We have finished with our reading of Acts & I was left to ponder, "where should I go from here?" I've blogged the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles. So, I thought it was time to go back to the Old Testament. I think we need a full understanding of Biblical history before we jump into Revelations.
Now, many of us are very, let me emphasize that - VERY - familiar with the Pentateuch, which is the first five books of the Bible written by Moses. Genesis - the creation of everything & the establishment of a Patriarchal lineage; Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy - the history of the establishment of the Jewish nation of Israel. We also know the Bible stories of Saul and a young David. These events have been taught to us over & over again in Sunday School. Then it gets a little muddy. We know snippets of Solomon, the division of the kingdoms, and the downfall of Israel. We have heard the stories of Jonah, Daniel, and Esther. However, these books - 2 Kings through Malachi - provide us not only with a rich history, but a dire warning. A warning regarding the downfall of civilizations and the downfall of the heart. Given the current events in our global society, I think reading these books will prepare us to face our future. Hopefully through our study, we will also learn to avoid the mistakes of the past.
As always, we will read these books chronologically. I have never understood why our Bible is organized in such an odd matter. I know how the Bible is organized - by genre - but it has always seemed like such a harsh division. How can you understand the richness of the events of our history when you read them out of order? How can you understand the roles of the prophets when they have been chopped out of the narrative and placed at the end of the Old Testament? Did you know that these books are organized by the Major prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel and then by the Minor prophets - Hosea through Malachi? From there they are placed in our Bible according to length. Hmmmm. Also, were you aware that Kings and Chronicles provide information on the same time period written from two different perspectives? So, to help us understand the BIG PICTURE, we are going to read these books in chronological order. Get ready to jump around your Old Testament.
Today we start in 2 Samuel with the death of Saul, Israel's first king. This will set the stage for David's reign and will also help to establish an understanding of the upcoming division and downfall of Israel. To lay a quick foundation, Saul was the king that the people demanded, disregarding the wise words of the Lord. Saul turned from God, so God anointed a new king, the adolescent David. Saul then began to really lose it & he determined in his heart to kill David. During this time, Israel came under attack by other countries who took advantage of the distracted king.
Saul and his sons were defeated. His sons dead, Saul decides to end his own life & falls on his spear (he commits suicide.) An Amalekite wanderer brings the news of Saul's death to David, claiming that he killed Saul. The Amalekite has stated this because he is hoping to gain favor with David. He knows that David has been on the run for many years & thinks he'll receive a favored place with David. Unfortunately, this man does not know David's heart. David listens to the Lord, he follows the laws, in all the time he was being pursued by Saul, he did not raise his hand against Saul. Instead, he honored Saul as the king of Israel. So, David follows the law & has the man executed for his crimes (killing the king). David then writes a lament for Saul. David was a musician, he wrote many of the psalms as we will read throughout this study. This lament honors Saul as the fallen king and speaks of the close friendship of David and Jonathan.
The psalm given for today is presumed to have been written after the death of Saul. In this song, David praises & thanks God for delivering him from his enemies and making him a favored king. Now don't confuse the issue here. Yes, David obeyed the laws and honored his king. However, he was also grateful that he had been saved from his enemies. No longer did he need to hide out, his time as king had come.
To apply this lesson to our own lives, think of our government. You may not like the president or your state congressman, maybe even your counties congressman. However, the Bible makes it very clear that we are to honor those in authority over us. We are to pray for them and respect them. We take our problems and issues to the Lord and then we trust Him to do the right thing. God has a big picture - a great and perfect plan - so trust Him to accomplish it in His good and perfect timing. If you have a problem with our government & its officials, take it to the Lord & leave it off Facebook. In that way, we are not only honoring those in authority over us, we are honoring and obeying our Lord.
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