’s oldest son and heir, Amnon assaulted his half-sister Tamar. And then David decided to do nothing about it. He didn’t punish Amnon in any fashion. Enter Absalom, who is David’s third son and Tamar’s brother. Absalom waited two years for David to do something to punish Amnon, and when David did nothing, Absalom took matters into his own hands. He had invited Amnon out to a picnic and while he was feasting, he had him murdered.

Afterwards, Absalom fled, staying far away for fear of punishment from his father and king, David. But just as David refused to punish Amnon, after a few years, David wanted Absalom back. He missed his son. So David invites Absalom back to Jerusalem and forgives him.

Just as David did not punish Amnon for assaulting Tamar, David does not punish Absalom for murdering his brother in cold blood.

This does not earn Absalom’s loyalty. It actually causes Absalom to view David with contempt and begin to think that maybe…just maybe, David is no longer fit to be king. And that is where we pick up today. So please go get your Bibles and open it up to 2 Samuel 15:1-6.

15 After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run ahead of him. 2 Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the road into the gate; and when anyone brought a suit before the king for judgment, Absalom would call out and say, “From what city are you?” When the person said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” 3 Absalom would say, “See, your claims are good and right; but there is no one deputed by the king to hear you.” 4 Absalom said moreover, “If only I were judge in the land! Then all who had a suit or cause might come to me, and I would give them justice.” 5 Whenever people came near to do obeisance to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of them, and kiss them. 6 Thus Absalom did to every Israelite who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.

So Absalom starts to sew a little bit of discord in Israel. He gets up early and goes to stand out by the gate, and basically intercepts anyone who is taking an issue to the king. Part of the job of the king was to hear issues of the people and dispense justice as he saw fit. And people would come from far and wide in the kingdom to ask the king to deal with such issues. Absalom basically stops these people as they enter the city and makes small talk, asking where they are from and basically expressing an interest in them. He would then ask them why they came to the city and hear about their issues. He would then validate them that their issue was good and sincere, and totally the kind of thing you would take before the king…if only the king was doing their job and listening to them.

Absalom is directly implying here that the king is not doing his job. Now we don’t know if David was shirking this duty or not. It seems unlikely, as David hasn’t been recently called out in this section of the Bible for failing his kingly duties and not listening to people. But Absalom is basically telling people that David isn’t doing his job anymore, and oh, wouldn’t it be nice if Absalom was king? And then Absalom could help them and dispense the justice they are asking for?

Absalom is basically saying here “David is a bad king, isn’t it about time that we a have new king…like say me?”

And the people believed him, and through this, the Bible says, he stole the heart of the people of Israel. Absalom convinced the people he had their best interest at heart and David no longer cared for them.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 15:7-12.

7 At the end of four[a] years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron and pay the vow that I have made to the Lord. 8 For your servant made a vow while I lived at Geshur in Aram: If the Lord will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will worship the Lord in Hebron.”[b] 9 The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he got up, and went to Hebron. 10 But Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then shout: Absalom has become king at Hebron!” 11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom; they were invited guests, and they went in their innocence, knowing nothing of the matter. 12 While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for[c]Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh. The conspiracy grew in strength, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.

One day Absalom goes to his father, the king, and basically asks to go make a religious pilgrimage to Hebron. Absalom claims it’s because while he was on the run after killing Amnon he made a vow to God that if God would bring him back to Jerusalem, that he would go to Hebron one day and worship God there.

David has no reason to believe Absalom wouldn’t mean exactly what he says, and David is certainly not the type of man to stand between his son and God. So he gives Absalom his blessing to leave.

But Absalom is not being honest. It is not his intent to go worship God. Instead he sends messages out to all the people of Israel basically saying that he is going to become king.

Absalom is calling on the fact that people love him to try to overthrow his father and put himself in place as king of Israel.

One of David’s advisors, a guy named Ahithophel, even joins Absalom.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 15:13-17.

13 A messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the Israelites have gone after Absalom.” 14 Then David said to all his officials who were with him at Jerusalem, “Get up! Let us flee, or there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Hurry, or he will soon overtake us, and bring disaster down upon us, and attack the city with the edge of the sword.” 15 The king’s officials said to the king, “Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king decides.” 16 So the king left, followed by all his household, except ten concubines whom he left behind to look after the house. 17 The king left, followed by all the people; and they stopped at the last house.

A messenger comes to David and tells him that most of Israel has put their faith in Absalom and that basically Absalom is raising an army. And David doesn’t want Jerusalem to be put under siege or hurt by Absalom basically bringing war to Jerusalem, so he makes the hard decision to flee.

It’s a tactical decision, one that will keep Jerusalem safe and keep take David out of reach of Absalom for a little while longer, but it also leaves Jerusalem open for Absalom to just walk in and basically set himself up as king.

David gathers up most of his family and leaves, lots of people who are loyal to him following him on his way out. And he stops just at the last house of Jerusalem.

Someone please reads 2 Samuel 15:24-31.

24 Abiathar came up, and Zadok also, with all the Levites, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, until the people had all passed out of the city. 25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and the place where it stays. 26 But if he says, ‘I take no pleasure in you,’ here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.” 27 The king also said to the priest Zadok, “Look,[a] go back to the city in peace, you and Abiathar,[b]with your two sons, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan son of Abiathar. 28 See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” 29 So Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remained there.

30 But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, with his head covered and walking barefoot; and all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went. 31 David was told that Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, “O Lord, I pray you, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”

The priests also pack up and begin to leave Jerusalem, bringing with them the ark of the covenant. They wait with David at the edge of the city until everyone who is planning to leave the city has done so, and then David stops them from following the people out. He tells them to stay in the city with the ark of covenant, because David knows what happens next is in God’s hands. If God wills it, David will come back and be king again. But if God does not will it, then David will not be king. But the ark belongs in Jerusalem and therefore there it will stay.

He tells the priests to stay in the city and watch. He tells them where he is going—into the wilderness—and that they can send him word if they need to. And then the priests take the ark of the covenant back into the city.

Then David goes up on the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is a place just outside of Jerusalem’s old city, named “Mount of Olives” because olives literally grow on it. This is a place we’re going to see referenced again and again in the Bible, a place that is important not just here in David’s time but later to Jesus. So David is just outside the city and he is crying as he goes up the mount—crying because everything has come to this, that the people must leave his city because of one of his own sons. But also he is upset because he has learned one of his own advisors has betrayed him.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 15:32-37.

32 When David came to the summit, where God was worshiped, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and earth on his head. 33 David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me. 34 But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father’s servant in time past, so now I will be your servant,’ then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel. 35 The priests Zadok and Abiathar will be with you there. So whatever you hear from the king’s house, tell it to the priests Zadok and Abiathar. 36 Their two sons are with them there, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan; and by them you shall report to me everything you hear.” 37 So Hushai, David’s friend, came into the city, just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.

While on top of the mountain, a man named Hushai meets David. Hushai is loyal to David and very upset that David is going to leave the city and wants to go with him. But David has a better idea. Because David may be leaving the city for Absalom but he hasn’t given up. He tells Hushai to basically make friends with Absalom and get Absalom to trust him. Hushai is then to serve two purposes: one he is to be a spy. He’s to let the priests know anything he hears so they can report it to David. But perhaps more importantly, he asks Hushai to give Absalom bad advice.

Because David knows that Ahithophel will give Absalom the best advice he can, and that if Ahithophel’s advice is followed it gives Absalom a better chance of winning. But if Hushai gives bad advice then maybe, just maybe, Absalom will do something stupid and it will give David to reclaim his throne.

So Hushai goes back into the city and is there when Absalom arrives.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 16:15-19.

15 Now Absalom and all the Israelites[a] came to Jerusalem; Ahithophel was with him. 16 When Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” 17 Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?” 18 Hushai said to Absalom, “No; but the one whom the Lord and this people and all the Israelites have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. 19 Moreover, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? Just as I have served your father, so I will serve you.”

Absalom arrives in the city, and David’s old advisor Ahithophel is with him. Hushai, however, meets up with them shouting, “Long live the king!” And Absalom calls him out—because Absalom knows Hushai is David’s friend, so he’s suspicious at first, demanding to know what happened to Hushai’s loyalty and demanding to know why he didn’t go with David.

Hushai counters by saying that his loyalty is with the one God and the people have chosen, and whoever God has chosen, Hushai will be loyal to. And after all, isn’t Absalom, David’s son? So he will serve Absalom just as he served David.

Absalom buys this hook line and sinker, and makes Hushai one of his advisors.

