Psalm 55

Dear RTB’ers,

Not long ago one of you commented to me that s/he was “with me” in not understanding the Psalms. They were referring to my July 27 post wherein I spent more than a few sentences explaining the possible sources of my confusion with the Psalms. Today I am not alone in not fully understanding Psalm 55. We read that one of David’s friends has turned against him – but we do not know the friend’s name: For it is not an enemy who taunts me. … But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. (v. 13) Scholars have suggested Absalom, but he is David’s son, not his  equal and not his “friend”. Others have suggested Ahithophel, one of David’s former advisors who then aligned with Absalom against David. (See II Samuel 15:31; 16:15-23; 17:1-23.) Simply, we do not know who this “friend” is.

David does not speak kindly of this friend. Our STS companion book speaks of the personification of their evil as if it were walking the walls and the streets (Ps. 55:9-11). Still, David’s confidence in God does not fail: But I call to God, and the LORD will save me. …He hears my voice. … God will give ear and humble them, … because they do not change and do not fear God. (vv. 16-17, 19) David leaves us with good advice: Cast your burden on the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved. (v. 22) The apostle Peter even cited this verse (I Peter 5:7). Maybe we should listen…?

Blessings!

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See also:

• June 3 (2022) / Psalm 55:1-14
• June 4 (2022) / Psalm 55:15-23

Psalms 52-54

Dear RTB’ers,

Three psalms today, but they could easily be read as one. Try it. Move Psalm 52:8-9 and Psalm 53:6 to the end of Psalm 54 and the remaining verses are consistent as a prayer by David for deliverance from his foes and his recognition of their foolishness in not trusting/believing in God. The setting, as the titles indicate is during the time that David was on the run from Saul. He had taken the sacred bread (I Samuel 21:1-6) from Ahimelech the priest for himself and his men. Doeg the Edomite had seen that event and reported it to Saul (I Samuel 21:7, 22:9-10). In the following verses Saul then kills those priests (I Samuel 21:11-19).

So, reading all three psalms as one, the header to Psalm 52 clearly makes the connection to the Doeg-event, with David ridiculing Doeg and Saul’s men: The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches…” (vv. 6-7a). Skipping the next two verses, the “fool” mentioned in Psalm 53:1 could clearly be Doeg or Saul’s men. They are fools because they do not believe in or trust in God: Have those who work evil no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God? (v. 53:4) Then, skipping verse 6, Psalm 54 returns to David on the run: For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves. (v. 54:3). So together the three psalms read as one.

We cannot leave these three psalms without highlighting verse 53:3b, …there is none who does good, not even one, quoted by Paul in Romans 3:10-12, verses often cited by evangelicals in pointing out the prevalence of sin in everyone who has ever lived – Jesus excepted!

Blessings!

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See also:

• June 1 (2022) / Psalm 52
• June 2 (2022) / Psalms 53-54

II Samuel 24

Dear RTB’ers,

Today we leave II Samuel and in so doing, except for two chapters in I Kings we end our stories of David and his activities. And we leave him on a sour note – his desire for a census of the people of Israel and Judah and God’s resulting judgment on him. Scripture does not give any reason for why David wanted the census, but he went ahead with it in spite of Joab’s resistance. Later David saw that he had done wrong and repented (v. 10). The Lord, through Gad offered David three choices. We can read clearly that David did not want the second option, the foes’ pursuit. But it seems as if David is letting God decide between the first and third options, with the resulting pestilence.

An interesting connection between a couple of verses… First, David speaking: I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man. (v. 14b) Then we read of God’s mercy: … the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” (v. 16b) We can never know God as well as we would like, but it seems that David had a connection with his Lord that I certainly do not share. He knew of God’s mercy – the Bathsheba incident again? – was he that confident in God’s mercy? Then, by staying the pestilence is God rewarding David’s confidence in Him, or was that His original intent? It does seem that God changed His mind – He relented – when the angel reached Jerusalem.

Today’s reading is a confusing chapter. It ends with David’s purchase of Araunah’s land which, as STS reports is Mt. Moriah, which had previously been the location of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, then becomes the Temple site. So David now owns the land on which the Temple will be built. But we’re getting ahead…

Blessings!

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See also: April 18 (2023) / Psalm 60; I Chronicles 18:14-21:30; II Samuel 24.

