Bible Reading Challenge Blog

It is interesting how we have an entire chapter devoted to the musicians of the temple.  It is not a new thing to have musicians highly esteemed and valued in the life of the church.  The music of the church during worship can and should absolutely move you to a place where you feel as if you are in direct communion with God.  It is not a place filler, but it is an opportunity to experience God even more fully.  We also need to be aware that the presence of musicians and instruments in the life of the church is not a contemporary phenomenon, but rather a recurring and desired event within the life of the church.

How these musicians were to be incorporated and used in the life of the church was to be decided by the casting of lot, which to me is a bit curious.  Since I’m the person who schedules the media folks and other people for the life of the church and normally I do it in a way that is convenient for them and matching their gifts and their skills with our needs.  That would seem like a more human way of doing things.

But one could also say the same thing for the calling of pastors.  In the Presbyterian system the call process is one where the pastor discerns and decides as well as the church discerning and deciding through interviews and prayers.  But there are still churches who discern their pastor through the casting of lots.  If the lot falls on the person then they are the one selected to lead the church as the pastor.  This is the system that has been used in Biblical times and even in modern times.  The more things change the more they stay the same.

We once again are focusing on what it took to run the temple and the people who were put in charge of running the temple.  All of these names and responsibilities that were carried out by people within that family were seen back in the day of Aaron.  You can see that in vs.19 where we read that this was all “according to the procedure established for them by their ancestor Aaron.”

Today, it is actually April 7 today and I am doing a little catch up, I spent a few hours with our clerk of session going over a formulation of by-laws for the church.  We don’t really have any for our congregation and so we were putting together some so that we can have something in paper that will guide and direct procedure and process.  Many times throughout this time we used the phrase: institutional memory to recall that certain things have been done in a certain way in this church even if it is not written down that this is the way that it ought to be done.  But it is so important to write it down and to ensure that they are done in a way that is decent and in order.  

Our denomination is known for doing things in a way that is supposed to create order and continuity, even if the process isn’t completely clear at all times, it ought to be.  Here the temple was run in a certain way all the way back to the times of Aaron.  There is a certain comfort in knowing that we are involved in the life of the church in a way that is consistent through many generations, even all the way back to 1832.

The temple, even before it was built, needed a group, really a class, of people who would have certain responsibilities over the running of the temple.  David chose those who would be ensuring the smooth running of the temple from the family of Levi.  It took thousands of them so that they would be officers and judges, others gatekeepers, some were musicians and singers.  Think of the logistical energy that went into putting this together.

As we have transitioned to ensuring that we will always have an opportunity to worship online the team of people that we need on Sunday mornings has grown quite a bit.  While in the past we could get away with one in the back, now we need at least 3 people for each service, and actually having 4 would be the ideal.  If there were one family who would constantly supply us with the people that we needed in order to run the logistics on Sunday morning that would eliminate a lot of anxiety and scheduling.  David was able to tap into the family of Levi who: “were to do the work for the service of the house of the Lord.”

David really wanted to build the temple to God but God said because he was involved in so many wars, because he had killed so many people, that he was not the right person to build the temple, the house of the Lord.  Instead, God promises David that he would have a son and that son would reign over Israel and his reign would be marked by peace.  In Hebrew the word for peace is Shalom, and the son’s name was Solomon, which is Hebrew is Shelomon.  Solomon would provide peace throughout the kingdom.

An offshoot of this peace that has come about because David has consolidated the kingdom and his reign is as far as anyone could have ever imagined, is that Solomon does not have to go into battle and can focus and concentrate on building the house of the Lord, which is the temple.  David did a lot of the background work and provides vessels and other things, craftsmen etc. in order to equip the temple exactly as it ought to be.  It gets better as we move forward.

The flawed character of David reveals itself again, but this time in a way that is a bit puzzling.  David conducts a census, and this was not something that God wanted him to do, at all!  Did you notice how God chose to punish David?  He gave him a choice, almost like you get to pick between three really bad punishments.  1 – Famine for three years, 2 – three months of devastation from your foes, 3 – three days of pestilence by the hand of the sword of the Lord.  

David’s answer was one where he did not want to be subject to other people so he chooses the three days of pestilence at the hand of the Lord.  The angel of the Lord arrives at Jerusalem and is about to destroy the city when David intervenes and requests that he be given a chance to speak on behalf of his people.  God requires him to go to the same place where the ark of the covenant had one time been stored, the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and give an offering there.  David does and God relents and repents from the destruction of Jerusalem.  

God answers this prayer and David is left with a fear of approaching the Lord because he knows how flawed he is.  You see, we have a very different perspective, and that is that we actually approach the Lord because we are flawed.  We don’t stay away because we are flawed but we approach due to that sin specifically.  