Now Absalom needs to figure out what he’s going to do for his next move. Should he go after his father and attack? Should he sit tight in Jerusalem and just wait David out? So he gathers his advisors and asks their opinions. First up is Ahithophel. Someone please read 2 Samuel 17:1-4.

17 Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and pursue David tonight. 2 I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged, and throw him into a panic; and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king, 3 and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man,[a] and all the people will be at peace.” 4 The advice pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

Ahithophel asks Absalom for 12,000 men. He wants to take those men and go after David right now—and not wait a single minute longer. Ahithophel knows that right now David is probably feeling tired and sad and like nothing is working in his favor, and if he gets attacked right now while he and all his people are feeling like this, they have a good chance of winning. He wants to kill David and then bring all the people who left with him back to Absalom.

This is really good advice. And if Absalom had done this, there is a good chance he might have won the day and we’d remember Absalom as the second king of Israel.

But Absalom didn’t just ask for Ahitohpel’s advice. He also asks for the advice of Hushai—who as we know is a spy for David who’s sole purpose is to convince Absalom of bad advice.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 17:7-14.

7 Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” 8 Hushai continued, “You know that your father and his men are warriors, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the troops. 9 Even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits, or in some other place. And when some of our troops[a] fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.’ 10 Then even the valiant warrior, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt with fear; for all Israel knows that your father is a warrior, and that those who are with him are valiant warriors. 11 But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beer-sheba, like the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. 12 So we shall come upon him in whatever place he may be found, and we shall light on him as the dew falls on the ground; and he will not survive, nor will any of those with him. 13 If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley, until not even a pebble is to be found there.” 14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring ruin on Absalom.

Hushai says that Ahithophel’s advice is bad. After all everyone knows David and his men are fierce warriors and they’re not sad, he says, but enraged!! Like a mother bear separated from her cubs! Also, Hushai points out, David is like an expert warrior—after all he spent his entire youth at war with either the Philistines or Saul—and undoubtedly he has hidden himself so well they will never find him. Hushai says that it will all end with Absalom’s troops being slaughtered and this will not be good for Absalom.

Hushai then says their better bet is to gather all of Israel and then Absalom should personally go out into battle with his people, leading them from the front lines. This advice, I should point out, will mean Absalom would delay in going after David because it will take time to gather that many people.

But Absalom listens to Hushai and chooses his advice over Ahithophel’s.

Hushai, being a spy, then immediately sends word to David about what has been decided, so that David can anticipate Absalom’s movements and not be killed by him. And David is able to move all of his people and escape Absalom’s coming army before Absalom even gets there.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 18:1-8.

18 Then David mustered the men who were with him, and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 And David divided the army into three groups:[a] one third under the command of Joab, one third under the command of Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the men, “I myself will also go out with you.” 3 But the men said, “You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us;[b] therefore it is better that you send us help from the city.” 4 The king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood at the side of the gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands. 5 The king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders concerning Absalom.

6 So the army went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. 7 The men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the slaughter there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. 8 The battle spread over the face of all the country; and the forest claimed more victims that day than the sword.

David gathers all his men and commanders to him and divides them up. And this time David wants to go out and lead them himself. But this time his commanders protest, basically saying he is too valuable to risk. If they die but he lives, it will have been worth it, but if he dies, what good is this whole battle? So it is better that he stays back.

David listens to their advice but then gives his commanders one last order, he asks that they deal gently with Absalom.

Basically David doesn’t want Absalom to die. Despite everything Absalom has done—despite the fact that Absalom has literally tried to overthrow David and has led to battles and death and destruction, David doesn’t want Absalom to be punished. And in a melee, battle like this, it’s really hard to keep from killing one specific person. This puts a huge burden on the commanders. Because this ends up being a huge battle, that is spread over all of Israel.

This inability to discipline and punish his own children is one of David’s fatal flaws. It’s what led to Amnon and this whole situation to begin with.

But in the end, David’s men triumph and win the day.

Can someone please read 18:9-15.

9 Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging[a]between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on. 10 A man saw it, and told Joab, “I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” 11 Joab said to the man who told him, “What, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” 12 But the man said to Joab, “Even if I felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not raise my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying: For my sake protect the young man Absalom! 13 On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life[b] (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof.” 14 Joab said, “I will not waste time like this with you.” He took three spears in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom, while he was still alive in the oak. 15 And ten young men, Joab’s armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him, and killed him.

Absalom is out in the battle, unlike David, because remember the advice Hushai gave him was to go out into the battle himself. He’s riding a mule and the mule goes under a tree, and Absalom gets caught in it, unable to get himself down! The way he’s described as being caught, it’s clear he’s alive but just unable to untangle himself.

And a soldier reports back to one of David’s commanders, Joab, that they saw Absalom in a tree. And Joab is like “What? IF that’s true why did you not kill him?” And the man is basically like “Umm, David said not to? I’m not going to go against the king.”

And Joab is like “This is so stupid. David was stupid to give this command and I guess I’m going to have to do this myself.” So Joab leads his men and goes and kills Absalom.

Joab disobeys a direct order from David, because David didn’t want Absalom killed. But Joab knows that if Absalom doesn’t die, that if he lives, this rebellion will never fully be quelled. And he knows David will forgive Absalom and not punish him—just like Amnon—and that could lead to another revolt. So Joab does what he thinks is necessary to save David and the kingdom.

With Absalom dead, the fight ends. His men have nothing to fight for without their would-be king. David becomes king again but at the cost of his son.

The rebellion is over. David is king. But not even David can live forever. Next week we’ll discuss the final story of King David.

Amnon and Tamar

Warning: This deals with rape and incest and how in ancient times--in patriarchy--women's worth is often tied to their status as either an unmarried virgin or a married woman. I try my best to express that in reality or God's eyes a woman's value is not defined by these things. But your mileage may vary on how great a job I did on that. Feel free to change things up! Once again this is pretty deep topics, but this sort of stuff comes up as early as Middle School and I think it's important to deal with it head on. 

If you were here last week, you’ll remember we talked about how spring David decided to stay home instead of leading his army on the front—as was his duty as king. This led to David abusing his power as king, again and again. First in raping one of his subjects named Bathsheba and second ordering her husband named Uriah to be killed in battle to cover up the fact he got Bathsheba pregnant. God was really not happy with David and this blatant disregard for the law. David sinned and then tried to cover it up with more sin and didn’t even realize what he had done was wrong until confronted by the prophet Nathan.

In the end David did realize he sinned and asked for forgiveness; however, David was still going to have to live with the consequences of his actions and God felt the need to punish David as well, since his sins were so grievous. The punishments God said he would bestow on David were two-fold: First off, the child he had with Bathsheba would die—which as we saw last week did happen. Secondly, there would be discord in David’s own house—in his own family—and the sword—meaning battle and strife—would never leave his family.

This week is where the second half of that punishment begins to unfold. And it all starts with David’s oldest son Amnon.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 13:1-5.

13 In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar,the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David.

2 Amnon became so obsessed with his sister Tamar that he made himself ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.

3 Now Amnon had an adviser named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man. 4 He asked Amnon, “Why do you, the king’s son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?”

Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”

5 “Go to bed and pretend to be ill,” Jonadab said. “When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.’”

So Amnon is the first born and heir of David, king of all Israel. If Amnon had been a good son, he might indeed have been king after David one day. But things did not go accordingly, because Amnon decided one day he was “in love” with Tamar. Now I put “in love” in quotations marks, because not only does it become clear very quickly that “love” is not what Amnon feels, but according to my Jewish Bible, Hebrew has no word to distinguish between “in love with” or “to lust after.” So you have to use contextual clues to see which meaning is really intended. In this case, it becomes pretty clear that he is lusting after her and love has nothing to do with it. In fact, the next verse says he becomes “obsessed” with her, so much so that he makes himself sick because he thinks “Oh she is a good virgin girl and she’ll never have anything to do with the likes of me.”

She’s also his half-sister. David is both of their dad. Now in the ancient world, it actually wasn’t all that uncommon among nobility for people to marry their siblings. This is crazy to us. Not only is it illegal in the modern world to marry your sibling, it’s also just icky to think about. But things were different in the ancient world. The pharaohs were well known for marrying their siblings. But the Israelites were not supposed to be like the Egyptians pharaohs, they were supposed to obey God’s law. And there is specifically a law in Leviticus that directly forbids marrying your full or half sibling. Leviticus 20:17 says “If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They are to be publicly removed from their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible.”