II Samuel 23

Dear RTB’ers,

David is brimming with confidence as to his relationship with God: For does not my house stand so with God? For He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will He not cause to prosper all my help and my desire? (v. 5) I fully believe that God wants to prosper all our helps and desires. It is He who put us together, who built those desires into our hearts, leaving Himself to be that utmost desire for each of us. We need to seek Him more!

His “everlasting covenant” is fully realized in his descendant, Jesus. With verse 5 my Study Bible cites earlier verses in II Samuel, God’s covenant with David, printed here fully:

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to Me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but My steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before Me. Your throne shall be established forever.

II Samuel 7:12-16

Again, David’s throne is established forever in the person of Jesus!

Blessings!

II Samuel 22

Dear RTB’ers,

My Study Bible noted that this Psalm was probably written after David’s victories over Saul (and possibly other enemies), but before his sin with Bathsheba. Two sets of verses today confirm that likelihood. First, his victories, wherein he acknowledged the Lord’s hand in his deliverance: He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me … but the LORD was my support …He rescued me, because He delighted in me. (vv. 18-20) Then David speaks of his “righteousness” – his desire to serve the Lord and be right before Him: The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God. … from His statutes I did not turn aside. I was blameless before Him and I kept myself from guilt. And the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His sight. (vv. 21-25) David sounds almost arrogant in these five verses. Maybe it’s his youth speaking out; as noted above, he has not yet met his Bathsheba difficulties.

The Psalm is included in the Psaltery as Psalm 18. We read that last year in mid-July (the 16^th and 17^th). Hopefully John can provide that link. Therein I explored today’s reading in greater detail.

For now, one other item struck me, a very small item: … people whom I had not known served me. (v. 44b) This is David in all his humility. He knows that he has been taken from his shepherding, chosen by the Lord as the youngest in his family, and even in his relative youth has attained to a level that he could not have imagined. People he had not known serve him. Amazing! To come from nowhere to be raised on high. I think of Harry Truman, of Bill Clinton, of Ronald Reagan and many others – all with common roots who rose to the highest position in our country. For this I will praise You, O LORD, among the nations and sing praises to Your name. (v. 50) A good closing.

Blessings!

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See also:

• April 17 (2023) / II Samuel 22-23; I Chronicles 18:1-13
• July 16 (2024) / Psalm 18:1-30
• July 17 (2024) / Psalm 18:31-50

II Samuel 21

Dear RTB’ers,

Having read about Absalom’s desire for revenge – and David’s reaching out with compassion instead of revenge – today we see another act of revenge, the Gibeonites demanding seven deaths in place of Saul’s rampage against them. Isn’t it strange that dying in battle is so different from execution? Saul died in battle, albeit at his own hand (I Samuel 31:1-6), but now seven of his descendants are hung – with no guilt upon themselves, only a revenge motive by the Gibeonites. And mothers weep for their lost children, no matter how they die. (v. 10)

Presumably we go back in time with the second portion of today’s reading, to Philistines rising up against Israel, and we see victories by David’s men over Goliath’s relatives (actually, “descendants of the giants”, (II Samuel 21:16,18,20). You may be confused by the mention of “Goliath the Gittite” in verse 19. Didn’t David kill Goliath back in I Samuel 17? Thankfully, our companion STS book has a footnote directing us to I Chronicles 20:5, which clarifies that the text should read “the brother of Goliath the Gittite”.

Blessings!

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See also: April 16 (2023) / II Samuel 21.

II Samuel 19:40-20:26

Dear RTB’ers,

More unrest and rebellion… Will it never end for David??!! Today’s reading begins with tribal infighting – the tribe of Judah (David’s home) against the ?ten? other tribes. Confusion here. There are twelve tribes (twelve sons of Jacob), counting Levi and Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh as one tribe). Furthermore, if you set Levi aside and then count both Ephraim and Manasseh as tribes (see Genesis 48:5) you still have twelve tribes. So the “ten other tribes” (v. 19:43) presumably sets Levi aside and counts Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) as one tribe. Yes, a small matter, but confusing nonetheless.

