The Psalms, The Reign of God, and Jesus the Messiah

"O precious reading of the psalter, which for this alone deserves to be called the book of life!" (Richard de Bury, The Philobiblon, p. 24)

Wading into the Deep Waters

Jesus is a Jew. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was born to an impoverished but faithful, and full of faith, Jewish family.  His mother, Mary, was obviously a gifted singer and prayer warrior as we see in her Magnificant (1.46-55).  From the time of his birth, he was so deeply immersed in the Jewish faith that his family made the arduous journey "every year" to Jerusalem for the Passover (Lk 3.41).  The stories of God with his people were constantly with him. The worship of his Jewish family would mold him inside and out. One part of his prayer life and worship was immersion in the book of Psalms. His family knew how to pray, his people knew how to pray and those prayers, those cries of faith, those longings he heard and sang as a child became part of the fabric of his mind.

Since the Psalms were so deeply enmeshed in his family life, it is not surprising to find that the ministry of Jesus in so many ways is sort of a mirror of the concerns, theology, and often the very words of the Psalms [1]. Communion with God. Importance of truth. Anger at injustice. Disgust at hypocrisy. Celebrating the flood of God's gifts. Trust that leads to freedom. Gratitude that expresses itself in humble obedience. And above all the kingdom of God.

 YHWH MALAK

The Book of Psalms discloses, as much any section of Scripture, the radical unity of the Testaments. Grace, faith, creation, redemption, the fellowship of the saints, the presence of God, worship, and the proclamation of that the God of Israel is King and the glory of his reign are unbreakable chains that tie the Testaments together through the Psalms. It is a surprising, yet common, misunderstanding among Evangelicals and restorationists that the kingdom of God was an idea introduced by Jesus of Nazareth.  But Jesus did not introduce the reign of God into Jewish piety.  Jews knew, believed, and preached that God was/is King.  Jesus did too, every time he prayed and sang the Psalms. We do know that the central proclamation of Christ was the kingdom ... but it was an "Old Testament" doctrine.

Yhwh Malak! This is the central theological claim of the canonical book of Psalms. It is the center on which all faith and "topics" in the Psalter depend.  This declaration can be translated as Yahweh reigns, or the LORD is King (NRSV), or "the LORD has become King" (REB). The first translation views the kingdom as an activity, the second as a role, and the third as an event.  Here is the kicker, all three are grammatically possible.  So I embrace them all without denying the accuracy of any.

The Lord, the God of Israel, is King. This is, according to James Luther Mays, is the central theological claim of the canonical Psalter [2].  My own study of the Psalms indicates that Mays is not far from the mark, if at all. God's reign is explicitly stated and lies behind the major metaphors for Yahweh in the book as we shall see. I want to encourage my readers to meditate upon all the following Psalms: Pss 24, 29, 47, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 104, 145, and 146.  When you are reading through the rest of the psalms note phrases like the Lord "sits enthroned" or "rules the nations." It is a theme that is not hidden.

Why Yahweh is King?

The Psalms declare the kingship, and thus the kingdom, of God from two directions.  The first is that Yahweh is the "maker of heaven and earth."  Psalms such as 8, 19, 29, 33, 93 and 104 show the Lord overcoming the forces of chaos (anti-creation and anti-life) in order to establish a dwelling in which his creatures can thrive in his presence. Because Yahweh is the Creator, all other powers of whatever nature are subject to him. It is for this reason the Psalms repeatedly exhort, and even command, "all the earth" to acknowledge and submit to the Reign of God. It is the reason that "all creation" declares his glory.  The Loving King creates.

The second direction the Psalms come from to proclaim the reign of Yahweh and his kingdom is through his astounding, and unprecedented, act of pure grace in redeeming the most insignificant (Deuteronomy 7.7) of people to his very own treasured possession - Israel.  The Exodus is the Gospel in the Hebrew Bible. Such psalms as 47, 68, 98 and 114 all bring the Gathered People back to the fact that Yahweh is King because he rescued, redeemed and saved Israel.  God is King because he is the Redeemer! These texts all bring us back to the central Story of Israel - the Exodus from certain death in Egypt.  These psalms recall the very first time in the Bible that God is declared to be King.  In Exodus 15, after the great miracle of grace in the Exodus, the prophets Moses and Miriam lead the people in worship. In worship they declare, "The LORD will reign forever and ever" (Ex 15.18).

These two ways of declaring the kingship of Yahweh are intertwined in numerous Psalms.  Creation and Redemption are never that far apart in the Bible.  Such powerful mingling of these occur in psalms such as 33, 136, 146, and 147.  Sometimes within a single psalm these themes are brought together in the corporate prayers of God's people.   Look at Psalm 74

"Yet God my King is from old,
working salvation in the earth.
You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the dragons 
in the waters.
You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the for 
the creatures of the wilderness.
You cut openings for springs and 
torrents;
you dried up ever flowing streams.
Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you established the luminaries and 
the sun.
You have fixed all the bounds
of the earth;
you made summer and winter."
(74.12-17; see also 89.5-14)

The classic example of the bringing of these themes together in the Psalms is the majestic hymn to the King's  HESED in Ps 136.  The psalm thunders between the congregational leader and the response of the gathered people declaring God has shown steadfast love in creating the world and for redeeming Israel in that world.

God is King! This is not new with Jesus, rather it is the foundation of Israel's faith. As we read, pray, and praise our way through the Psalms we see many other "titles" for God's activity.  But these are royal in nature in the Ancient Near East even if at times we in the modern west misconstrue the nature of the images [3]. It is as King that the Lord is warrior, judge, refuge, and shepherd. These roles are all kingly roles and all proclaim the kingdom of God in the Psalms. Prayers of appeal and lament, as well as hymns of praise are based on the belief that Yahweh is in fact the King of the Universe and King of Israel in particular.

Dimensions of God's Kingdom

Worship is such a radical enterprise. Israel was "literally" the backwoods of the ancient world. Yet they made "grandiose" claims.  Mt. Zion is a pathetically small hill and yet Israel declared it to be the greatest and grandest of all mountains.  In fact Zion is the sort of the "navel" of the world.  These claims are nearly laughable from the perspective of the rebellious world and its "empirical evidence." These statements are all true though because Israel had gone to worship. In worship a reality is disclosed, the Psalms declare it to be so, in which the rebellious creation is turned on its proverbial head! What is "out there" is mere counterfeit.  God is King. His Kingdom will fill the whole earth. His dwelling is the center of all creation.   Israel knows these truths not through observation but through faith and worship. Jesus believed these truths he learned as a child singing and praying the Psalms as a faithful and liturgical Jew.  Israel makes three claims (if not more) about Yahweh and his kingdom.

First, the Psalms declare that God's kingdom is transnational and universal.  Israel is the manifestation of God's kingdom but God's kingship is not limited to the boundaries of Israel. He is King of all the earth.  Israel knew this because Yahweh defeated the faux king named Pharaoh (Ex 8.2, 9:14, 16, 29).  The "Old Testament" proclaims the kingdom of God is universal.

