2 Samuel 7 – Having consolidated the kingdom and had
a great house built for himself, David conceives the idea of building God a
dwelling place too. He asks his
“in-house” prophet, Nathan about it, and at first Nathan says fine; but at
night Nathan receives a definitive word from the Lord that this is not His will. These wonderful passages follow:
“Are
you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the
people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent
and a tabernacle . . . .did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders
of Israel. . .saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ Now
therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts:
I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my
people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all
your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, . . And I
will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may
live in their own place, and be disturbed no more . . . Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will
make you a house. . .I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come
forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He
shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
forever. I will be a father to
him, and he shall be a son to me” (7:5-16).
There
is so much in this chapter. First
of all the Lord makes it plain that man is really not the one who can ever
“make a house for the Lord to live in” on this earth. God is the one who makes us places to dwell, who provides
for us, who raises up leaders for us and makes them successful. The
promise to David and to his line, which is set forth here, is a promise
that will endure. It will endure
on a human level—Solomon will build the Lord a dwelling place in one sense in
the next generation. But when the
Davidic line dies out in a human way, He will also see to it that the line is
reestablished in Christ. He will
be a son to the Lord God and the Lord will be His father. As a Catholic I also
see in this promise, as in the promises to Eve, to Noah and the Abraham a
“type” of the promise Peter was to receive at Christ’s side; and one reason why
I do is because like in the gospel where Peter receives his commission and the
promise that undergirds it, he also follows it with a slip into apostasy (see
Matt. 16:18 and 22-23). Two chapters on, incurs God’s wrath for the sin he
commits with Bathsheba.
2 Samuel 8 – David subdues the Philistines and the
Moabites, fights against King Hadadezer and his Aramean allies from Damascus.
“The Lord gave victory to David wherever he went” (8:6). He brought valuable
booty home. Other people paid tribute, people such as King Toi of Hamath. He killed 18,000 Edomites and placed
garrisons in Edom. Among his own
people, he “administered justice and equity to all his people” (8:15).
Joab was his commander; Jehoshaphat his recorder and Zadok, son of Ahitub and Ahimelech, son of Abiathar were priests.
Seraiah was secretary.
2 Samuel 9 – David seeks out Jonathan’s living
sons to show kindness to them.
Ziba, one of Saul’s servants tells David that only Mephibosheth (also
called Meri-baal), a crippled son of Jonathan is left. He was crippled when his nurse dropped
him when the news came about the death of Saul and Jonathan at the hands of
their enemies. Ziba is told to work for Mephibosheth to provide his food, but
Mephibosheth will eat at David’s table.
Mephibosheth has a son as well, Mica.
Mark 9 – The scene is of Jesus’ transfiguration. The reference to six days relates back to the OT (Exodus
24:16, where the cloud covers the mountain for six days with Moses on it and
34: 30 where Moses returns from the mountain with his face shining). Like
Moses, Jesus takes his three main disciples with him and goes up a high
mountain (9:2). His clothes become
“dazzling white,” and he talks with Moses and Elijah. Like the people of Israel in the Moses story, they are
terrified, and then they hear God’s voice saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him” (9:7). For the first
time, he tells them the Son of Man will rise from the dead (9:9). Elijah, Jesus explains, is to come
first to “restore all things” and he has come.
They arrive where the disciples all are and again there is a huge
crowd—the scribes are arguing with some of them. One in the crowd tells him he came with his son who is
suffering from seizures of some kind.
The disciples can’t help him, and Jesus tells them they are
“faithless.” As a seizure takes
hold of the boy, Jesus asks the father how long it has affected him—it is a
long time. Jesus tells the man all
things are possible “for one who believes” and the man says the famous words, “I believe; help my unbelief.” (9:24).
Jesus exorcises the “unclean spirit,” but it knocks the boy out. (9:26) Jesus
later tells his apostles that this kind of spirit “can come out only through
prayer” (9:29).
They go
through Galilee: again he warns them not to let others know and again he
predicts his passion. On the way to Capernaum, his disciples argue about “who
was the greatest”(9:34). He tells them the first must be the one who is servant
of all—that they must welcome children too in his name as if they were he.
John worries because another person is “casting out demons in
[Jesus’] name” (9:38). Jesus tells them not to stop him—“whoever is not against
us is for us.” Then he returns to the theme of innocence or of children again
warning his disciples never to put stumbling blocks in the way of simple
people’s faith. This is a Pauline concern, one he speaks of in connection with the
eating of foods sacrificed to idols.
And
lastly in this chapter Jesus warns them not to let any “part” of them, any one impulse or
failing in one to be the cause of “stumbling” in one’s own walk; for “it is better for you to enter life lame than
to have two feet and to be thrown into hell” (9:46).
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