This might seem a bit random.  But when we are talking about giants in this chapter, I have to give you a clip of one of my favorite giants, Shrek!  There are some familiar names in this account that we should be able to follow.  If you want to look at David’s defeat of Goliath you can go to I Samuel 17:4.  Here we see that Golitah’s brother is defeated by one of David’s soldiers, Elhanan, vs.5.  You probably want an answer to the question about…giants?  It really is one of those things that we cannot explain.  I know nothing about modern day giants.  I don’t know how to explain it away.  I have no reason to believe that the Bible is wrong so if it says that there were giants living thousands of years ago, okay, I’ll believe it.  Why would I not?  I can’t prove it scientifically, nor do I believe that it is important to prove it at all.

Don’t you love how this chapter begins?  Spring is the time that kings go out to battle.  Now I’m pretty sure that this doesn’t apply to my brothers and I who are going to be meeting in April to battle it out in the first annual Bronkema Olympics.  We aren’t kings, and the battle that we are doing really doesn’t have anything to do with what David and his generals were doing. 

Will you also notice that David did take people and enslave them, adding another layer to his flawed character.  You can see that in vs.3, and it says that he did this to all the nations that he conquered, and there were quite a few. 

There is a lesson to be learned in this chapter, and that is that you just can’t trust the Ammonites nor the Arameans.  It is a bit of a sad story that the Ammonites could have saved themselves a lot of grief.  So the king dies and his son doesn’t trust David, who is probably noticeably stronger and more powerful than the Ammonites.  As a result when David sends people to console the son on the death of his father, the son does something childish and immature.  He mistreats the messengers.  If he had not mistreated the messengers then none of this mess would have happened.

As a result the son, Hanun, had to hire mercenaries, who fled before the Israelites, and also lost many of his soldiers simply because he had insulted King David and his messengers.  Without that insult who knows what would have happened, but certainly not the loss of resources and the loss of life.  It really couldn’t have been worse.  Also, notice in vs.3 that it was the officials of the son who planted this seed of conspiracy in hid mind.  Time to get new counselors.  Be careful who gives you advice. 

I love this final line:  So the Arameans were not willing to help the Ammonites any more.

We read about successive victories by David which allows the kingdom to expand.  The numbers are staggering and it becomes clear that all those in the region were lining up to pay homage to David and to make sure that they didn’t get on the wrong side of David.  

I love vs.14 where we read that David reigned over all Israel and “he administered justice and equity to all his people”.  It seems like you can’t have justice without equity.   Isn’t that fascinating.  Justice and equity as necessary components to a ruler and a necessary component to a child of God.  You can render justice but not equally and that makes you a terrible ruler.  If you render justice and show favoritism to some within your reign and come down harder on others in your reign then that is a problem

Now, keep in mind that David was a terribly flawed human being: he committed adultery, he raped a woman, he …you fill in the blank.  This does not excuse him and this certainly does not create a special category of national leaders who may be terribly flawed and clearly imperfect and yet like David God has smiled upon them.  No, then it would be that those who are more flawed would be more likely to receive God’s blessings.  No, that is not the case.  What, are we to sin more to receive more of God’s grace?  Paul comes strongly on the side of no, we are not by any means.  Flawed leaders are not excused from any of their flaws.  It prevents them from serving God as they should, it doesn’t help them serve God.

I love this song, slow, thoughtful, inspiring.  But we also hear David say these words to God in vs.20.  So David begins by telling his prophet Nathan that he wants to build God a house.  He doesn’t seem to feel like it is fair that he has a nice house but the ark of the covenant has only had a tabernacle (a moveable structure) and a tent as a home.  Surely God deserves something better!

Nathan agrees with him and tells him to move forward with his plans.  But then God speaks to Nathan at night and says, you know what, I don’t want David to think about my house when I am going to bless his house forever.  So he puts the kabosh to the plan and Nathan tells David.

Notice what happens next.  David goes and thanks the Lord for blessing his house and for securing his future forever.  God promises in vs.13 that “I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.  I will not take my steadfast love from him.”  There are some hints to the coming of Jesus through the family of David in these words, but at least to David he received more than he could ever hope for.  He received, as he stated that his house would be established forever.  

I hope you remember that King David is also attributed as having written the majority of the Psalms.  You know Psalm 23:  The Lord is my shepherd…, that was supposed to have been written by King David.  So for example you have in this chapter an extended song, what we could call psalm and you can see from where it comes.  Look at vs.8-22 and you will see a similarity in Psalm 105:1-15.  Look at vs.23-33 and you will find a similarity in Psalm 96.  Look at vs.34-36 and you will find a similarity in Psalm 106:47-48.  The entry of the ark of the covenant into its intermediate resting place, a tent, deserves some celebration and so the master of song writing, King David, trimmed no corners.  

But it just wasn’t the higher ups who were called to participate in this ceremony.  The people were called to join along.  They were encouraged in vs.36 to say: Amen.  The people at the end were encouraged to go home and David did so as well and blessed his family as he got home.  What a great day in the life of Israel.  We still don’t, and maybe we never will, see what happens to this daughter of Saul who was livid with David.  The next chapter we will find David wake up one morning and realize, you know, here I am in this nice house and God is living in a tent.  We might want to do something about that.