"They shall speak of the glory of your
kingdom,
and tell of your power,
to make known to all people {nations} your
mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of your
kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom,
and your dominion endures
throughout all
generations"
(Ps 145.11-13)

Israel is the "type" of the church in the Hebrew Bible.  Israel does not correspond to any nation states such as the USA, Germany or Japan.  Israel corresponds to the church. In fact the "church" is the Israel of God. No. Gentiles have not "replaced" Israel of old rather Gentiles have been grafted by God's amazing grace into the one People of God stretching back to Abraham.  Thus Israel is God's kingdom made visible in the world, just as the "church" is the kingdom made visible.  But God's kingdom is greater than both and never reduced to some nation state.  It is universal.

Second, the Psalms declare that God's kingship is redemptive in its function. Celebrating the King is an act of faith done in worship.  The declaration Yhwh Malak is made within hymns in the Psalter.  Declaring Yahweh to be King is not something the wicked perceive, that the nations acknowledge (anymore than they think Zion is greater than Mt. Everest!). It is something proclaimed through worship and lived because we know it to be true. In the kingdom of God specific values are inculcated and enjoined because they flow from the King's nature. These values turn the world, again, on its head.  Note these texts,

"righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne" (97.2)

"The King is mighty, he loves justice, you have established equity,
you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob" (99.4)

"The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
The LORD is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made" (145.8-9, see vv. 14-20)

"He upholds the cause of the oppressed 
and gives food to the hungry.
the LORD sets the prisoners free,
the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD." (146.7-10)

It is difficult to read these few excerpts and not hear the voice of Jesus in the Gospels saying virtually the same things. Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom of God is so "Old Testament." His preaching molded and shaped by the faithful worship of his mother Mary and his step-father Joseph. The kingdom has a redemptive thrust. Compassion is the value of values. In the kingdom we imitate God. We love what he loves, we do what he does.  The reality of the kingdom cannot be "spiritualized" into some "heaven" or privatized as my own secret walk with God.  It is the aligning of our entire life, in every way thinkable, to the redemptive will of God.  We are the vessels of God's will being done "on earth as it is in heaven."  God's kingdom is in the world as salt, light and leaven to undo the vandalism of shalom throughout creation.

Third, the Psalms reveal that God's kingship and his kingdom have an eschatological dimension. One cannot read in the psalms with any degree of sympathy and not come face to face with the cold fact that we live in a world that is completely alien to the kingdom of God. The world we proclaim in gathered and private worship is so contrary to the world "out there." God's people are often as flawed as the "wicked" and "enemies." Those who are specifically designated to safe guard the powerless aliens, widows and poor become the very instrument for crushing them. These kinds of huge gaps are dealt with in the Psalms themselves and also in the prophets of Israel.  In worship we confess that we do not place trust in human powers of any kind.  We have learned that we are easily seduced by the "dark side," that is by the corrosive and toxic appeal of the fallen world.

So the Psalms proclaim that the King is coming! The coming King is reason for celebration, rejoicing and the ground of all hope.  So worship itself is a form of prayer in which God's people call for the kingdom to be fully and completely manifest "out there." This, by the way, is not simply so the wicked will go to hell.  Rather when the King comes to "judge" (as it is often translated) the notion is not simply that he is coming to condemn.  He will deal with gross evil though.  Rather the main point of the Hebrew is that the King "will make things right."  All will be well when the King arrives.  This eschatological theme pervades a number of psalms.  The coming is Good News of great joy,

"Shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
Let the sea resound and everything in it;
the world and all who live in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
let them sing before the LORD,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity."
(98.6-9)

Creation bursts into joy because of the King is coming to put the world back together again.  You may want to compare this train of thought in Ps 98 with Paul's in Romans 8.18-25.  The king is coming.  That is something we look forward to. This eschatological look to the kingdom is what gives such potency to Jesus' proclamation that the "kingdom of God is at hand."

Wrapping Up

The notion of the kingdom of God is a fundamental theme in the Story of God.  It binds the Testaments together down to the DNA.  In the Psalms, this belief in the Sovereign God smashes directly into the human notion of Sovereign Self. The Psalms call us to confess that the Lord is King because he is Creator of all things in heaven and earth.  The Psalms call us to confess the King because he has redeemed by his own grace a people out of rebellious creation.  The Psalms call us to drink deeply the faith and values of the King and live them as missional people.  The Psalms call us to recognize the universal and cosmic nature of the kingdom of God and to be the people of redemption.  And the Psalms call us to recognize and pray for the King to come.

When we look at these themes, just mentioned, it is not hard to see why Jesus' ministry in the Gospels looks the way it does.  Jesus' ministry is a mirror of the prayers, the worship, and the faith of the minstrels of Israel who sang about the Glorious God - Yhwh Malak. 

Notes:

1] For a brief overview of how Jesus' life and the Psalms "mirror" one another see J. Clinton McCann, Jr, A Theological Introduction to the Book of Psalms: The Psalms as Torah (Abingdon, 1993), 163-175.

2] James Luther Mays, "The Language of the Reign of God," Interpretation 47 (1993): 117-126

3] See Othmar Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near East Iconography and the Book of Psalms (Crossroads, 1978), 244-306.

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Image of the Invisible God: Meditations on Col 1.15-20, Pt 2

for in him were created All Things
in heaven and earth
things visible and invisible
whether thrones or dominions
whether ruler or powers
All Things have been created through him and for him.

There are a lot of THINGSin the universe. Galaxies. Stars. Planets. Moons. Comets. Meteors. Lions. Tigers. Bears. Men. Women. Rainbows. Flowers. These are just some of the visible THINGS. There are also atoms, neutrons, protons, quarks, radio waves, angels, spirit beings. These are just some of the invisible THINGS.  

The Apostle Paul had memorized Genesis 1.1 just as you have from his infancy: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But in Colossians 1.16 he makes the astounding assertion that one of the IMAGES of Christ is none other than God actually used the Messiah (i.e. Christ) to do the creating. This speaks to the supremacy of Jesus.  He does not stand behind anyone in all creation in rank.  Paul, like you, could think of a lot of THINGS. Let your mind wander across the universe and Paul dares to claim the person we know as Jesus made those galaxies, stars & planets. Think about those THINGS that cover the world. Paul dares to claim Jesus made those things. But Paul knew the universe has THINGS in it that no eye has ever seen: your spirit, the angels, the invisible stuff the apostle claims Jesus is greater than all them too because he created them. The words “thrones” or “dominions” “ruler” or “powers” refer to the non-material spiritual realm.  Paul tells the Colossian disciples that one reason they have no fear of the evil forces in the world is that Christ, the IMAGE of God, is incomparably superior to them in every conceivable fashion. We live in confidence because Jesus is on our side.

Paul does not say everything in the universe is friendly but he does say that everything will sooner or later serve Christ.  The Universe was created both by Christ and for Christ. We exist for him.

MUSINGS: Read Psalm 104 and note the magnificent diversity of “all things” that are visible that have been created.  Note how “all things” are in God’s visible world are objects of his steadfast love.  Marvel at those things … what does this say about “God.”?

