Day 103 - 2 Samuel 1-2

In addition to being Saul's general, Abner is his cousin. (1 Samuel 14:50) in taking ish-bosheth to a city of Benjamin, Abner is leveraging an old division that was the cause of an earlier civil war in Israel (Judges 20). Ephraim, likewise had grievances reaching back to the days of the Judges (Judges 8). David's kindness to the men of Jabesh-Gilead who buried Saul (1 Samuel 31:16, 2 Samuel 2:5-6) was genuine. Is it not likely that the careful recording of it before this division was strategic?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

120313 - Exodus 35 - Overshadowed in the tent of the Father

Image
Tuesday SOAP: The generous hearts of the Israelites is revealed to be a move of God's Spirit. How else could this nation of people who were ready to stone Moses a few chapters ago, who longed for their former slavery (even while God was guiding them daily with fire and cloud, feeding them, providing water for them, and directing them in every way) be moved to give when not required to? We need a fresh move of this kind today. May God liberate His people from the slavery and distraction we've settled for! S: The freewill offering: Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD's contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; (Exodus 35:5) "Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded: (Exodus 35:10) O: The freewill offering was an opportunity for everyone who felt generous, whom the Spirit moved, (Exodus 35:21), but the work of craftsmanship was for "every skillful craftsm...
Read more

120518 - Deuteronomy 10-11 - God's Anticipation and Redemption

Image
Friday SOAP: So why was it OK for Moses to shatter the Law written by God's own hand, but not OK for him to strike the rock a second time? Like God was doing in Abraham's offering of Isaac, the second son who is called "your only son," (Gen. 22:2), I believe God was picturing something about how He anticipates our fall and lovingly redeems, restores and recreates. S: So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. (Deuteronomy 9:17) “At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten C...
Read more

120514 - Deuteronomy 03-04 - Pisgah and Horeb

Image
Monday SOAP: Two mountains - Pisgah and Horeb - show powerful reasons for honoring God and His Law. Moses, himself the penman of the Law, suffers greatly because he cannot keep the spirit of it. (Deut 6:5; Lev. 19:18) This implies the holiness of the ultimate Source as well as the coming fulfillment and End (telos) of it. (Matt. 5:17; Romans 10:4) S: “And I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying, ‘O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes...
Read more