So Amnon probably wouldn’t be allowed to marry her, and he wanted her, and well…he is his father’s son. So Amnon listens to the advice of his friend Jonadab and basically plots a way for him to be alone with Tamar.

Someone read 2 Samuel 13:6-10.

6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, “I would like my sister Tamar to come and make some special bread in my sight, so I may eat from her hand.”

7 David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him.” 8 So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made the bread in his sight and baked it. 9 Then she took the pan and served him the bread, but he refused to eat.

“Send everyone out of here,” Amnon said. So everyone left him. 10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand.” And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom.

Amnon pretends to be sick and David is a decent dad who likes his sons, so he comes and visits him to see how he’s doing. And Amnon says he would like his sister Tamar to come and comfort him. David, since he cares for his son and has no reason to suspect anything, sends Tamar out to Amnon—who apparently has his own house. He is a full grown adult living on his own.

So Tamar, once again, suspecting nothing because she has no reason to suspect something to be going on, goes and makes him bread. She goes to serve it to him and he refuses to eat it until they are left alone. And Tamar, having no reason to suspect her brother of wanting to harm her is like “okay.” So everyone leaves and she brings the bread to his bedroom to serve it to him.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 13:11-14.

11 But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, my sister.”

12 “No, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing. 13 What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.” 14 But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.

As soon as they are alone he grabs her. And she protests. She says no, over and over again. She even tries to say that if he really wants her, maybe they can go to David and he’ll approve the marriage. Which seems unlikely since it’s against the law, but at this point she would probably say anything to keep such a horrible thing from happening to her.

Amnon ignores her and rapes her.

We talked about last week how rape is still a very prevalent thing in our society. If you guys keep up with the news and current events, you might have heard of the “me too” movement, which is a lot of women talking about how they have been sexually assaulted in their lives. I want to pause a moment on this story because so often when we think of rape we think of the stranger who jumps out of the bushes and attacks someone. But most cases of sexual assault are actually people the victim knows, like in this case.

There would even be some modern people who if something like this happened now would say, “Well what did Tamar expect would happen? She went to a man’s house alone? Obviously she wanted it.” But the Bible is very clear here. Tamar did absolutely nothing wrong. She was asked to help her brother, because he was supposedly sick. She obeyed her father, like a good daughter, and helped her brother, like a good sister. She assumed good intent on the part of Amnon.

When Amnon made his intentions clear, she said “no.” She said it clearly “No, my brother.” And then she even said it again, telling him not to force her, telling him that what he was doing was wrong, reminding him that doing so would disgrace her in the eyes of society, and telling him he was like a wicked fool. And then when that didn’t seem to be working grabbing on to a desperate straw, suggesting he go to the king. Anything just to stop this from happening.

But he didn’t listen to her and the Bible directly says he was stronger than her. Tamar had no chance.

If something like this happens to you, it is not your fault. And remember, rape is not just something men do to women. It can happen to men to. Remember the story of Joseph, and how he was a slave, and his master’s wife tried to force him to have sex with her. Joseph is lucky that he managed to escape, but then because of it, she had him sent to jail. Like Joseph, like Bathsheba, like Tamar, the repercussions of these things are often greater for the victim than for the actual rapist or abuser. And that is so unfortunate. We are very lucky to live in a time where people are actually beginning to talk about these things instead of sweeping them under the rug.

No means no, male or female. And proceeding after someone says no, is rape. Even if it is was someone you were on a date with, even if it’s your spouse. No one owes anyone else sex, and you should always ensure your partner is 100% on-board with whatever is about to happen.

And if something like this has ever happened to you, if someone has ever touched you inappropriately or sexually, or raped you, and I hope to God that has never and will never happen, it is not your fault. It is not Tamar’s fault. It was not Bathsheba’s fault, and it was not Joseph’s fault. The only person at fault is the person who harmed you.

And if something like this has happened to you or does happen to you, and for whatever reason you are afraid to tell your parents, you can always talk to me or Halecia or Megan or any of the pastors at this church.  

Moving on with this Bible story can someone read 2 Samuel 13:15-19.

15 Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out!”

16 “No!” she said to him. “Sending me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already done to me.”

But he refused to listen to her. 17 He called his personal servant and said, “Get this woman out of my sight and bolt the door after her.” 18 So his servant put her out and bolted the door after her. She was wearing an ornate robe, for this was the kind of garment the virgin daughters of the king wore. 19 Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornate robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went.

After he rapes her, Amnon suddenly despise her. Why? I don’t really know, but sometimes there are people who only want things they can’t have. And once they have it, they don’t want them anymore. Perhaps Amnon was like that. And so as soon as he’s done raping her, he’s like “Leave me!”

Now you would think Tamar would be happy to be sent away, to escape her attacker, and in modern days that would be often how a modern woman or victim would react. But things were different in the ancient world. In Deuteronomy 22:28-29 it says, “28 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay her father fifty shekels[a] of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.”

So according to ancient Israel Biblical law, if a man rapes a virgin, he has to marry her. And then instead of the father paying him a “dowry” which was what fathers in the ancient world often did—they paid money to the man who married their daughter—the man has to pay the father. And then this man—this rapist—can never divorce her.

This seems all sorts of wrong by our modern standards. And in the modern world, no one can make you marry your rapist. So why was the law like this back then?

This goes back to the idea of the “patriarchy” and how women were viewed as property. Raping a woman in the ancient world was basically viewed like…opening a bag of chips in the store. If you open a bag of chips in the store before you buy it, you have to buy it. And if you don’t—if you put it back on the shelf, no one else is going to buy that bag of chips. It’s going to sit on that shelf forever and eventually be thrown out.

So if you opened the bag of chips—if you raped the virgin—you had to buy her. And in that time period—as horrible as it would be to marry your rapist—it would be better than becoming a pariah in society—an outcast—because no one will ever marry you, eventually your parents will die—and you’re a woman so you can’t earn your own living, so you will be destitute and die in poverty.

That’s a really horrible thought for us. That people would think of women as property. And I cannot underscore this enough. God does not think of women as property. God did not create only men in his image and then the women are whatever is leftover. Genesis 1:27 says “in the image of God he created [humans]; male and female he created them.” Women too are the image of God. And in the Old Testament God uses women in unexpected ways to subvert this idea that women are things who men must control. From Rahab hiding spies and making decisions for her entire family, to Ruth who follows her mother-in-law to a new land and then scandalously does what she thinks is right even if in the eyes of society she might be viewed poorly. And even God who is constantly compared to a father in the Old Testament is often compared to a mother. Because God is neither male nor female, even if it’s easier for us to use a male adjective to refer to him. Isaiah 66:13 “As a mother comforts her child, so I [God] ill comfort you.” We also talked about how the first person who even knew Jesus’s name, the person God chose to use to bring Jesus into this world, was a woman. How for the first years of his life, the incarnation of God would be completely dependent on a woman for care and nourishment.

And then there is Jesus. I can’t wait until we reach the stories of Jesus in this class and we can see how Jesus constantly fights the patriarchy, raising women up to be the equal of men even as society fights it. In Jesus’s time Rabbis only taught men, it was considered crazy to teach a woman, but Jesus taught women. When a little girl needed to be healed, in a time when girls weren’t valued, Jesus healed her, because she was just as important to him as any man or boy. And finally when Jesus was resurrected, it wasn’t a man who saw him first, it wasn’t a man who Jesus revealed himself to first. It was a woman. “For a brief, beautiful time after meeting the Resurrected Jesus in the garden, Mary Magdalene was the only Christian in the world.”* Jesus trusted and lifted up women over and over again as the equals of men, that he taught and cared for the same as men, and the fact that women were both the first person who ever knew Jesus—in the case of Mary his mother—and the first person who knew him as he truly was as the Resurrected Christ—in the case of Mary Magdalene, these are important and show that God values women just the same as he values men, and it is society, it is the sin-filled world, it is the sin of patriarchy that doesn’t value women.

So while we are in the Old Testament, yes it can often seem like women are just property and when they do make decisions they are criminalized for it. This is not God’s view of women. This is the view of the men around these women. It is not to God who Tamar is property. It is to David and Amnon who she is just a piece of property.

So this law that says a woman has to marry her rapist, is not because God thinks women are bags of chips. It because God knew all the men of that time viewed women that way. And he made a law that would protect women from being discarded in this harsh cruel world of patriarchy.

Biblically it was Amnon’s duty to marry Tamar. But he refuses to.

So Tamar makes it super obvious what happens. She is loud about, she is acts as if she’s mourning—cuz in many ways she is. She is mourning her trust of her family and her place in society. So you would think her father, David, might care about her and do something about this. You would think he might hold Amnon accountable wouldn’t you?