Back to the infighting… Yesterday we saw that Judah was the first tribe to reinstall David as king (II Samuel 19:11-15), in that David was from the tribe of Judah. Now the other tribes are troubled with that, which leads to more open rebellion in the person of Sheba, a member of the tribe of Benjamin – Saul’s tribe. Not a whole lot to say about this rebellion – the main incident worth noting is Joab’s murder of Amasa, (II Samuel 20:9-10), an item that I referenced yesterday in David’s comment to Solomon. We continue to see that “other side of Joab” that I mentioned two days ago. It’s worth all of us reading John’s post from 2023 wherein he reflects on the person of Joab more fully.

Blessings!

II Samuel 19:9-39

Dear RTB’ers,

Although David had never actually stopped being king, much of Israel had chosen to follow Absalom. Now that Absalom is dead, his followers need to reverse their loyalties and bring David back to Jerusalem as the king over all the tribes of Israel. His coming back begins with his own tribe, Judah. Recall that Absalom had gone to Hebron, one of the leading cities of Judah to begin his rebellion. So David speaks to the elders of Judah, asking them to be the first to bring him back, since they were also the first to join Absalom’s rebellion.

Justice or mercy? David has decisions to make concerning those people who followed Absalom. First he names Absalom’s military commander, Amasa to be commander of his own army, thereby replacing Joab. Scripture does not tell us explicitly whether David knew that it was Joab who killed Absalom. However, his words to his son, Solomon in 1 Kings 2:5-6 suggest that he never knew that truth: Now you yourself also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed; … So act as your wisdom dictates, and do not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace. In that small speech David mentions both Abner and Amasa, but not Absalom, so maybe David never knew that truth?

David also has to deal with Shimei, who had cursed him as he was fleeing Jerusalem, and with Ziba, who misled him about his master, Mephibosheth. In both cases, mercy prevailed; David had seen enough of revenge and death. Mephibosheth’s words seem to echo David’s heart: Mephibosheth said to the king, “Oh, let him take it all, since my lord the king has come safely home.” (v. 39b) Peace. Mercy. Rest? Then there’s tomorrow…! There is no rest for David!

Blessings!

II Samuel 18:1-19:8

Dear RTB’ers,

Today we see the end of Absalom and his rebellion. Now King David has lost both his first- and second-born sons. And neither one was a credit to his lineage. Carol and I watched a movie last night where a father had lost one of his sons to cancer. Very moving, but sad… Parents should not out-live their children.

Joab is the lead character in today’s reading. When we last read about Joab (three days ago), I had said “Joab is looking good. (That won’t always be so…!)” Today we see the beginnings of that other side of Joab. He had clearly heard from the king that Absalom was to be spared. Yet he took it upon himself to kill Absalom, then allowed his men to further maim the body (II Samuel 18:15). I suspect that Joab is taking out his own revenge on Absalom because of how he had been treated – having to answer Absalom’s every call and then having his field burned by Absalom’s people. But we also see a good side of Joab again, in confronting David as to his mourning Absalom’s death. Joab is a strong personality, firm in his resolve; David will have to deal with that!

Today we see the rebellion squelched. Tomorrow we’ll see the kingdom renewed.

Blessings!

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See also: April 15 (2023) / II Samuel 16:15-20:26.

II Samuel 16:15-17:29

Dear RTB’ers,

David’s flight from Absalom is different than when he was on the run from Saul. Earlier he was just a shepherd boy, now he is a king. Earlier he had only a small group with him (up to 600, I Samuel 27:2, 30:9), now he has the king’s entourage and probably thousands devoted to him. Earlier he and his men had to secure food and material wherever they could (recall the story of Abigail’s provision for him, I Samuel 25), but now he has wealthy benefactors bringing supplies from a number of sources. Still, my Study Bible suggests that Ahithopel’s advice was very good – that David and his company would have been wiped out in a weakened skirmish if Absalom had pursued right away. Thankfully, Hushai’s advice appealed to Absalom’s ego and the Lord was working for David: For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring harm upon Absalom. (v. 17:14b)

Absalom going in to his father’s concubines is (to me) his low point, even setting a tent on the roof … in the sight of all Israel. (v. 16:22) As Ahithopel suggested, Absalom would make himself “a stench” to his father. Herein Absalom satisfies both his revenge and his ego. Again, what a sad personality is Absalom. I wonder if anyone throughout later history ever named a child “Absalom”…

Blessings!