Prayer

End your time praising the Lord for the security we have in him.  Praise him for his creativity and the beauty he has placed in the visible realm. Praise him that one of the THINGS he has created, in His own Image, is YOU.  Ask him to help you grasp that truth.

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Psalm 104: For God So Loves the World

The universe is, itself, the offspring of God's love. It was not created simply because he had the wisdom and power to do it. The element of love entered into the intention, characterized the execution, and approved the completion of his labors. – Alexander

Campbell

The Psalter has always been viewed as the Spirit inspired temple of the Bible, a literary “holy of holies.”  For three thousand years, and then some, the Psalms have been at the heart of worship, corporate and private, in Israel, the synagogue, and the church.[1] Entering this literary sanctuary is a full sensory experience for the worshiper. Like all the Hebrew Bible it is laced with the grittiness of life and the grandeur of God.  Stepping into the pages of this holy place we are confronted with the smell of incense, hands raised in boisterous praise from the congregation, and the cry of lament from the suffering. In the Psalms the same Spirit that brought forth life from the mud of the earth inspires holistic worship that embodies the great commandment to love the Lord with our minds, souls, and bodies (Deut 6.4f; Mt 22.34f). Among the truths in God’s literary sanctuary is that humanity’s worship is truly cosmic encompassing all creation. All creation sings praise to the Lord of Creation. This vision is awe-inspiring.

The Psalms pull God’s people into a fuller, truer, vision of reality. Entering into the literary sanctuary to worship through praise and prayer, individually and corporately, the world in which God reigns is invoked.[2] In the Psalms, through worship, God enabled Israel to have eyes to see and ears to hear to embrace a new “construal of the God-world relationship.”[3] Through imbibing the worldview constructed in God-centered worship we are invited to embrace God’s purpose for creation, to embrace the beauty of creation as reflecting his own glory, and to find our own place within creation to lead all in heaven and earth to worship the Creator.

Creation the Realm of God’s Steadfast Love

The world envisioned in worship enables God’s people to interpret the world encountered “outside” in light of God’s claims, purpose, and mission. It re-frames pain and injustice and draws attention to love, beauty, and ultimate justice. If you should ask an Israelite fresh from pilgrimage to the temple “how do you know God loves you?” She would probably respond using the language shaped in worship: “I know he loves me because he created the world and redeemed Israel.”  Lifting her hands to heaven, the Israelite would burst into song,

O give thanks the LORD, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever

What evidence for this radical claim by Israel?

[W]ho alone does great wonders,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

who by understanding made the heavens,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

who spread out the earth on the waters,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

who made the great lights,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

the sun to rule over the day,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

the moon and the stars to rule over the night,

for his steadfast love endures forever …

(Psalm 136. 4-9)

The first act of love by God according to the Bible is not the cross of Jesus, nor even the grace of the Exodus from Egypt.  The first act of love by God toward the world is that he became its Creator.  Inhabiting the sanctuary of worship Israel sees “nature” around her not through the eyes of utilitarianism but the eyes of wonder. Nature is in fact transformed into creation.  The physical universe reflects the warmth and love of the Father of Jesus. 

            Psalm 33 elaborates on the character and work of the Lord of Israel while singing a new song. God is described in vivid attributes

For the word of the LORD is upright,

and all his work is done in faithfulness.

He loves righteousness and justice;

the earth is full of the steadfast love

of the LORD. (33.4-5)

What is this word and work that is faithful, righteous, just and loving? Perhaps we might expect such a word and work to be saving people from sin or delivering the poor. But that is not the word and work in Psalm 33.[4]The word and work of the Lord here is the creation of the universe itself.

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,

and all their host by the breath of his mouth. (33.6)

The beginning of the steadfast love of the Lord, according to this radical psalm is not an act of deliverance from sin or oppression but the creation of cosmos. Indeed it is an act of “justice.”  No wonder the psalm will declare “the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord” (33.5; cf Ps 119.64).

            The Bible claims more than creation displays God’s amazing love.  Rather the Scriptures proclaim that God is like an artist who actively cares for, tends to, protects and actually loves his world.  Psalm 104 reveals the chasm between Marcionism, deism and biblical faith.[5]Not only is the wonder of creation celebrated but the deep involvement of the Creator God with the object of his love. God did not simply create “in the beginning” to see how it all turns out.  Rather, as Jesus said, the Father continues to work in creation (Jn. 5.17).  Psalm 104 is formally linked to 103 with its breathtaking vistas of God’s steadfast love which is said to be higher than the heavens for his people (103.11).[6]This love, manifested in God’s “works” (103.22), ushers us into the magnificent meditation upon God’s continuing shower of love toward all he has made.

            Revealing in the diversity of creation, Psalm 104[7]helps place a check on the arrogant human assumption that the world exists primarily for our use and purposes.[8] Rather this psalm reminds us that God has “other concerns”[9]besides human and places us as one among the many inhabitants of the Earth receiving the gift of life from the Creator. The psalm opens in 1-4 picturing Yahweh clothed in majesty, building his cosmic temple to dwell (cf. Ps 78.69; Isa. 40.22).[10] The psalm moves into a very egalitarian geocentric view of earth which is mentioned seven times (vv 5, 9, 13, 14, 24, 32, 35) centering on rich diversity of life filling it. The psalmist revels in the loving, even tender, care of God for his world. 

You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills (v.10)

Who is this water for? The “drink is to every wild animal” (v. 11).  Those who benefit from are also the birds who “sing among the branches” and finally the earth itself is “satisfied with the fruit of your work” (v.13).  Humans are not even listed among the beneficiaries of divine hydration. 

            The Lord’s hands on approach to tending his creation means he also feeds the life he has created. Humans finally enter the picture as God has previously satisfied the earth with water he now gives grass for animals to eat and viniculture for humans to have wine.  As water blesses the animals, and wine refreshed humans, so now the “trees of the Lord” are abundantly cared for by the Creator (vv.14-16). 

            The psalmist again confesses the marvelous manner of divine provision for the non-human world. The “trees of the Lord” are not simply for human use.  Rather the trees were created literally for the birds (vv. 16-17).[11]  The majestic mountains are actually “for the wild goats” (v.18).

One of the most startling claims, for moderns, of the inspired poet is that humans are not the only ones who have work hours and punch the clock. In this section (vv 19-23) both animals and humans share the world but are separated by temporal domains. The sun and moon are creation’s clock (Gen 1.14-18). The animals in the forests and on the mountains work for a living under the cover of the darkness while humans seek the same livelihood under the sun. Lions carry on the midnight shift but, like their fellow human creature, they get their earnings from God (v.21; cf. Job 38.39-41).  After binding all creatures together the congregation in worship bursts in awe

O LORD, how manifold are your works!

In wisdom you have made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

Humans, lions, birds, goats and trees are all objects of the Creators steadfast love. But some of the most amazing creatures have never been seen by the human eye at all. One creature, called Leviathan, lives in God’s aquarium, the vast sea.  Leviathan was created by God for no other reason than to frolic and play in the deep! It has no purpose but to be alive and be carefree (v.26).[12]

            The psalmist concludes his cosmic panorama with all creation, small and great, non-human and human, brought together as contingent creatures utterly dependent upon the grace of God (vv. 27-30).