Well let’s see what he does. Someone please read 2 Samuel 13:20-22.

20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister; he is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house, a desolate woman.

21 When King David heard all this, he was furious [but he would not punish his son Amnon because he loved him, for he was his firstborn]. 22 And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad; he hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar.

Absalom, her brother who has the same mother as her, takes her in. He can’t provide her with a husband or take away the pain of what has happened, but he can—for as long as he lives—provide her a place to stay so that she doesn’t end up destitute and alone. He comforts her as best he can, even if to us it seems a little callous to say “don’t take this horrible thing that happened to you to heart” but he’s trying to be a good brother.

It then says when David heard what happened he was furious but he did nothing. This is something we’re going to see over and over again, David letting his kids off easy when he really shouldn’t.

Meanwhile, Absalom doesn’t say anything good or bad about Amnon, but he is quietly seething.

And as we’ll see planning.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 13:23-29.

23 Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor near the border of Ephraim, he invited all the king’s sons to come there.24 Absalom went to the king and said, “Your servant has had shearers come. Will the king and his attendants please join me?”

25 “No, my son,” the king replied. “All of us should not go; we would only be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he still refused to go but gave him his blessing.

26 Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon come with us.”

The king asked him, “Why should he go with you?” 27 But Absalom urged him, so he sent with him Amnon and the rest of the king’s sons.

28 Absalom ordered his men, “Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I given you this order? Be strong and brave.” 29 So Absalom’s men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered. Then all the king’s sons got up, mounted their mules and fled.

Two years pass, two years in which Absalom is seething and hating his brother for the very real crime Amnon did against Tamar. After two years, Absalom finally decides to take matters into his own hands. Because obviously David decided to do nothing to punish Amnon. So Absalom will do it himself.

So Absalom’s plans a sheep-shearing party for all his brothers and he invites David but David says, “No. We shouldn’t all go, that will be too difficult.” Absalom insists that at least Amnon go and David allows it. So all of the King’s sons—his brothers—go with him. And then when they are out there, eating the feast that Absalom made for them, Absalom has his servants kill Amnon.

The rest of his brothers flee in fear.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 13:30-33.

30 While they were on their way, the report came to David: “Absalom has struck down all the king’s sons; not one of them is left.” 31 The king stood up, tore his clothes and lay down on the ground; and all his attendants stood by with their clothes torn.

32 But Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother, said, “My lord should not think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom’s express intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. 33 My lord the king should not be concerned about the report that all the king’s sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”

Before any of his sons arrive back at the palace, David gets a report that Absalom has killed ALL OF HIS SONS. And he freaks out. But Jonadab, who if you’ll remember was Amnon’s friend with the plan, tells him that only Amnon is dead. How does he know? Was he there and got back first? I don’t know. But he definitely knew that Absalom has had it out for Amnon since Amnon raped Tamar. And assures him only Amnon, David’s heir, is dead.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 13:34-39.

34 Meanwhile, Absalom had fled.

Now the man standing watch looked up and saw many people on the road west of him, coming down the side of the hill. The watchman went and told the king, “I see men in the direction of Horonaim, on the side of the hill.”[a]

35 Jonadab said to the king, “See, the king’s sons have come; it has happened just as your servant said.”

36 As he finished speaking, the king’s sons came in, wailing loudly. The king, too, and all his attendants wept very bitterly.

37 Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But King David mourned many days for his son.

38 After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years.39 And King David longed to go to Absalom, for he was consoled concerning Amnon’s death.

Absalom feels rather than go back to Jerusalem, but the other sons come back and David is reassured that they’re not all dead. But David id still devastated by Amnon’s death.

Absalom stays away for three years, but eventually David wants him to come back. And eventually David does forgive him and bring him back to Jerusalem.

However, that is not the end of Absalom’s story, which we’ll pick up with next week.

For a brief, beautiful time after meeting the Resurrected Jesus in the garden, Mary Magdalene was the only Christian in the world. And if she hadn't preached, it would have stayed that way.

— 🏳️‍🌈 Tyler Huckabee 🏳️‍🌈 (@TylerHuckabee) January 22, 2018

* https://twitter.com/TylerHuckabee/status/955539639623962624

David and Bathsheba

Warning: The story of David and Bathsheba deals with abuse of power, rape, and murder. This is pretty intense stuff for Middle School Sunday School but important. So just be appropriately warned.

Last week we talked about David as king of Israel. We talked about how he was an amazing military leader who led Israel to many victories. We also talked about how he was a good person, who wanted to do right by the promise he made Jonathan, so he brought Jonathan’s son into his house. It was easy to see why God would choose David for the leader of his people, and why in 1 Samuel 13:14 David is called “a man after God’s own heart.” David didn’t just pursue power, he pursued God, and led the people of Israel where God wanted them to go.

But David was still human. And the story we’re going to study today we’re not just talking about a “little” sin like lying. We’re talking about gross abuses of power, betrayal, rape, and murder. So please open your Bibles to 2 Samuel 11:1. Someone read just that one verse please.

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

This one verse sets up this entire section. It’s spring and the verse specifically says it’s the time when kings go out to battle. We’ve already seen in last week’s lesson that David wasn’t afraid of battle, and he was on the forefront of many battle fields! David wasn’t the sort of the king to sit back in his castle and let other people die. David was a king who joined his men on the front lines. Until now. Why? Why did David stay home? We don’t know, we can’t say, but we can say that from the verse pointing out that kings are supposed to go to battle, that the writer is condemning the fact that David stayed home. He should have gone out with men.

Instead, for whatever reason he stays home.

There is an old saying, “Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.” It’s a saying that means bored people are more likely to get up to mischief, and this is the exact sort of situation that phrase is referring to. David is bored—by his own doing, he could have gone out to battle—and as such, he gets himself into trouble.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 11:2-4.

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. 3 David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house.

One afternoon, David is lounging about, bored, so he goes to his roof. Now David has a palace, so his roof is going to be higher than anyone else in Jerusalem’s roofs. So from his roof, he can see everyone else’s roofs. From his roof he sees this beautiful woman, Bathsheba bathing on her roof.

Why is Bathsheba bathing on her roof? Well the Bible explains it right there. “She was purifying herself after her period.” There are actually Mosaic laws about what a woman can and cannot do while she is on her period. During Old Testament times and even still today in Orthodox Judaism, a woman was considered “unclean” while she was on her period. This meant she couldn’t touch other people or else she would make them unclean too. Now that seems crazy to us, but there are logical reasons for this. Back then they didn’t have the same sort of hygiene products we have. Literally all they could for any sort of bleeding was press bandages to it. They didn’t have band-aids, ace bandages, pads, or tampons. So if a woman was on her period, back in the time when people live in tents, she would go hang out in a special women’s tent. I’m not sure what exactly they did in David’s time, but Bathsheba probably didn’t leave her house while she was on her period.

In Biblical law, a woman was considered unclean for up to seven days *after* her period. And then to symbolize she was clean, she had to go through a bathing ritual. So that is what Bathsheba is doing. She is not on her roof, bathing naked to tempt men—the thought wouldn’t have even crossed her mind. No one else would be able to see her roof except from the palace and it’s not like she would think the king is out spying on her.

She is on her roof bathing because she is following Biblical law. This is what we know of Bathsheba. She is a married woman, cleaning herself so she can be considered Biblically clean again.

Unbeknownst to her David sees her and she’s beautiful. So he asks about her. “Who is this beautiful woman?” And he is told, she is the wife of Uriah. He is told: she is married. 

Instead of being like “bummer. Guess I can’t ask her to be my wife then.” David sends messengers to her house.

Now Bathsheba is married to Uriah, a man who we later learn is a soldier for David. A man who is currently at war on David’s behest. Imagine, your husband is at war in your king’s army, and suddenly your king sends messengers to your door. What are you thinking? You might be thinking, “My husband is dead, and the king is sending for me so he can tell me himself.” We don’t know what the messengers told her, but regardless, back then if your king called for you to come to the palace, you would come. You wouldn’t defy him. That could be dangerous not just for her but her husband. So when the king calls you to the palace, you come to the palace.

So David has Bathsheba brought to the palace and David rapes her.

For a long time in church history that statement “David raped Bathsheba” would be considered controversial. There was a long time in church history when this story was basically taught as a warning about seducing women, leading men astray, but I want to be clear that is not what this story is about. Bathsheba did not bathe on her roof so David would see her. She bathed on her roof to meet Biblical mandates about cleanliness. Bathsheba was a married woman who the Bible makes clear later was innocent. She was commanded to come to the palace by her king. She obeyed her king, as is expected of a woman in her time.

