10:4 - What a weird humiliation, huh? Beards were the pride and joy of the Israelite male. The only time they ever shaved off their beards was when they were mourning or making a special vow before God. To have half your beard shaved off would be totally humiliating. And imagine having your clothes cut off at the hips...kinda awkward, huh?
10:12 - Joab has never come across as a paragon of faith, but he displays excellent godly leadership in this battle. H knows fully that the outcome rests in God's hands alone, but he works his butt off to prepare as well. All leaders should take this attitude...we should understand that God is in control of every situation and that God is going to move, but we should work hard and do our best as well.
11:1 - While the fighting men are off at war, David is lounging around on a couch. He has allowed himself to be stuck in the city, bored, with no accountability...that sounds like a recipe for disaster. We should all do everything we can to make sure we do not allow ourselves to get into situations where temptations are great.
11:2ff - David's knows that she is the wife of one of his mighty men...and the text says he "takes" her anyway. That is what he does...Bathsheba has no power to refuse the king. He has absolute power and uses it to rape another man's wife. Another man who is fighting for his kingdom while he sits around on his lazy butt. The author makes sure to note that she has just finished her cycle, because that will prove that David is the father...there is no chance she was pregnant before he took her.
11:11ff - Okay - from the male perspective, Uriah has got to be dying to sleep with his wife. He has been off to war and there is probably nothing he wants more than to spend the night with her. But instead of given into his desires, he chooses to do what is right. Uriah stands in stark contrast to David who goes to great lengths to do what is evil so that he can fulfill his desires. Even when David gets Uriah drunk...drunk Uriah has more honor than sober David! David has fallen so far.
11:14 - David has tried deceit and alcohol, and he feels he has no other choice than to have Uriah killed.
11:25 - If you can remember...David would weep even for his enemies. He wept at the death of Saul. Yet, here David shows no remorse at the death of a friend and warrior, who he has killed. Ever heard of the phrase absolute power corrupts absolutely. Thank you God for my lowly station in the world of men and for wife who is good at keeping me humble!
12:5-6 - David angrily casts down judgement at the end of Nathan's story - "This man deserves to die!" He is so blinded by his sin and deceptions that he cannot see his own guilt. Self-deception is one of the most dangerous character destroyers. We can convince ourselves of anything...we can make excuses for everything. Yet the lies we tell ourselves only blind us to our separation from God.
12:10 - There are huge consequences for his actions. David's children follow int he footsteps of dear old dad, by falling into rap, deceit, violence, murder, etc. What a legacy!
12:13-14 - Though forgiveness is given to David because he is truly repentant...that does not mean there are not consequences for his actions. This is often hard for Christians to grasp. Just because God loves you and forgives you, does not mean that you will miraculously miss out on the negative fallout from your sinfulness.
12:20 - David has finally returned to the roots of his faith. He fasts and prays to God for a week...begging for the life of his son. Yet when God answers "no," David accepts the will of God and responds through worship. That is incredible...he is still a man after God's heart.
12:29-31 - Though David was fully repentant for his actions with Bathsheba, he has been changed by kingship for good. He still leaves the fighting to Joab, yet when Joab cuts of the city's water supply and makes them helpless, David swoops in to take all the glory and crown himself. Then he enslaves the Ammonites. Samuel told the people what a king would do, but they did not listen...they wanted to be like everybody else. Now the children of Israel who understand what the bondage of slavery feels like have become slave masters...not so sure how I feel about that - God is noticeably missing from this passage (The other times we see David win victories, he gives all the glory to God...but not his time.).
3 comments:
Ch 10:3-4; This is a picture that gets repeated throughout history; taking the ill advise of those you want to impress or please. It is so important that we surround ourselves with people that value integrity, love, and grace. I thank God for the men, old and young, that are a positive influence on me.
V12; "the LORD will do what is good in His sight". This is very true, but sometimes difficult to see. Especially when we are so focused on something (Not unlike Joab) that we might misinterpret what I want from what God wants.
Ch. 11; Dido to your closing remarks on this Chapter. While I was reading through this I found myself in Joab's shoes. Would I do anything my worldly master says? Will I refuse to do wrong no matter if I get knocked out of my position?
Ch.12; Injustice brings out the anger in all of us, unless it is us doing the injustice. I am fairly confident that I won't find myself in David's shoes, but LORD please make me aware if I don't follow the example of Christ, and consider others better than myself.
chapter 11- Its crazy how fast David falls. Just two chapters ago he was fighting FOR God. The whole event is really tragic, watching a man fall so far and hit the ground so hard makes me cringe. Its illustrates perfectly Romans 1:18-31.
Self deception. The danger behind it is that you don't know when you're dealing with it. may we all be blessed to have people in our lives who can tell us when we are dealing with things, like Nathan was to David. Someone to call us out from situations we may not be able to know about ourselves.
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