These all look to you to give them their food in due season;

when you give to them, they gather it up;

when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

when you take away their breath they die and return to dust.

When you send for the your Spirit, they are created;

and you renew the face of the ground.

Here is the death nail to deism in the Bible.  God’s hands on approach to creation is described in these verses using the Hebrew imperfect indicating continuous action on the part of deity.[13] It is from a text like this the Hebrew Preacher can say that universe is “sustained” by divine grace (Heb 1.3). Here, as in the initial creation itself (Gen 2.7), it is God’s Spirit who is the giver of all life.[14]When life appears, human, animal or trees, a profound miracle has taken place.[15]No wonder the psalmist was in awe.

            But the last five verses of Psalm 104 show that Israel did not imagine that humans alone would delight in creation.  As the psalmist sees the world bathed in gracious “glory” the Lord himself is called to rejoice, to take pleasure, in his works (v.31).   "May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works." The purpose of this call is that God continue to his unbounded “labor of love.”  Genesis has the Creator seeing the goodness of his creation, Psalm 104’s vision is that he actually rejoice when he sees it.[16]  The image of God finding delight in what he has created in this universe is, perhaps, an image we need to ruminate on more frequently. 

Concluding thought

            Psalm 104 is gentle, but firm, check on human arrogance.  Through a misreading of other texts, we sometimes assume that whole world was placed here for us. But Genesis reminds us the world was “good” even when inhabited only by fish, birds and trees before a single human appeared.  God himself is the caretaker in his lush garden and humans are just one of his creatures in this Psalm. Animals, who have the same life as humans, are not simply food for humans.  Indeed both animals and humans get sustenance from the same divine source. Psalm 104 also shows that God made things simply to be beautiful and not just to be useful.  The creation of Leviathan is perhaps a reminder to humans that life is such a gift of grace that we should just “let loose” from time to time. Above all Psalm 104 reveals the truth that creation itself, animate and inanimate, is the object of divine love. If God, like an artist, dotes so tenderly over his works then should not those created in his image reflect that same divine delight, divine love and divine care for creation. As we shall see this is part of what biblical dominion means.

---

[1] William L. Holladay, The Psalms through Three Thousand Years: Prayerbook of a Cloud of Witnesses (Minneapolis: Fortress Press,  1996); James H. Houston and Bruce K. Waltke, The Psalms as Christian Worship (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009).

[2] Walter Brueggemann, Israel’s Praise: Doxology Against Idolatry and Ideology, (Philadelphia, Fortress, 1988), 1-28; John Mark Hicks, Johnny Melton & Bobby Valentine, A Gathered People: Revisioning The Assembly as Transforming Encounter(Abilene, TX: Leafwood, 2007), 50-59.

[3] James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 193.

[4] See John Goldingay Old Testament Theology, vol 2 (Downers Grove, IVP, 200?), ??-??; Patrick D. Miller, Jr, Interpreting the Psalms(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 75-76.

[5] John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology, Vol 2: Israel’s Faith, p. 655.

[6] James Limburg argues for the formal linkage of Psalm 103 and 104 in “Down-To-Earth Theology: Psalm 104 and the Environment,” Currents in Theology and Mission 21 (1994), 341.

[7] Psalm 104 is frequently classified as a wisdom psalm largely borrowed from the Egyptian “Hymn to Aton.”  See Bernard W. Anderson, Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak for Us Today, Revised and Expanded Edition (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983), 156f. For our purposes it this claim does not effect our argument because if the psalm is borrowed it has been placed within the canonical faith.  However it is important to note that many critical scholars do not see a genetic connection between Psalm 104 and the Hymn to Aton.  Peter C. Craigie reviews the history of scholarship on the psalm, looks at the Egyptian evidence and produces Ugaritic evidence suggesting the best that can be argued is general agreement in limited verses.  He suggests the original function of the psalm was probably a dedication ceremony for the temple. “The Comparison of Hebrew Poetry: Psalm 104 in the Light of Egyptian and Ugaritic Poetry,” Semitics4 (1974): 10-21.

[8]Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove: IVP, 2006), 399-400.

[9] John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology, Vol 2: Israel’s Faith, p. 681

[10] See the discussion on temples and cosmic geography in John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 113-134, 165-178 and Othmar Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms (New York: Crossroad, 1985), 113-176

[11] William P. Brown, Seeing the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor (Louisville: WJK, 2002), 160.  See Bernhard W. Anderson, From Creation to New Creation (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock ??), 217-219.

[12] James Limburg, “Down-To-Earth Theology: Psalm 104 and the Environment,” Currents in Theology and Mission21 (1994), 343.

[13] Bernhard W. Anderson, From Creation to New Creation, pp. 116-118.

[14] Wilf Hildebrandt, An Old Testament Theology of the Spirit of God (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 55-56.

[15] John Goldingay, Psalms, Volume 3: Psalms 90-150 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 194.

[16] William P. Brown, “The Lion, the Wicked, and the Wonder of It All: Palm 104 and the Playful God,” Journal for Preachers29 (2006): 14-19.

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Christmas is Made for BOOKS!! A 2012 Reader's List

"Give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a dangerous enemy indeed." - Anne Rice

"We read to know we are not alone" - C. S. Lewis

"Books are to be called for and supplied on the assumption that the process of reading is not a half-sleep; but in the highest sense an exercise, a gymnastic struggle; that the reader is to do something for himself." - Walt Whitman

 "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." - Frederick Douglass

I am frequently asked about books and reading material. This year's Christmas list of the top ten books to get and read consists of works I have read this past year and have recommended to various people. My list will be eclectic this year with a few old numbers and current hits.  Each, and all, of these books are worthy of your attention and will bless your walk with the Lord as we seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.

The book Christmas tree is in my office. It includes Homer, Taylor Branch, Martin Heidegger, Robert Burnham, Ernst Troeltsch,Walter Brueggemann, Dava Sobel, A. A. Milne, Alexander Campbell, Peter Gay, Gregory of Nyssa, W. F. Albright and a few others who would never be associated except in my book tree.  :-) 

1) Randolph Richards & Brandon O'Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible. This is probably the best work on biblical interpretation on a popular level of the year. Not just another book on theoretical foundations or why parables are not epistles.  This work introduces non-scholars to the "hidden" cultural assumptions in Scripture that shape its meaning is profound ways. The chapter on collectivism (communalism) vs "individualism" alone is worth the price of the book.  This emphasis in Scripture is completely missed by most American Evangelicals and radically distorts our vision the Christian faith.  While not a flawless work the authors have done a marvelous job of bringing Western, modern, post-Enlightenment believers to breath the air of the Eastern, ancient, pre-Scientific of the Bible. This work opens our eyes as Westerners to the world of biblical people and shows us how to "enter in." The prose are lively and the illustrations are clear and contemporary and make for a great read. Bible reading is at its most fundamental level a profoundly cross-cultural experience. We cannot but be more informed Bible readers by digesting this book.

2) Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin ed & annotated by Henry Louis Gates & Hollis Robbins. I first read Stowe in the late 1990s, revisited a couple years ago and have just finished it again as part of a larger project. In the last few years there has been some discussion whether it should be the quintessential American novel. If you have never actually read this classic (classics are "classic" but often not read) perhaps you should find out the reason why it was in fact the best selling book of the 19th century after the Bible and why - unlike the Da Vinci Code - it actually changed the world.You may be amazed that old Uncle Tom is nothing like the stereotyped "Uncle Tom" you have heard ... I will be posting a blog on Uncle Tom's Cabin and its use of Scripture in the next day or two.

3) Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God  Truly one of the great little books in the world. Small in size but St. Bernard is a feast for the mind and the heart. Each page, even paragraphs, have the potential of leading to hours of reflection. This is a book that must be eaten.

4) Mirsolav Volf, Allah: A Christian Response . Volf is one of the premier theological thinkers of the present age. He is Conservative and Evangelical and interested in taking the Christian faith into the public square. This is an incredibly important book which is surprisingly easy to read. Volf seeks a position that can foster the common good of peace in the world and yet honor the true differences between Islam and Christianity. He does argue, and I believe convincingly, that Christians and Muslims do in fact worship the same God - that is if monotheism is true.  This does not erase serious differences between the two in fact Volf does not mash us all together in one big happy family. However we can live peacefully ... from a Christian point of view ... in a pluralistic world. You will be challenged, you will think deeply, you will argue with Volf I promise you, but if you listen I believe you will be enriched and blessed for having read this stimulating book.

5) Sara Gaston Barton, A Woman Called: Piecing together the Ministry Puzzle Where do you come down on women preaching? It really does not matter to be blessed by this work.  Anyone who has, in their soul, felt that God has led them to a vocation in life will be enriched.  Barton takes us on a wonderful journey, though uniquely her own it is also one that I have shared as a minister of the word. This is one of the most recent books I've read and I confess I could not put it down. I had the whole book read in a single night. I, of course, made annotations to affirm my "amens," occasional "hmmmmmm" and even one or two "I'm not so sure."   The book sort of lures you into the narrative and takes the rarefied air of exegesis and theology and places it within the incarnation of a single woman wanting to serve God with all her heart ... and mind.  Suddenly we see that exegesis and theology actually have real life implications. It is a wonderful and even loving book. This is a book you should read though.

6) Edward J. Robinson, I Was Under a Heavy Burden: The Life of Annie C. Tuggle. My friend Edward Robinson continues to do a yeoman's task of resurrecting the history of African-American Churches of Christ.  This small biography, however, combines excavation in black history and women disciples of Christ. Here is the story of tragedy and triumph, of struggle against racism and sexism, of finding security in the Lord in the face of abusive marriage and divorce. While engaged in the struggle in her own life Tuggle sought to be a blessing to all around her.  She is one of the unsung heroes of the Churches of Christ.  If you want to be motivated by a cross-bearer then this is a book you should read.

7) Thomas Chatterton Williams, Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture  Williams is a "young" secular writer engaging in a work of "cultural criticism" while at the same time bearing witness to the power of the influence of a father in the lives of sons or daughters. I have personally given out eight copies of this book to different people.  If only we could learn to engage in the kind of reflection Williams has done with the additional lens of the kingdom of God.  This is a wonderful book and I pray it bears much fruit.

8) N. T. Wright, Scripture and the Authority of God  Wright needs no introduction to most of the readers of this blog, he is (IMHO) simply the foremost NT theologian of the present era. But Wright has never been content to remain within the ivory towers of academia rather he believes scholarship must serve faith.  And we find that in this book.  A revision of his earlier work The Last Word this title includes two new chapters and applications. Outstanding work that holds much promise for our use of the Bible in our fellowship.

9) Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer that Changed My Life and Just Might Change the World. Richard Stearns is one of my heroes. He was successful by worldly standards (i.e. wealthy). Yet he found himself struggling with how his faith actually made any difference in the real world ... honestly it does not make any real world difference for some believers. Now the president of World Vision he challenges us to see the real "hole" in our gospel of comfort, gospel of success, gospel of "me," and embrace the massive amount of biblical teaching on changing the world and addressing poverty.  Easy to read but one of those books that will demand a response as you engage it. 

10) Alister McGrath, Mere Apologetics: How to Help Seekers and Skeptics Find Faith. McGrath has been, over the last 10-15 years, one of my favorite authors. He is a man with not one but two PhDs.  One is in microbiology and the other in theology.  I had been reading McGrath for years and profiting from his historical and theological studies before I knew that he was actually a former atheist.  This work is now one of a number McGrath has authored on the subject of apologetics.  In this one he looks at our cultural situation and helps understand that apologetics and evangelism are not necessarily the same thing. One valuable aspect of Mere Apologetics is the recognition we live in a postmodern world. This work sees itself in line with C. S. Lewis' classic Mere Christianity and it is evident that McGrath has absorbed much of Lewis's legacy.  This is a good book and I believe you will be blessed through wrestling with it.

Bonus Books.  For me, one of the most fascinating books I read this year likely will never become a best seller.  That book is Larry Hurtado's The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins. This book is not simply about textual criticism though it clearly has relevance for that.  Rather Hurtado suggests that early Christian mss are witnesses to a Christian culture and that culture sheds light on the nature and history of early Christianity that is overlooked and even outright neglected by both NT scholars and church historians.  What do the texts themselves tell us about the people who made them and read them? Why did Christians adopt the codex so early and so universally? Do the texts testify that early Christianity was an integrated community ... that is one that was in contact with itself in various parts of the world.  The surprising answer to that is yes!  A wonderful chapter is on the phenomena of the nomina sacra in early Christian texts.  This book is a unique window into the world of Christianity in the second and third centuries and probably even the first.  I loved it.

Don't forget my own books if you are looking for a stocking stuffer :-).  Kingdom Come: Embracing the Spiritual Legacy of David Lipscomb and James A. Harding and also A Gathered People: Revisioning the Assembly as Sacred Encounter.

Tolle Lege,
Bobby Valentine

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Love: The Road Less Traveled, Jn 13.1-17

A word about this post.  The following is the text of a sermon I was invited to preach at the Bell Flower Missionary Baptist Church in Grenada, MS on February 14, 1999.  The occasion was a "Community Praise & Worship Service" in the middle of the month of love and Black History Month. Belle Flower M.B. Church is a historic church in Grenada, MS.  It is the oldest historically black church in the city, it was host to Martin Luther King Jr in the 1960s and the church was fire bombed after Dr. King spoke there.  In the auditorium the evidence of the fire is still visible in places. It was a great honor to asked to address this nearly all black crowd (except for the white folks I persuaded to come with me).  I chose as my text John 13 and combined the themes of love and black history.  I have not edited the text. I realize that I was somewhat juvenile in my homiletic so bear that in mind.  It was my prayer that it blessed then and it is my prayer that it does so now.  I prayed and I preached from the heart to a city in serious racial turmoil ...a little over a year later I was fired from the congregation for which I preached.  Enjoy.

