Comments on 1 Kings 3:16-28; 4:29-34; 10:1-9; 11:1-8; 18:17-46; 19:1-18; 2 Kings 2:1-14
Biblical Literacy, pages 109-117
There are gifts and then there are the ways we use them. There are gifts and then the way the culture expects us to use them. For example, in a particular culture, leaders are expected to be uncompromising, never wavering in their judgments, always supporting the people who promoted them, and unwilling to upset the way things have been done in the past.
When we were children, and heard the story of a lamp that, when rubbed, produced a genie who would grant us three wishes, we plotted out what OUR wishes would be if we ever found that lamp. Maybe we would ask for more wishes, since three seems like a very small bucket list. God thought Solomon might ask for a long life, the defeat of his enemies, and unimaginable riches. Instead, Solomon asked for right judgment or wisdom, since he admitted he didn’t know how to rule this vast nation called Israel.
So that’s what he received, and the story of the two prostitutes claiming rights to one living baby proved that this king could not be deceived. Moreover, the Scripture continues, God gave him immense wealth and a long life besides. We, interpreting these stories many centuries later, have since equated great wealth with God’s favor. And we interpreted the baby story as a clever ruse to prevent compromise in situations far removed from the horrendous idea of cutting a child in half!
The Queen of Sheba (from today’s Yemen) came to see for herself, and probably wanted to conclude some trade agreements with this new king. Solomon was now in charge of a federation of nations that had to be reckoned with. She was also rendered breathless at the depth of his knowledge. And he did build a glorious temple out of cedar and cypress.
But to follow Solomon’s story to the end in the Book of Kings is to discover that his great wisdom needed to be salted with a LOT more discernment. It must be very difficult to be wealthy and discerning; to be powerful and still ponder carefully the consequences of your actions. It may be nearly impossible to resist the expectations of your culture. The prophets, like Nathan and Elijah and Elisha did that.
Solomon forgot the prohibitions of Deuteronomy 17: 16-17. He took too many wives, even if the number (700 princesses and 300 concubines) was exaggerated to befit his exalted status, and even if many of these unions were necessitated for political alliances. He bought too many horses, constructed an over-the-top golden throne, and worst of all, he married foreigners and constructed altars for his wives to sacrifice to their gods.
So that was the end of the unified kingdom. Will it be the end of our equating wealth with God’s blessings?
Rev. Richard Rohr, in a recent blog ), describes a Jewish prayer that counts up all their gifts, one by one, and then answers each one with a word that he translates as: “How much is it going to take for us to know that God is with us?” Many of us are shy about enumerating our gifts. But if we approach each day listing the wealth of good things within and around us—such as health, our senses, the air we breathe, the friends and family we can count on, the food, and on and on—we can come to a kind of wisdom, a kind of content in the knowledge that the Lord is with us.
If, on the other hand, we dread each day, the idea from wisdom is to look past our fears, our obligations, our illness and pain and worry, and to count instead the one, two, three, or a hundred good things that might truly be called Blessings. And then we can feel we are breathing in the richness of God.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Comments on King David in 1 and 2 Samuel
Comments on 1 Samuel 16:14-23; 17:1-58; 18:1-16; 2 Samuel 1:1-27; 11:1-27; 18:1-33
Biblical Literacy, pages 96-109
Whenever you go to a funeral, you always learn something about the deceased that you didn’t know before. When different people speak about him or her, it is amazing how their perspectives differ and their stories change, as if they were turning the prism of someone’s life in the sun, and bright colors were springing out and dancing on the walls.
In reading these passages from the Book of Samuel (originally one book in Hebrew) that are stories about David, it
is disconcerting at first to find that they don’t fit together (Dr. Walter Brueggemann says that about all of Scripture). Pieces seem to be missing. We want our childhood hero, who slayed Goliath with a slingshot, to be all of a piece. We don’t want to hear that Elhanan did it in 2 Samuel 21:19. We want to see some resemblance in David's old age to that magnificent impression that Michelangelo left us in Florence.
But then, I guess there will be lots of different stories told at our funerals, too, and many of them will be suppressed out of respect for the surviving relatives. Some will be folklore and not true at all. Not many lives are all of a piece. Not many are free from shadows and wounds and dark places. We just had the ferocious example of Samson In the previous passages from Dr. Beal’s book. Are we shocked more by David’s sending Uriah the Hittite into the front lines to be killed so he can marry Bathsheba or by Samson’s slaughtering a thousand Philistine’s with a jawbone?
Some things CAN be explained. Too bad the deceased are not there to do so if the stories turn ugly. Saul has this wonderful relationship with David when he has him play the lyre during his terrifying bo uts of illness; but then he doesn’t seem to know who he is when he first goes out against the Philistines, and then Saul tries to kill David a short time later. All this can be explained, I guess, by Saul’s deteriorating mental condition, especially since the favor of God left him and God rejects him from being king over Israel.
What may be the preposterous truth in these passages is that God does not give up on his people. He works through imperfect people, through strangers and non-Israelites, through adulterers and murderers and unfaithful, angry, blasphemous people! The sins and weaknesses of a Samson, a Saul, and a David have serious consequences—despite attempts of repentance, fasting and prayer (David’s child that he conceived with Bathsheba, dies, as Nathan foretold). But God will not be thwarted. Solomon is born, and so, eventually, ages and ages in the future, is Jesus—from the line of David!
Some good will come of this creation!
Biblical Literacy, pages 96-109
Whenever you go to a funeral, you always learn something about the deceased that you didn’t know before. When different people speak about him or her, it is amazing how their perspectives differ and their stories change, as if they were turning the prism of someone’s life in the sun, and bright colors were springing out and dancing on the walls.