This story is about David’s abuse of power. Let’s not forget, David has multiple wives. If he wanted to have sex with someone, he has many women he can choose from. Why did he choose Bathsheba? Because he saw her and he wanted to her and he was king so no one could stop him.

And Bathsheba? What choice did she have? She was brought to the palace, probably fearing the worst, that she was about to be told her husband was dead, and instead her king makes advances on her. She is a woman with absolutely no power in this situation. She is in David’s house—you can’t just leave the king’s presence. She may not even know the way out. We don’t know what happened behind those closed doors. Did Bathsheba go along with it so that it would be easier? Did she refuse and David attacked her? We don’t know. But as we will see later, the Bible makes it clear that in this scenario, Bathsheba did nothing wrong.

It is David who betrays the trust of his subject and abuses his power for nothing but a temporary pleasure.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 11:5-8

5 The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

6 So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king.

Bathsheba gets pregnant, and David is the only possible option for the father, because her husband is at war. So she sends message to David because she doesn’t know what she is supposed to do. It’s his child. She didn’t ask for this situation.

Now David instead of taking responsibility, he connives a plan. He has Joab—his commander—send Uriah home. He does it under the guise of being a good king who is asking how the war is going and what Uriah thinks. And then he sends Uriah home. He doesn’t tell Uriah that he raped his wife. He doesn’t tell Uriah that his wife is pregnant. Instead he wants Uriah to go home and sleep with Bathsheba so that Uriah will think that Bathsheba’s child is his child.

David is trying to cover up his sin with deception and deceit.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 11:9-13.

9 But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10 When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?” 11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths;[a] and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.” 12 Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, 13 David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

But David underestimates Uriah. Instead of going to his home, Uriah sleeps at the entrance of the palace. And when David finds out he’s like “Why didn’t you go home?” And Uriah says he didn’t because how can he sleep in comfort when all of his men are camping in the fields?” Uriah is a good person, a loyal person, a person who trusts his leader, and is a good leader himself.

David then tries to get him drunk and send him home so he will sleep with his wife, but he gets Uriah too drunk and instead Uriah sleeps it off at the palace.

Uriah unknowingly thwarts David’s deceitful plans twice.

So what is David to do? Fess up? That would be the right thing to do. But David isn’t going to do the right thing here.

Someone reason 2 Samuel 11:14-15.

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”

David’s plan to deceive Uriah fails, and his backup plan? His backup plan is just to have Uriah killed. His backup plan is one of the most despicable things a general can do. Betray his soldier. Now this isn’t a scenario where a general knows a mission might lead to his men’s death, but he is honest with his men, and they all go in with their eyes open to the risk. This is a scenario where the general specifically sends a man into a dangerous situation with no purpose other than to kill him.

Yet another example of David’s extreme abuse of power.

Someone read 2 Samuel 11:16-18.

16 As Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant warriors. 17 The men of the city came out and fought with Joab; and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite was killed as well. 18 Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting;

So out in the war, at the battlefront, Joab is besieging a city and he sends Uriah to the most dangerous part of the battle for no other purpose for him to die. And Uriah being a loyal trusting soldier who trusts his commanders, he goes and he fights.

And he dies.

Joab sends the news back to David, that the battle didn’t go as expected. He tells the messenger that if David gets mad about how many men were killed or how the battle went just to say, “Well Uriah died.”

Someone please read 2 Samuel 11:22-25.

22 So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us, and came out against us in the field; but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. 24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall; some of the king’s servants are dead; and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” 25 David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another; press your attack on the city, and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”

The messenger delivers the news to David about how the enemy gained advantage over them and many people died—including Uriah. And David tells the messenger to tell Joab “Don’t worry about it. Be encouraged. You got this.”

Basically David doesn’t mind how many of his own people died, because well at least Uriah died!

This is despicable. He threw men away like pawns just to kill one man who did nothing wrong.

Someone read 2 Samuel 11:26-27.

26 When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. 27 When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son.

But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,

Bathsheba hears her husband is dead and she is devastated. She loved Uriah, and now he is dead. So she goes into mourning. Back then there were “mourning periods” that is the acceptable amount of time a person should mourn and everyone should be respectful of them mourning. You can’t do things like get re-married during a mourning period.

So David waits until her mourning period is over, and then is basically like “You’re my wife now.”

Bathsheba had very little choice in this matter. If she didn’t marry David, everyone would know her child is illegitimate. They might kill her for having committed adultery. At the very least, as a widow with a child, she would probably end up in poverty. So marrying the man who raped her and killed her husband is really her only choice.

Not that she could say no to the king anyway.

So let’s tally what David did here. Not only did he commit adultery, but it wasn’t consensual adultery, meaning he raped her. Then to cover up his sin he tried to deceive Uriah, and when that didn’t work he had Uriah murdered. And then he basically made the woman he raped marry him.

Do we think God is happy with this course of action?

No. No he’s not. And he’s not just going to let David’s sin go.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 12:1-6.

12 1 and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds; 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” 5 Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; 6 he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

God sends Nathan—who you will remember is the current prophet of God—to talk to David. Nathan shows up and he doesn’t just go in full guns blazing, demanding David repent, because he knows David is so deep in his sin that he doesn’t even really realize what he did was wrong. So instead Nathan tells him a story about these two men—a rich man and a poor man.

This rich guy he says has many flocks and herds, so all sorts of sheep and animals and is very well off. While the poor man has one little lamb that he loves, that he is completely devoted to.

One day a stranger shows up and the rich man needs to prepare a meal for him and he doesn’t want to kill one of his own animals so he steals the poor man’s lamb and slaughters it.

David hears about this gross injustice and is incised. He recognizes this story about lambs as the injustice it is. So David is like “The rich man should die for what he has done but at the very least he shall give that man for lambs back since he stole the one!”

Someone please read 2 Samuel 12:7-12.

7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; 8 I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 11 Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. 12 For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.”

Nathan responds to David with “You are the rich man in this story, dude! You are the one who has done this! You had all this wealth and wives, given to you by God, and instead you felt the need to steal the one wife of your servant! And because of this, you will be punished! There will be trouble in your family. You will lose your wives and everyone will be able to see it. Because while you do things secretly, David, I am God, and everyone will see your punishment.”

Now there are a couple of things I want to pause and point out here. Earlier I mentioned that historically many people have read this story of David and Bathsheba as a story where Bathsheba seduces David. However, it is clear here in the metaphor that Nathan told about the lambs, that neither God nor Nathan blame Bathsheba for what has happened. She is compared to an innocent lamb. Adultery is not something God takes lightly. Adultery, if you remember, is a fancy word for married people cheating on their spouses. But here and nowhere in the text does Nathan or God yell at Bathsheba for committing adultery. Instead it compares her to an innocent lamb who has no choice in the matter. This reinforces that Bathsheba was raped is the appropriate interpretation of the text. Bathsheba had NO CHOICE. She was just a lamb stolen from her master.

Another thing I want to point out is that by comparing Bathsheba to a lamb, Nathan is also basically saying Bathsheba is property. And this entire punishment is very male centric. We’ve talked about before how the Bible was written during very patriarchal times. Patriarchal means men are in charge and women are viewed as less than and property. We can even see that in how this story is written. Never once does the writer consider how Bathsheba might be feeling, other than when it points out she mourned her husband. If a modern person, or a woman, had written this text, they might dwell more on how an actual crime was committed against Bathsheba, and not just Uriah.

Patriarchy is the culture of the time, it is the backdrop of the Old Testament. But I do not want us to every interpret that as “God thinks women are less and doesn’t care about them.” We will see stories over and over again that counter that. And the fact that this time period is so incredibly patriarchal only serves to underscore the ways in which God subverts the patriarchy.

What do I mean by that? Well in patriarchal cultures, there is this tendency to blame women when things like rape happen to them. Women are more likely to be punished for sexual sin, in patriarchal cultures, then the man they committed the sexual sin here. But God subverts that understanding here by not blaming Bathsheba at all, and by solely laying the blame at David’s feet.

It is David who grossly abused his power. It is David who will be punished.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 12:13-15.

13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord,[a] the child that is born to you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.

Finally David realizes what he has done is wrong, and he admits his wrongdoing before God and Nathan. Nathan says because David realized his sin here, his punishment will not be death. However, his actions have “utterly scorned the Lord,” basically meaning he has shown completely disrespect and disregard for God and his laws. And because of that this curse of family strife will still be on David and the first part of that is the child born to him will die.