Love: The Road Less Traveled

(After reading all of John 13.1-7 I made the following brief observations to set up the text and context)
* Jesus' death is near (v.1)
* Jesus "shows the full extent of his LOVE" (v. 1b)
* In the last hours of his life God in human flesh is on his hands and knees washing feet like a common slave, including the one who means to murder him
* His disciples are puzzled, indeed Peter rejects this humble demonstration of radical love (v.8)

The Full Extent of Love

What does John mean when he narrates that Jesus "showed the full extent of his love?" I thought the Cross was the full extent of the Messiah's love? Perhaps the key lies in the fact that this event is a drama of the Cross itself.  Jesus served all humanity - good and the bad - on that Cross and here he served humbly even those who had already betrayed him.

The one who would do Jesus in, Judas the Betrayer, is sitting in that circle of disciples to have his feet washed.  Amazingly Jesus washes Judas' feet too! Jesus knows the plot that has hatched in Judas' mind I am convinced. And here we have Jesus being the servant to the one who in mere hours will hand him over to be murdered.  This is the extent of his love! Perhaps John is testifying to the fact that Jesus did what no other person in that circle would or could have done ... that is to actively love the one who is seeking your demise.

But we often respond like Peter.  We claim we want love. Yet when love does show up we reject it as too costly. We want love but we find love to heavy to a cross to bear.  So we settle for less!

My friends if the extent of Jesus' love in John 13 shows us anything it reveals that love is painful.  I imagine in my mind that as Jesus washed Judas' feet that a tear welled up in his eyes.  Is that far fetched to imagine that? But wash his feet he did and that was painful love.

Love is painful. Perhaps that is why it is the road less traveled.

Jesus was often lonely because of love.
Jesus was hung upon the Cross because of love.
Jesus discovered that true love is a dangerous thing in this world.

The Road Traveled Less Often

Isn't that why we on a daily basis choose to relate to each other on every basis but love? We relate to each other on the basis of competition, of power, of self interest. How we can make this or that come out to our own advantage. How we can preserve our power base or influence in the community.

Love takes too much time.  Love takes way too much commitment.  Love requires that I take you into account in every action and every decision I make.  Love demands I put you before myself. Love commands that I serve my enemies and bless those who would "do me in" ... Just as Jesus showed Judas the full extent of his love.  Perhaps it is the requirements, the demands, and the commands of love that make love the road less traveled.

We know that Martin Luther King knew the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on this vital point. For King, love for his enemies became his cross to bear! His sermon "Loving Your Enemies" [1] sends shivers down my spine because he does for me what the picture of the stooped Jesus over the feet of Judas did for John ... it was only in hindsight that John could, or did, know that THAT was the full extent of love - that even Judas was not excluded from the love of the Messiah. It was only AFTER the suffering of the Cross that John could look back and see Jesus kneeling before Judas caressing his feet and know the depth of the love displayed in that act of humble kindness.

King addressed the National Conference on Religion and Race in Chicago on January 17,1963. His words bring John 13 to life, for love is no mere abstraction:

"To be a Christian one must take up his [i.e. Christ's] cross with all its difficulties and agonizing and tension packed content and carry it until that very cross leaves its marks upon us and redeems us to that more excellent way which comes only through suffering.  Only through love."

Is carrying a cross easy? I do not think so, and I have never endured any cross such as that of Jesus nor King.  The cross was not easy for Jesus ... he begged the Father to be set free from it!! It was not for Dr. King.  And in Grenada it will not be easy for you and it will not be easy for me.  That is why Love is the Road Less Traveled in this town haunted by loveless past.

Perhaps Dr King caught a glimpse of Jesus bending over the feet of Judas on that day when the Cross became an unbearable burden.  It was a day the nails of the Cross pierced with unbelievable pain because they were hammered with pure hate. You know the day - it was day that lives in infamy.  December 15, 1963! The day a haven, a place of worship, became the target of terrorists. A bomb planted by those who hate at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.  That bomb killed four little girls: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley.  They were just little girls.  I have two little girls! Rachael and Talya and I know the anger in me should someone harm them. The Cross was beyond a torture stake on that day!

Dr. King spoke at those little girls funeral. Innocent as the pure driven snow! The victims of a senseless hate crime.  I cannot even begin to wrap my mind around that.  But when King addressed that crowd we learn the depth of his Christianity.  We learn the extent of love.  We learn of the Road that he often traveled alone in the footsteps of the One who washed Judas' feet.  Just to read King's words we can see the impression of the Cross bearing down upon him. He said at that funeral

"in spite of the darkness of this hour we must not despair. We must not become bitter; nor must we harbor the desire to retaliate with violence. We must not lose faith in our white brothers. Somehow we must believe that the most misguided among them can learn to respect every human."

Then King says these unbelievable words "God has not given me permission to hate."

I am unworthy to even utter these words because I am sooooo far from the vision of love embodied here.  I would have lost faith I think!

Martin Luther King Jr my friends followed Jesus and took the road less traveled. Heeding the words of the Hebrews Preacher "consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart" (12.3) King saw the full extent of Jesus' love for his own enemy and believed that to be a disciple he must love as Jesus loved.

Do we not naturally balk at that kind of love ... it is costly. We are Peter and say we cannot endure such humility, we have too much self respect to serve THEM! Whoever "them" may be ...

The road of love requires courage but if we want peace in our community, if we want renewal in our community, if we want a new day in our community then we must follow first Jesus and then Dr King down that less traveled road.  Until we do we will not have God's shalom in Grenada.

The question that we all must confront is: Am I willing to bear the Cross of Love and serve the Judases of Hate? Am I willing to put even those who would "do me in" before my own interests? Are our congregations in Grenada that dare to call Jesus "Lord" willing to follow the one who knelt before Judas? Are we willing to come together for the sake of the kingdom? Are we willing to walk on the road less traveled?  Milan Kundera was painfully correct when he wrote "nothing is heavier than compassion."  Look at Jesus before Judas as John gazes back upon that scene through the gift of memory - and be amazed!  Look at King saying "we must not lose faith in our white brothers" ... and be amazed! Compassion. Love. The Cross is hard to carry.

The On Ramp to the Road

But suppose every person here in this crowd tonight says I am willing to follow Christ down that road less traveled, What then? I confess to you right now my friends that I do not know all the answers and perhaps I do not know ANY answers.  I have never endured anything like the Lord before Judas.  I have never endured anything like an attack on my precious little girls. As I was unfit to vocalize King's astounding words I confess to being unworthy to say what we "must do."  But I believe that God in his Providential mercy has brought all of us here to this place tonight.  In the middle of this month that I am standing in the very pulpit that Martin Luther King Jr himself stood I cannot help but feel God is on the move and he demands that I do SOMETHING.  I do not always know what it is but I know something offered in his name can be blessed by the Holy Spirit. So with fear and trepidation I offer a few suggestions to help us travel the road together.

1) Love Begins With Understanding. To feel with, to share with another human being, I must know something about your burden and you mine.  True understanding means I must learn to listen longer and speak much less.

