2 Samuel 4 – Ishbaal [Ishbosheth] is alone
now. When he hears of Abner’s
death “his courage failed” (4:1).
Two men described as captains of raiding bands associated with his side
(Baanah and Rechab) come and kill him (4:7). They cut off his head and bring it
to David—hoping, I presume, to get on his good side. But David does to them what he did to the Amalekite who came
to him, claiming to have killed Saul. He kills them, cuts off their hands and
feet and hangs their bodies by the pool at Hebron (4:12).
2 Samuel 5 – Then all the tribes of
Israel come to Hebron and acknowledge that it is the Lord’s will that David be
king over them all. So they make a covenant with him,
anoint him king and end the conflict (5:3). He is thirty. He will reign over them 40 years—7 in
Hebron and 33 in Jerusalem. The tribes of Israel and
of Judah, though both supportive of David, remain distinct; and the tensions
between them will run through David’s reign—and Solomon’s.
David takes the town of Jerusalem from
the Jebusites. There are some strange verses in
chapter 5, and the Jerusalem Bible notes that some references to David hating
the lame and the blind are totally out of place and absent from the account in
Chronicles. After he takes the city, he has a house built of cedar, takes more
wives and has many more children, eleven of whom are named (5:14-16). The Philistines go to war against him,
but this time he is very strong and defeats them in several battles.
2 Samuel. 6 – David
brings the ark up to Jerusalem.
David accompanies the procession dancing, along with many others, “with
all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets
and cymbals” (6:5). It is a joyous occasion. At one point on the trip, one of
the two young men going ahead of the cart, touches the ark to steady it and he
drops dead. David gets angry at God and is afraid to go on (6:8-9). He leaves the ark for three months with
Obed-edom the Gittite, but the Lord blesses his household. So David resumes the journey to Jerusalem
after giving sacrifice. He goes ahead of the procession again
dancing and shouting. This does
not please his wife Michal who now despises
David “in her heart” (6:16).
They bring the
ark into the tent David has made for it.
It is a great celebration with sacrifices, food for all the people and a
big party. But when David gets
back home, Michal reproaches him for the lack of dignity in his behavior—“uncovering himself today before the eyes of
his servants’ maids, as any vulgar fellow might shamelessly uncover[ing]
himself” (6:20). David ranks on her a little, telling her God chose him
above her father or anyone in her father’s house, to rule over Israel. And he
adds, “I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased
in my own eyes; but by the maids of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be
held in honor” (6:22). The
last line adds that Michal had no children to the day of her death [Is this
divine punishment, royal disinterest or hostility, or what?]
Mark 8 – Jesus again finds the
crowds hungry for bread and has
compassion for them. The disciples
wonder how they are to be fed, seeing that they are so numerous and in a
desert. Jesus responds by asking
them what they do have. He takes the seven loaves and few fishes and with these
feeds the crowd of four thousand people, leaving seven baskets full of
leftovers. Then he and his
disciples go to Damanutha.
He
despairs over the insistent need people have for a sign; he tells the Pharisees
there will be no sign. And again
he gets into a boat and crosses the sea.
Again there is no bread; his disciples are so preoccupied with this lack
they cannot hear what Jesus is teaching them about the “yeast” of the Pharisees
and Herod (their bad effect on the community?). Jesus laments his disciples’
inability to “perceive or understand”, the hardness of their hearts (8:17). He reminds them of the twelve baskets
of “broken pieces” they collected after the first feeding of the 5000, and of
the seven baskets collected after the feeding of 4000. “Do you not yet understand?” he asks. One gets the feeling that none of this is really about
bread. The first feeding episode
also ends with a similar passage—“they did not understand about the loaves, but
their hearts were hardened.” (6:52) And that sentence comes after another
intervening episode (his walking on the water).
At Bethsaida, a blind
man approaches Jesus, begging for him to touch him (compare 6:53-56 where he
also is besieged by people seeking healing). Here he puts his saliva on the man’s eyes and restores his
sight—touching him twice. He tells
him not to go into the village.
On
the road to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus
asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They answer John the Baptist
or Elijah—see 6:14-16, and then “But who do you say that I am?” and Peter
responds “the Messiah” (8:29).
Jesus tells him not to tell.
He refers to himself as the Son of Man here when he makes reference to
the fate he must suffer (8:31).
When Peter objects, Jesus rebukes him.
It’s interesting that Mark has the rebuke, but not the elevation
Matthew gives Peter as “rock” on which the church will be built. If this is the gospel that most closely
conforms to Paul’s view of things,
it does reflect a little of Paul’s disappointment with Peter as the church’s
main pillar.
Then comes Mark’s clearest statement
of the gospel message: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and
those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel will save
it” (8:34-35). It is addressed to
both disciples and people. He also
refers to the “glory” he will come into with his Father and the holy angels
(8:38), and of the judgment he will make
there of all who “are ashamed of [him] and of [his] words” (8:38).
Another
interesting thing to note about this chapter, so important in focusing in on
Jesus’ identity, is its location at the midpoint of Mark’s book. There are 16 chapters in Mark.
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