Now this may seem like it’s also a punishment for Bathsheba and maybe it is. Maybe she wanted this baby and she will mourn the loss. But also maybe her entire life she would have resented the baby for what it represented it: her rape and Uriah’s murder.  Unfortunately a side effect of the male centric view of the Bible is that we will never know how Bathsheba felt about this. But the baby does die.

However, God did not completely forget Bathsheba or make her suffer more than she already had. Skip forward and someone please read 2 Samuel 12:24-25.

24 Then David consoled his wife Bathsheba, and went to her, and lay with her; and she bore a son, and he named him Solomon. The Lord loved him, 25 and sent a message by the prophet Nathan; so he named him Jedidiah,[a] because of the Lord.

After the baby dies, David goes to Bathsheba and gets her pregnant again, with a son named Solomon. It also says the prophet called him “Jedidiah.” If you look at the footnote in your Bible it will say that Jedidiah means “Beloved of the Lord.”

So God remembers Bathsheba and gives her another son, a son he loves, and not just any son. But we’ll later see that Solomon comes to be David’s heir, the king after David.

I think this is God remembering Bathsheba and giving her something, a counter to all the terrible suffering she went through. David was always going to have an heir. There was always going to be a king after him. But he had many wives, and Bathsheba was far from his first. Solomon was not his oldest kid by any means. And we’ll see later how Solomon ends up being king. But I think part of God having Bathsheba being the mother of the heir is to show to her love and raise her up, despite the fact that David tried to pull her down.

This whole sequence in the Bible is one sin after another. David commits adultery and rape. He murders Uriah. He abuses his power asking again and again. These are all sins I hope no one in this room ever commits, sins so great that in modern society you would go to jail for them.

And yet despite all of this, David is still considered the greatest king Israel has ever had and is considered a man after God’s own heart. Why?

Well we all sin. And yes your lie may not be as bad as David’s murder on a societal scale and how it hurts other people, but it still separates you from God. And when we recognize our sins and ask forgiveness, like David, God forgives us and doesn’t hold it against us. Yes there will be consequences for our actions, but God doesn’t let our sins stop him from loving us, and we don’t have to let our sins stop us from pursuing him.

David, a Good King of Israel

When we last left off David had just become king of Israel. Once upon a time David was just a no-one, a shepherd boy who wasn’t even important enough for his dad to bring to the meeting with the prophet Samuel. And now, after years of uncertainty and war, David is finally where God promised him he would be. David is king of all Israel.

But being a shepherd boy and being a king are not the same thing. Today we shall see how David does in his early days of being king. Please open your Bibles and turn to 2 Samuel 5:6-10.

Now before we read it, let’s remember that at first David was only king of Judah—that’s only one tribe of the twelve tribes of Israel, and that’s his tribe. Because of that his capital was in Hebron, a place that is solidly in the territory of Judah. But once David became king of all Israel, he was looking to move his capital to a place that might be considered more neutral.

He set his sites on Jerusalem, which was solidly in the lands of Benjamin—which if you’ll remember was the tribe that Saul was, so this would sort of be a concession to the people of Benjamin.

Now it’s hard for us to imagine, but where capitals are is super important, because back then they didn’t have planes or trains or cars. Rich people had horses and camels but the average person would just be walking everywhere. Having a capital near by you was having power, because it gave you access to the seat of power of the entire country. This is why there was such a debate on where the capital of the USA would be and it was considered such a big concession to the South to  have it placed in Virginia.

So this is a political move.

Unfortunately for David, there are people already living in Jerusalem and they’re not Israelites and they’re not willing to give up their city.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 5:6-10.

6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, even the blind and the lame will turn you back”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” 7 Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, which is now the city of David. 8 David had said on that day, “Whoever would strike down the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, those whom David hates.”  Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” 9 David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inward. 10 And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

These Jebusites already live in Jerusalem when David decides he wants it, but the Jebusites they’re not worried. Jerusalem is a well fortified walled city that also has some geographic benefits protecting it. It would be a hard city for an invader to take. Because of that the Jebusites are so confident that they’re like “We’re so awesome that we don’t even need to send our best men to defend us. Our blind people and people who can’t walk will be enough to protect us against your pathetic army.”

But their taunting doesn’t work, David still comes to Jerusalem and he overtakes it. Here where it says “stronghold of Zion” just know that Zion in this context is Jerusalem. Zion can mean different things in different contexts, but in the story of king David when someone says Zion it means Jerusalem.

So Jerusalem is now the capital city of Israel, and as it says David becomes greater and greater because God is with him.

Next someone read 2 Samuel 5:17-21.

17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up in search of David; but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold. 18 Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the valley of Rephaim. 19 David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” The Lord said to David, “Go up; for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.” 20 So David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. He said, “The Lord has burst forth against[a] my enemies before me, like a bursting flood.” Therefore that place is called Baal-perazim.[b] 21 The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.

If you guys remember, when David was on the run from Saul there was a point where David left Israel and lived with the Philistines. While David was only king of part of Israel, just Judah, the Philistines pretty much left him alone because they viewed him as an ally. After all, at one point he had been living and working with them. But when David became king of a unified Israel, he became a threat to the Philistines. They wanted the lands and people of Israel. They knew it would be best if they attacked David early in his reign, before he was really solidified so that was what they did. They invaded Israel.

David meanwhile asked God if he should attack them, and God was like “yep, go ahead. I’ve got your back!” So David ran the Philistines out of his land, defeating them for now.

The Philistines then try again right after this, but David defeats them again handily. All of this shows David is still a strong leader and general, and he is a strong king. He is making Israel a mighty stronghold.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 6:1-7.

6 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. 3 They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio,[a] the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart 4 with the ark of God;[b] and Ahio[c] went in front of the ark. 5 David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs[a] and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. 7 The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark;[b] and he died there beside the ark of God.

Now that David is solidified in Jerusalem he decides to bring in the ark of the covenant. If you guys remember, the Ark of Covenant is this intricate large golden box that houses the ten commandments amongst other things. It represents God’s presence in Israel, so it’s very important that the object that is viewed as the home of God, the seat of God, be in the seat of Israel’s power, that is the Israelite capital, Jerusalem. So David brings it in.

Everyone is celebrating and so happy and dancing in the streets as the ark comes in, and something happens and the oxen spook. The ark gets unbalanced and this random dude named Uzzah reaches out to steady it.

Boom. Uzzah is struck dead where he stands.

Doesn’t seem fair does it? This guy had the best intentions; he was trying to help the ark of the covenant. Why would God punish him for that?

Someone turn to Numbers 4:15 and read it.

15 When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the Kohathites shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, or they will die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the Kohathites are to carry.

For this guy to touch the Ark was literally illegal according to the law, because he was not a priest descended from the line of Aaron. You’ll remember that Aaron was Moses’s brother and basically the first high priest of Israel. By touching it, Uzzah technically defiled—or tainted—the ark.

But it still seems unfair! And we’re not the only people to think so. David had a very similar reaction. Someone please read 2 Samuel 6:8-11.

8 David was angry because the Lord had burst forth with an outburst upon Uzzah; so that place is called Perez-uzzah,[a] to this day. 9 David was afraid of the Lord that day; he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come into my care?” 10 So David was unwilling to take the ark of the Lord into his care in the city of David; instead David took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

David is angry at God for killing Uzzah, and he’s afraid. Because if God would kill Uzzah for just trying to help, what else might he do? And it seems David was afraid of the ark of the covenant, so he refused to bring it in Jerusalem.

Personally I think this is a completely reasonable reaction. The ark of the covenant is not a toy and it must be taken care of in accordance with the law or else. So David leaves the Ark in this place Obed-edom and while it’s there God blesses that entire place.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 6:12-16.

12 It was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing; 13 and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. 14 David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

Someone reports to king David about how Obed-edom is being blessed and David is like “well I guess I should bring the ark into Jerusalem.” So he does and it’s this huge party! And David is dancing in the streets, it’s such a party!

His wife Michal sees him and she thinks he is ridiculous and horrible.

Why?

Well you may not remember, but at one point, Michal loved David, desperately. They were very young then and this was when David first came to Saul’s house. She was Saul’s daughter and she begged Saul to let her marry David. So they were allowed to marry.

But then Saul got super angry at David and wanted to kill him. Michal loved David so much that she was willing to risk her life to help him escape the palace.