I submit to you this is why God was incarnate in human flesh. For the Messiah to understand the human condition he needed to become a true human being. Jesus lived, Jesus suffered, and Jesus died, and Jesus was raised from the dead as a human being.  He loved us enough not only to wash Judas' feet but to get inside the skin of the despised Jew and experience our life in this fallen world in order that he could represent us to the Father! The great German pastor/theologian Helmut Thielecke wrote "tell me how much you know of the suffering of your fellow man and I will tell you how much you love them."

So the task for us all here tonight is to begin the process of listening, learning and understanding. Do I care enough to learn about your life? Do you care enough to learn about mine?  Can we move beyond the stereotypes of what is black and what is white and listen to the unique stories we all have? We may find that our stories identify us both a mere humans.  To enter the Road Less Traveled we must begin to understand one another.

2) Understanding Must Deepen My Willingness to Bear Your Burden. Understanding is not the end of love rather it is the entry point. Understanding love bears fruit in my own life in shouldering the burdens of your life. It is a most interesting fact that the Greek language, in which the NT was written, that the word for "compassion" literally means to be moved with anger at a given circumstance!  For example two chapters ahead of Jesus washing Judas' feet we read about Lazarus. Most of our English translations tell us that Jesus was "moved" or something similar (cf. Jn 11.33, 38).  But Jesus was not simply 'moved' he was "angry."  He understood deeply what death had done to his friend and it made him ANGRY ... not at Lazarus but at death and the power of death, at the circumstance! Does our understanding - as limited as it is - move us the way Jesus' understanding did him? Are we "moved" to the point to be willing to actually do something about it?  If not then I have arrived at the love Jesus shows Judas and that King shows us throughout his life.

3) Love Means I Must Commit to LIVE My Baptism.  Bear with me on this point please.  (Read Col 3.1-12, note esp. v. 12).  The apostle says the Christian life reflects the crucifixion we receive in baptism.  King spoke movingly about bearing that Cross till its impression is left in our lives - Paul says that is what baptism does in our journey down that road less traveled.  As a fallen member of humanity I am nailed with Christ to the Tree in the waters of baptism.  The old human dies and we walk leaving all the stuff of death there in the grave.  In baptism we are clothed with the qualities of Christ - compassion, lowliness, meekness, forbearance and love (see 2.9-12 [died with Christ]; 3.1ff [raised with Christ]) The Christian life is one of fulfilling our vows made to the creating and redeeming God we made in baptism.  It is through baptism that we learn there is no Greek, Jew and for our purposes tonight - NO WHITE and NO BLACK - rather Christ is all and in all (3.11).  Traveling on the road of love demands that we live these baptismal claims. It was no easier in the first century church than it is in our own day for Jew and Greek than it is is in Grenada for black and white ... but if we want to claim love as our way then this is the path we take.

Conclusion

My friends we must choose the path less traveled every single day.  There are exists off the road every which way we look.  Love is a choice.  Jesus made a choice to serve Judas.  Martin Luther King made a choice to love those white brothers. Love is hard because we must freely and willingly take up that Cross when all around us the voices come from within the white community and the black community to caste it aside as too burdensome.

Will my fellow ministers in Grenada walk along this path? Will the mayor? Will our divided and hostile city council? Will teachers in our schools?

I think I know why love is the road less traveled but it is the one to which we are called as Christians. I do not claim that my walk on that road is perfect, in fact I do not even know if I am on it!  But I will confess to you my heart's desire is to walk in the steps that Jesus walked and to love those who would "do me in" even as he loved them.  Perhaps we - you and I - can enter the road together tonight understandingly bearing with one another and I do not think Grenada is prepared for the revolution that can happen when we all decide to make Love the most traveled of all roads. May God bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you.

Notes:

1] My edition of this great sermon is in Martin Luther King Jr, Strength to Love (Pocket Book 1963. Mine is the 2nd printing from 1968), 41-50.  This is a priceless gem of a book.  King's sermon "My Pilgrimage to Nonviolence" (pp. 165-173) should be required reading for Christians.

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David, Man after God's Own Heart??? 2 Sam 11-12

Greetings from the Land of Saguaros and Scorpions. Here is an expository meditation  I on the narrative of David from 2 Samuel. I do not believe any person in the Bible is presented as a "moral" example for us. Hebrews 11 says that the heroes are examples of faith not purity -- Christ is the only flawless person in the Bible. If we recognize the full humanity of the folks in the Bible we also see God's grace all the more clearly. Hebrew narrative can be difficult to preach but this is my attempt to faithfully present the narrator's message in 2 Samuel 11-12. I welcome your comments. Bobby Valentine.


David: Man After God's Own Heart??
2 Samuel 11-12

INTRODUCTION

David was Israel's second and greatest king. All kings after him would be evaluated in the light of him. He is significant in the developing concept of a Messiah that would come and redeem not only Israel but the whole world. David is a special man in the Bible - in fact he is known as the Man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13.14)! I wish I was known as that. One observer comments "David is seen repeatedly as a gentle, forgiving servant . . . Instead of retaliating for undeserved threats, David responds with mercy  . . .  David reveals
himself as a deeply sensitive and expressive man of God. In times of trouble David rises above his inner fears and feelings of helplessness to express himself through poetic songs, known as psalms" (LaGard Smith, The Narrated Bible, p. 405). David was indeed a man who sought to serve his Lord but one wonders if we have truly seen and understood his story or have we white washed it?

TROUBLE IN DAVID'S HOUSE

Our meditation arises out of one of the most interesting sections of all the Bible. Second Samuel 9ff is full of suspense and intrigue. Murder and adultery. Rebellion and insurrection. A father fleeing the wrath of his son and a brother raping his sister. Yes, this is surely not a "boring" part of Scripture!

The Books of Samuel and Kings, which together with Joshua and Judges are really one larger work like Luke and Acts,  were written during the time of the Exile to help the Israelites understand what went wrong in their country and explain WHY they are where they are at. It was a needed message. The writer lets the reader know that the dye of doom was cast from the very start. Even David, the Model King, had serious
sin in his life. Indeed the Historian devotes half of 2 Samuel to one single incident -- David's sin with Bathsheba and the impact of that sin on David's life and his house. This sin is so embarrassing that the Chronicler does not even mention it! Our author, whose purpose for writing is radically different than the Chronicler, wants us to see that the reason that David was the man after God's own heart was not because he never sinned or was without fault. Rather he is held up because he was willing to repent and humbly admit  his sin. That is what the writer is hoping to convey to his audience in his day -- grace will come when we humbly acknowledge our sin -- grace is not dependent upon perfection just a humble heart. Thus David the one who humbly admits sin is the model for the Israelite in Exile ... the message is that 'our" Exile is the fall out of our sin as David's horrendous life was the fall out.  BUT Yahweh will do for "us" what he already did for one equally full of sin.

Our story begins in 2 Sam. 11 where the Historian tells us "In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army" (v. 1). Already the author has given us a clue that something is wrong -- David has not done what kings do. He did not go out with his men to battle as was his habit, instead he let Joab, his general, lead the men. So David is in the city and not in the field, which leads to restlessness.