But then, I guess there will be lots of different stories told at our funerals, too, and many of them will be suppressed out of respect for the surviving relatives. Some will be folklore and not true at all. Not many lives are all of a piece. Not many are free from shadows and wounds and dark places. We just had the ferocious example of Samson In the previous passages from Dr. Beal’s book. Are we shocked more by David’s sending Uriah the Hittite into the front lines to be killed so he can marry Bathsheba or by Samson’s slaughtering a thousand Philistine’s with a jawbone?
Some things CAN be explained. Too bad the deceased are not there to do so if the stories turn ugly. Saul has this wonderful relationship with David when he has him play the lyre during his terrifying bo uts of illness; but then he doesn’t seem to know who he is when he first goes out against the Philistines, and then Saul tries to kill David a short time later. All this can be explained, I guess, by Saul’s deteriorating mental condition, especially since the favor of God left him and God rejects him from being king over Israel.
What may be the preposterous truth in these passages is that God does not give up on his people. He works through imperfect people, through strangers and non-Israelites, through adulterers and murderers and unfaithful, angry, blasphemous people! The sins and weaknesses of a Samson, a Saul, and a David have serious consequences—despite attempts of repentance, fasting and prayer (David’s child that he conceived with Bathsheba, dies, as Nathan foretold). But God will not be thwarted. Solomon is born, and so, eventually, ages and ages in the future, is Jesus—from the line of David!
Some good will come of this creation!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Comments on Judges, Ruth, and 1 Samuel
Comments on Judges 14:1-16:31; Ruth 1:6-17; 3:1:13; 1 Samuel 8:1-22
Biblical Literacy, pages 74-96
If we were to smash a bottle of champagne against the hull of a ship that will carry us across the turbulent seas of the 21st century, we might call the ship “Collaboration.” Many writers say there is just too much information and too many obstacles that have to be overcome for one person to effectively lead. Leadership today, they maintain, requires a team working from the same vision and aligned with the same standards and headed for the same port. Technology helps make such collaboration possible. The best ideas can be nurtured wherever they are born, and can spread like viruses over the whole world.
Yet there seems to be another strong force lurking like the opposite pole of a magnet in the anatomy of the human psyche. We long for a powerful leader, male or female, a Samson or a Ruth. We dissect leadership in our books and conversations; we study memoirs; we probe like Delilah to find the secrets of the leader’s power and strength. We erect statues, write history, sing songs, award Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. –And we follow their advice. Give us a king, we demand—someone wise and powerful to tell us what to do--and we will follow him!
The Israelites—despite the warnings of Samuel—and despite the examples of the many Judges who served them well—wanted a king. So they got kings. In one listing of the kings from both the north and the south when the kingdom of Israel was divided into Israel and Judah, there were 40 kings listed and 30 of them were labeled ‘bad,’ ‘mostly bad,’ ‘wicked’ or ‘the worst’ by one commentator; i.e., as NOT GOOD for their people.
The truly strong and powerful people of the Hebrew Scriptures knew where their power came from: it came from God. Samson did not rely on his growing hair before collapsing the castle that had a thousand Philistines dancing on the roof; he relied on God’s hearing his final prayer.
What a contrast Jesus is to these historical ideas about leadership and power! We still cannot give up calling him Christ the King and chanting that his kingdom will never end and praying at least once a week “Thy Kingdom come,” but it is VERY difficult to keep in mind the kind of power he modeled for us. If we call him King, we’d better be sure what kind of King we are thinking of.
If that ship that is carrying us into the squalls of the 21st century were called “Meekness” or “Humility,” or “Service,” would we come on board? How many of us will find our greatest joy this year in giving UP power, turning the other cheek, forgiving, serving the under-served, and being content to swim in the sea of God’s love?
Biblical Literacy, pages 74-96
If we were to smash a bottle of champagne against the hull of a ship that will carry us across the turbulent seas of the 21st century, we might call the ship “Collaboration.” Many writers say there is just too much information and too many obstacles that have to be overcome for one person to effectively lead. Leadership today, they maintain, requires a team working from the same vision and aligned with the same standards and headed for the same port. Technology helps make such collaboration possible. The best ideas can be nurtured wherever they are born, and can spread like viruses over the whole world.
Yet there seems to be another strong force lurking like the opposite pole of a magnet in the anatomy of the human psyche. We long for a powerful leader, male or female, a Samson or a Ruth. We dissect leadership in our books and conversations; we study memoirs; we probe like Delilah to find the secrets of the leader’s power and strength. We erect statues, write history, sing songs, award Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. –And we follow their advice. Give us a king, we demand—someone wise and powerful to tell us what to do--and we will follow him!
The Israelites—despite the warnings of Samuel—and despite the examples of the many Judges who served them well—wanted a king. So they got kings. In one listing of the kings from both the north and the south when the kingdom of Israel was divided into Israel and Judah, there were 40 kings listed and 30 of them were labeled ‘bad,’ ‘mostly bad,’ ‘wicked’ or ‘the worst’ by one commentator; i.e., as NOT GOOD for their people.
The truly strong and powerful people of the Hebrew Scriptures knew where their power came from: it came from God. Samson did not rely on his growing hair before collapsing the castle that had a thousand Philistines dancing on the roof; he relied on God’s hearing his final prayer.
What a contrast Jesus is to these historical ideas about leadership and power! We still cannot give up calling him Christ the King and chanting that his kingdom will never end and praying at least once a week “Thy Kingdom come,” but it is VERY difficult to keep in mind the kind of power he modeled for us. If we call him King, we’d better be sure what kind of King we are thinking of.
If that ship that is carrying us into the squalls of the 21st century were called “Meekness” or “Humility,” or “Service,” would we come on board? How many of us will find our greatest joy this year in giving UP power, turning the other cheek, forgiving, serving the under-served, and being content to swim in the sea of God’s love?
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