But then David was gone and she was left there. And Saul was mad so he gave her to another man to be another man’s wife. She was this man’s wife for years while David was out fighting battles. When David came back to be king of Judah, he bartered with Saul’s former commander to get Michal back.

But maybe she was happy in that life. Maybe she didn’t want to come back, and she was given no choice. So here she is living a life she doesn’t want when she sees David making a fool of himself in the streets—at least that’s how she sees it.

Someone read 2 Samuel 6:17-23.

17 They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord. 18 When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, 19 and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat,[a] and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes.

20 David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ maids, as any vulgar fellow might shamelessly uncover himself!” 21 David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me in place of your father and all his household, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord, that I have danced before the Lord. 22 I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in my own eyes; but by the maids of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” 23 And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

So David puts the ark in a place of honor, there is a huge party still with food being handed out to everyone, and then he goes home to like party with his family. Instead Michal comes out to meet him and she is super upset and basically tells him his behavior was shameful. And David was like “I was praising God and dancing for him. I would do anything for God, and do more ridiculous things than this to please him! And everyone will think well of me because they know I’m doing it for God!”

The conversation ends there and the next line is about how Michal has no kids. Now it’s likely Michal has no kids because by this point she is quite old, lots of time has passed since she was the young woman who married David. But narratively, the writer is implying she has no kids because of her lack of faith.

The writer is trying to tell us here that David’s unabashed joy before the Lord is good and right, and it doesn’t matter how ridiculous other people might think you are if what you are doing is for God. So if your singing for God, it doesn’t matter if you can’t sing well, because to God it is pleasing. It doesn’t matter if other people think you shouldn’t sing. It doesn’t matter if people think it’s beneath you to dance, if you’re doing it for God.

Now can someone read 2 Samuel 7:1-3.

7 Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” 3 Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”

The last prophet of the Lord we talked about was Samuel, but there is a new one on the scene. His name is Nathan and this is the first we’re hearing about him. So one day, in a time of peace, David is talking to Nathan, and he’s like, “you know it seems strange that I build this amazing palace for myself, a mere human, when the ark of the covenant—the thing that represents God on earth—is in a mere tent. Surely God should have a better house than his mortal servant!”

And Nathan is like “you know you have a good point. Sure. Let’s do that.”

But it becomes clear very quickly that in this moment Nathan is just speaking his opinion and not God’s opinion, because it seems God sees things a little bit differently.

Someone please read 2 Samuel 7:4-11.

4 But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: 5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. 7 Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders[a] of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” 8 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; 9 and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lordwill make you a house.

That night God speaks to Nathan and is like, “Woaahhhh. Hold up. Why are you—David—the one who is going to build me a house. Hmm? Did I ask you to do this? No. The ark of the covenant has never lived in a house, just in a tent and that’s cool, cuz I’ve needed to move with the people who were on the move. And I have never asked anyone to build me a house!!! So don’t worry about this! Remind David that I have always been with him, and I will make his name great and I will make sure the people of Israel are solid in their land and no one affect them. I—God—am making a home for you, my people. I don’t need you to make a home for me!”

Moral of the story here is that God doesn’t need David or any human to take care of him. He’s here to take care of us!

But God’s not done talking yet. Someone please read 2 Samuel 7:12-17.

12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. 15 But I will not take[a] my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me;[b]your throne shall be established forever. 17 In accordance with all these words and with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

God continues by saying that some day when David dies, he will raise up David’s kid to be king after him, and God will establish his kingdom. That kid—that heir of David—he will be the one God will let build his temple. And God will never take his love from him or back away from him like he did Saul, because God is planning to establish David’s line forever.

So Nathan goes back and tells David all of this. And David is maybe a little bummed that he won’t be the one that gets to build God’s house but he can’t be too disappointed because God has made such a big promise! So David literally spends the next section praising God and saying how amazing God is and how awesome it is that God has chosen him!

Someone read 2 Samuel 8:1-4.

8 Some time afterward, David attacked the Philistines and subdued them; David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.

2 He also defeated the Moabites and, making them lie down on the ground, measured them off with a cord; he measured two lengths of cord for those who were to be put to death, and one length[a] for those who were to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.

3 David also struck down King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah, as he went to restore his monument[b] at the river Euphrates. 4 David took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for a hundred chariots.

This entire chapter is about David being an awesome warrior and general. Leading the Israelite to victory over and over and over again over their enemies. David is an amazing leader and he is amazing for Israel. It’s been a long time since Israel was this victorious and strong.

But a person can be a good military leader and a bad person. Let’s see if that applies to David can someone read 2 Samuel 9:1-4.

9 David asked, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and he was summoned to David. The king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “At your service!” 3 The king said, “Is there anyone remaining of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” Ziba said to the king, “There remains a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.” 4 The king said to him, “Where is he?” Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.”

One day David is thinking about the best friend he ever had—Jonathan. If you’ll remember Jonathan was Saul’s son and David’s best friend forever, such good friends that the Bible calls them soulmates. Jonathan died in the same battle his father did, but David had sworn an oath to Jonathan that he would never harm his descendants. However, there is a difference between swearing an oath of no harm and wanting to go out of your way to show kindness to his kids. And that’s exactly what David wants to do.

He finds a servant of Saul’s family and summons him. And he’s like “is there anyone left of Saul’s family that I can do something for?”

And the servant is like “There sure is. One of Jonathan’s sons is still alive, but he can’t walk.” Apparently he had had some accident in his younger days that led to him not being able to walk. Back then not being able to walk was a big deal. Now we have wheel chairs and other amazing technology to help people walk even if they’re paralyzed or missing a leg! But back then they didn’t have anything like that. Not being able to walk meant that you couldn’t work, couldn’t provide for your family, and a lot of people who couldn’t work ended up as beggars. Now in this case it doesn’t seem that this guy was a beggar, it seems that his family was taking care of him, but it was still a precarious position to be in.

Someone read 2 Samuel 9:5-8.

5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6 Mephibosheth[a] son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, and fell on his face and did obeisance. David said, “Mephibosheth!”[b] He answered, “I am your servant.” 7 David said to him, “Do not be afraid, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan; I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you yourself shall eat at my table always.” 8 He did obeisance and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I?”

David brings Jonathan’s son into his house and basically makes him part of his family. And Mephibosheth is amazing by this, thinking he’s not worthy, but David wants to do right by Jonathan’s son to remember his best friend!

This just goes to show that David wasn’t just a good leader politically and militarily but he was a good person. It’s easy to see why God chose him for this position and why David is remembered as a great king.

But David was still human. And so he made mistakes. And that’s where we’ll pick up next week.

A Year in Movies: 2017

I do really need to get back to reviewing the movies I watch, but in the meantime, here is my look back on movies that came out in 2017. I had to limit this list just to movies that came out this year, or else we'd be here all day! 

In no particular order:. 

1. Spider-Man: Homecoming: I see every Marvel movie, it's what I do. But even I was hesitant about yet another Spider-Man movie. Despite this, this movie delivers, and the moment in the car with Peter Parker and the Vulture was a truly chilling and tense moment. I wish Tony Stark was a bit better of a mentor figure, but ah well. Still really enjoyed it. (Should actually be a podcast episode coming out about this one in the near future.)
2. Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2: For my full thoughts on this movie, check out the podcast episode about it. But basically a really fun space romp. 
3. Beauty and the Beast: The live action remake inexplicably doesn't include any of the songs from the stage version (despite using some of the musical themes in the background music) but I still loved it. It will never supersede the original version in my heart, but still an enjoyable movie.
4. Wonder Woman: I waited my entire life for this movie. It was worth it. I want to watch this movie every day for the rest of my life. Go see it now. For my more nuanced thoughts, check out the podcast on the topic.
5. Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Another movie you can check out a podcast for. Overall, I really liked it. I have mediocre (at best) feelings about The Force Awakens, but this is a Star Wars movie I actually want to see again. 
6. The Lego Batman Movie: The best Batman movie ever made. Hands down. If you like Batman and haven't seen this movie...what are you even doing? Go see it now!
7. Logan: The perfect example of how a franchise can be used properly to deliver emotional stories that could not be told outside of a franchise. This movie, you guys. It's dark and violent and yet...hopeful. You should see it.
8. The Boss Baby: Actually really enjoyable! I wasn't expecting to enjoy it and yet I did. It's all about an older brother getting used to the idea he has to share his parents, wrapped in a crazy adventure. It was really fun.
9. Thor: Ragnorak: I left this movie for last because I love the Thor franchise. I love it. So my expectations for this movie were off the charts. Loki is literally my favorite Marvel character, and I adore Thor. Even with my high expectations, this movie delivered. It was hilarious, but more importantly it used it's villain well to further Thor and Loki's stories. Hela is a direct mirror of them and it's...it's amazing. I'll probably write a whole blogpost about this at some point. 