We are told that David had insomnia (for whatever reason) and went out for some fresh air. As he went out he spied a beautiful woman named Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. David knew this to be another man's wife (v.3) but was filled with corrosive lust anyway. So he abused his power and he sent orders for her anyway so he could have a fleeting moment of sinful pleasure. Little did he know his life, and family, would shake to its core from this moment of gratification for the rest of his life.

The author hardly spares any details in describing what comes next. Bathsheba became pregnant! She sent word to David (this is obviously some time later -- perhaps David thought he would never be found out).
What do you think the Man after God's own heart did? David did what most men that get caught do: he tried to conceal his sin with lies and cover up. He sent for Uriah. Gave him a supposed holiday pass in the hopes that he would party with his wife. But Uriah was a good soldier and refused to fall into David's scheme and instead slept on the king's door step (v.9).

After repeated attempts to break Uriah's honor  -- including getting Uriah drunk -- David finally sent Uriah back to the front with a letter written by the king himself on directions for his own murder (vv. 14-15). So David has used another man's wife for his personal pleasure and gets caught. He now covers up his sins of lust, coveting and adultery with the sins of lying and premeditated murder. David broke nearly the entire Decalogue -- no wonder the Chronicler did not mention this episode in David's life! One almost wonders if he did this on the Sabbath!?

One thing we can learn from David is that sin begets sin and more sin. It becomes a vicious cycle that is so difficult to stop and most, if not all, are unable to. That is why Jesus Christ came. He came to rescue the Davids in this world and provide hope to the Bathshebas who are used up in other peoples webs of sin and deceit. Christ at the Cross broke the cycle of sin and gained victory and graciously gives that victory to us. Praise is due to Jesus!

Needless to say Uriah was murdered as David had plotted. This was premeditated murder in the first degree! And this is the man given the title "Man after God's own Heart." Shocking! But doesn't this give you a little hope? Look at what God did with with David, imagine what he can do with you and me if we allow him too.

In ch. 12 of 2 Sam. the prophet Nathan comes to the king and shares a parable with him about two men and a sheep:

"There were two men in a certain town, one rich and one poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him" (12. 1-4).

David, as king, had the job of protecting the poor and powerless (read Ps 72). His reaction to the story of Nathan shows that he took that task seriously. David's sense of justice had been aroused and Nathan quickly turns that on him and says "You are the man!" (v.7). Nathan has trapped David in his own conscience.

What happens next is important for the rest of the story in Samuel and the first 2 chapters of Kings. The Prophet pronounces four punishments on David for his sin:

1) he decreed the sword would not depart from David's house (12.10). Accordingly, Absalom killed Amnon his half brother (ch.13), Joab killed Absalom (ch.18) and Solomon (the offspring of David's crime) killed Adonijah (1 Kgs 2.13-25);

2) He announced that Yahweh would raise up evil against him out of his own house (12.11). Thus Amnon raped Tamar (ch.13), Absalom led a rebellion against his father (ch. 15), and Adonijah tried to seize the throne in David's old age (1 Kgs 1.5ff);

3) He stated that Yahweh would give David's wives to a neighbor of his, who would commit adultery with them publicly (12.11). So when Absalom seized the throne, on Ahithophel's advice he had sexual relations with his father's wives in the sight of all Israel (16.21-22);

4) He declared that the child born out of David's sin would die (12.14) and he did at seven days of age (12.16-18)

I would not want to grow up in David's family!! As you can see the rest of the narrative of Second Samuel is really about God's punishment for David's sin and it reads like a soap opera (which btw is also relevant to those in Exile). For a moment of pleasure David suffered a lifetime of hell! Do we do that same thing in our lives? Sin has built in consequences that we can not escape.

David was Israel at its best!! And this is the what the Best looks like!! What Hope is there for you or me if this is the best?

GRACE VISITS DAVID

The reason David is called "the Man after God's own heart" is not because he was perfect, flawless or obeyed God precisely. Rather he is given that title because he knew there was only one place to go after we mess up. He knew that even in our sin we must flee to the Lord. David confesses his sin saying "I have sinned against the Lord" (v. 13). The Lord who is rich in mercy forgives David of his sin, but he does not remove the consequences of his crimes against Uriah and Bathsheba. However, inspite of this sin, God says David was a man who had his kind of heart. That I find incredible. God made a promise to David that his throne would last forever because David sought him. This is demonstrated in these line. Feel the remorse of David:

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love [hesed];
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak . . .

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within
me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from
me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing
spirit, to sustain me." (Psalm 51. 1-4, 10-12).

David's attitude -- his humble heart -- more than anything separated him from his peers. He KNEW he was a sinner in the sight of God, most of us simply will not admit that. That is what opened him to God's infinite and marvelous grace.

This humility is perhaps the secret of understanding the gracious title given to David. Why? Because Jesus is the very revelation of God - and he "humbled himself." Like a slave he washed the disciples feet, Like a slave he gave up what was his for the sake of a humanity that would never - for the most part - believe. Like a slave he went to the Cross. He was known as the suffering servant. The essence of Jesus was his humility. David demonstrates the heart of God when he HUMBLES himself. He is the living example of the Scripture, "humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he WILL PICK YOU UP . . ."

God honored the sinful - that is Full of Sin - but humble David! Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of God's promise to David. The NT tells us that Christ sits on the throne of David ruling with justice and mercy. The story of David shows us that grace is for those who need it, not for those confident in their own righteousness.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

King David's life in many ways reminds me of Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List. Here we see the aweful power sin really has. In the life of Schindler we confront the maddening contradictions of the sinful human dilemma just as we do in the life of David. Held hostage in a fallen world, caught in the clutches of the cruelty of Adolf Hitler and captured by his own sinfulness Schindler (and David) represent humanity's best efforts in the face of evil and sin. Schindler could use Jews as slaves to pad his own pocket but also help save 1200 from slaughter in Hitler's death machine.  David could be a light to Israel, but neither were able to rescue themselves from life's corrosive and  disrupting evil. Yet in spite of his moral flaws, David stands as an `angel' in the midst of despair by being the living demonstration of the marvel of grace in one man's life.

In one scene in the movie, Schindler is at Amon Goeth's villa in Poland and they have a discussion on power. Goeth says power is fear, the ability to take life and Schindler responded with the observation that that is not power at all. Power he said was the ability to punish people by taking their life, yet instead of taking it life is
granted or "pardon" as he put it. That is real power, the ability to forgive -- give life -- when it is not deserved. That is what God did for David. That is what God did for you and I through the Son of David who died to "pardon" us from our sin and give us life instead of death. God could have justly taken David out for his crime yet he forgave and called him "the Man after his own heart."

What do you think is the greater power, to take life ruthlessly or the power to pardon when it is not deserved in any way? How you answer that question reflects how you see yourself in relation to the Cross of the Son of David and your need of it. This is the power of this narrative of shameful power grabs, brutal lust, abuse of women, cold blooded murder, and unbelievable grace ... the Spirit has placed it here for us to ruminate upon. 

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