And that's this year's movies! Did I miss any movies that came out in 2017 that are a must-see?

A Year in Books: 2017

It’s the end of another year! In light of this fact, I thought it might be fun to do a summary post of different books I read. I wish I had kept up writing book reviews, but I can at least give a one sentence blurb for each book/series I read! So here you go! 2017!

Fiction Books Read This Year:

1. Beauty by Sarah Pinborough: A quick read that is an interesting and dark twist on classic fairytales. 
2. The Green Rider Series (Green Rider, Rider's First Call, The High King's Tomb, Blackveil, Mirror Sight, and Firebrand) by Kristen Britain. The first three of these books were a re-read for me. I had been hoping to wait until the series had finished and for some reason...I thought it was finished. But it is most definitely not. Firebrand just left me wanting more! This is an epic fantasy series in length and breadth, but starring a female main character who is awesome. I highly recommend this series for it's fun, it's depths, and it's exploration of imperialism and colonialism. And...time travel? Yeah I didn't expect that either but it happened. I am still waiting with anticipation for the next book and hopefully, eventually the conclusion!
3. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Honestly before I saw the trailer for the TV series, I thought this book was about a mouse? I know, weird misconception. It's most definitely not. I highly recommend this book, even if you've seen the Hulu series. The writing is beautiful, the world terrible, and Offred compelling. Definitely a must read.
4. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. This is a Middle Grade Fantasy book about a girl who is basically left as a sacrifice for a witch, and about a witch who doesn't understand why a nearby town leaves an infant in the woods once a year. I highly enjoyed this book for it's magic, it's setting (a dystopian fantasy town!), as well as it's compelling characters. Definitely recommend for any younger readers in your town.
5. A Purely Private Matter by Darcia Wilde. My husband picked this book up for me because it looked like a regency romance meets murder mystery, and that's....basically exactly what it is. Highly enjoyable.
6. A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer. This book was recommended to me by a good friend and had been sitting on my shelf for a while. A regency romance about a couple who get married for basically monetary reasons and how over time they fall in love. My husband and I both read and enjoyed it.
7. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. This was a reread of one my favorite books of all time. If you want to hear me gush about this book, for well over an hour, listen to the podcast I guested on where this book was the topic! (Hence the re-read!)
8. Burning Brightly by Alexa Donne. This book actually hasn't come out yet, but I got the honor of reading the manuscript. This book, you guys, it made me like Jane Eyre. I hate Jane Eyre. All my problems with Jane Eyre this book fixed and made more intriguing and exciting and SPACE. Yes it's Jane Eyre set in space. Amazing. It comes out in May, you must read it!
9. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Do you like Star Trek or Firefly? Do you like Space shenanigans? Are you looking for a book where you get to know the crew of a little ship really well? Then read this book. Two thumbs up from both me and my husband.
10. The Raven Cycle (The Raven Boys; The Dream Thieves; Blue Lily, Lily Blue; and The Raven King) by Maggie Stiefvater. This series is like an intense dream sequence that last for four books, and I mean that in the best way possible: intense, dreamy, filled with magic and mystery. One of my favorite things about this book is that it features several boys who are best friends, something I feel like YA books don't do enough. My experience in high school is that boys move in crews, and these Raven Boys are the perfect example of that. Blue--a local girl--gets caught with them and falls a bit in love with all of them. Together they chase an Arthurian type legend, and well, it won't end the way you expect, that I can guarantee. I devoured this series in like three days--including while I was at DragonCon. I literally stayed up too late at DragonCon reading this series. Which...is unheard of. So that's a high recommendation.
11. The Broken Earth Series (The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, and The Stone Sky) by N.K. Jemisin. I contend that N.K. Jemisn is one of the masters of modern fantasy. Her works are always amazing, and this is no exception. It follows a woman in a world undergoing an apocalypse. This series will give you much to think about.
12. The Awkward Path to Getting Lucky by Summer Heacock. I don't normally read romance, but this book you guys, it's hilarious. When my husband read it, he literally giggled out loud while reading it several times. It's about a woman who is trying to fix her broken vagina (you read that right) and get her cupcake business of the ground. This book is basically wall to wall shenanigans. If you're looking for a hilarious read, this is the one you want to read.
13. Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston. It's not a year in my life if I don't read at least one Star Wars book. When I heard that the Clone Wars' Ahsoka was getting her own book and it would cover what she got up to after the end of the series and during the onset of the Empire, I had to read it. If you like Star Wars, this is definitely recommended. 
14. That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston. After reading her Star Wars novel, I had to read E.K. Johnston's original story, and boy am I glad I did. The story is set in a future where the British Empire never fell. A princess in disguise visits Canada, hoping to experience her coming out in society as a normal girl instead of a princess. Romance! Balls! High Society Tea! All set in a wonderfully diverse future. A heartwarming, adorable romance that resolves itself in a very refreshing way. I'd totally read a sequel about our main characters as they move forward in their lives. (Though sadly I don't think one is forthcoming.) 
15. Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey. This was a re-read and while Anne McCaffrey's novels don't always hold up like I would like, they still fill my heart with warm memories and nolstagia. I spent my middle school years devouring the Dragonriders of Pern and am hoping to re-read them all in the next year or so.
16. They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera. The title is a spoiler and a warning. This bittersweet romance is set in a future where you get a phone call the night before you die, so that you can live your last day to the fullest (so sort of a science fiction/magical realism thing.) Two incredibly different teenage boys get the call, and we follow them on their last day. Despite this not being a love story that is going to end with "they all lived happily ever after" it can at least be said that before they died, they lived.

In total that's 25 books I've read this year. I would have to say my favorites are a tie between The Broken Earth trilogy and They Both Die at the End, but the two are so radically different that I can't pick between them!

Non-Fiction Books Read* This Year:
(I listened to them on audible, but that still counts!)

1. Torn by Justin Lee. Actually wrote up a review on this very website! Spoiler: I loved it.
2. The Bible Tells Me So by Peter Enns. I loved this book, and learned so much. This book asks hard questions and instead of giving trite answers, it dives deep into them, exposing the issues and looking at why ancient people might have written something a certain way, even if it doesn't reflect "factual history" as we imagine it might. Enlightening and engaging, and written in a very readable manner. Also I really wish I had read it before I taught my Middle Schoolers about Moses so I could explain to them how the plagues of Egypt correlate to God defeating the various Egyptian gods!
3. Love Wins by Rob Bell. I'm gonna be honest, I only read this because I wanted to read the book that caused Rob Bell to fall from grace of the evangelical church. And having read it...I don't get the fuss. Instead of being a hotbed of heresy, it's really just a book that asks questions that we've all asked at some point. It really doesn't have answers. But still a very easy listen, as well as one that makes you think about why you believe what you believe, and makes you confront what parts of "heaven and hell" are Biblical verses Christian culture.
4. For the Love by Jen Hatmaker. This book was not written for me. I'm not a mom, and this book is clearly written for moms--for women who are drowning under the balance of life. Despite that fact that i wasn't this book's intended audience, Hatmaker's voice is so engaging that I couldn't stop listening to it. Hatmaker also confronts parts of our Christianity that are cultural with the idea that if a piece of theology doesn't work for a working single mom in Haiti then it doesn't work, which I think is a concept many in the church could use.
5. Finding God in the Waves by Mike McHargue: I really enjoyed the first half of this book that was Mike McHargue's testimony and not so much the second half which was talking about brain science--but that's ultimately because I'm squeamish and any discussions of brain injuries is going to nauseate me--which is no good when you're driving. That said I would still recommend this book--but don't be fooled by the subtitle. This is not a book about using science to prove God. Ultimately it's about how something explainable happened to a man who considered himself an atheist, and how God wouldn't let go of him. 
6. Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans. A personal exploration of one woman's wanderings through the church and to faith, all presented in the context of the sacraments. Beautifully written with both hilarious and poignant moments. Anyone who has ever questioned the church or their faith or why they do this thing called Christianity will find solace in this book, in knowing that they are not alone. 

Fiction and Non Fiction books, I'm at a grand total of 31 books for the year, which didn't quite meet my goal of 100, but what can you do? And of course this doesn't include the mountains of fan fiction I read this year, which is much harder to quantify and keep track of. 

I plan to start my 2018 on the right foot--reading!--so if you have any book recommendations just leave them in the comments!