Chapter 14: Reflection

Guest post by Dave Allen, a "The Story" reader! 

Most of us have heard the saying about some wealthy parent’s child being born with the silver spoon in his mouth, but in Solomon’s son’s case, Rehoboam was born with a GOLDEN spoon, because silver was considered of little or no value in Solomon’s day (p 190). 

Nevertheless, the narrative surrounding Rehoboam’s reign before he had even risen to the throne (cf. 1 Kings 11: 19-13) was not so golden. 

Within the first few days of his kingship, ten tribes ceded from his rule and formed the Northern Kingdom of Israel, leaving Rehoboam to preside over what was left of a great nation – the southern Kingdom of Judah.

On the other hand, Jeroboam (whom God had the prophet Ahijah anoint as king over the larger Northern Kingdom of Israel) brought about disaster upon himself. 

All of his woes were of his own making, to the extent that he will be forever known as “the man who caused all of Israel to sin.” (2 Kings 10: 29). 

Sadly, it didn’t have to be.  God had promised to make him “king over Israel, to reign according to all that he desired, if he would obey God’s commands and walk in his ways – “I will be with thee, and build for you a sure house, as I did for David, and will give Israel to you” (1 Kings 11:38).

In one narrative we have a son, born of wealth and prestige, who seems to have failed as a direct result of the failures of his father (or rather the judgment) leveled because of his father’s sins. 

In the other, a non-nobility, having been given the opportunity of a lifetime, failing of his own doings. 

In both instances disobedience of God’s commands has led to destruction.

A CLOSING THOUGHT

How many blessings and opportunities have we missed through our own disobedience?

Does it seem fair to you that the sins of the father can be visited upon the sons? Or do you disagree that Rehoboam’s reign failed as a result of the judgment for Solomon’s sins?

Reflection: Chapter 13

Guest post by Dave Allen, a "The Story" reader! 

Wisdom, wealth, and longevity. 

Solomon had it all. 

So much so that the famed Queen of Sheba was overwhelmed when she had visited the palace he had built. The food that was on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cup bearers and the burnt offerings he made at temple--they all compelled her to exclaim “Praise be to your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel” (pg. 178). 

He spoke “three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He spoke about plant life, animals and birds, reptiles and fish and he built the great cities of Israel” (pg. 178). 

So, what went wrong? 

How could the man of whom it is said, “He was wiser anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite” (pg. 178), have been so foolish that he caused the division of the greatest kingdom of the era?

The answer is simple – SIN. 

In particular, King Solomon's love for (LUST for!) women. 

King Solomon, the wise builder of the Lord’s temple, loved women ... more than he loved God.

“Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites…from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites 'You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.'" (pg. 191)

God's desire for right worship and relationship with Him demands that we walk away from the negative (sinful) influences in our lives. In Solomon's case, it should have meant walked away from wives and concubines who believed differently than him. 

But like father, like son .... and Solomon followed in his father's steps along the path into sin,. which began with sexual lust and worshiping women rather than God. 

“He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray” (pg. 192). As Lucado penned, “the irresistible draw of sweet perfume led him to relaxing his guard…it was the beginning of the end” (pg. 191)

A CLOSING THOUGHT

Helen of Troy is said to have had a face that launched a thousand ships, but it was the love of a thousand women--rather than a love of God--that brought Solomon to his doom. 

Chapter 12: Reflection

Guest post by Dave Allen, a "The Story" reader! 

“In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war…” (p.161). 

There is a lesson to be gleaned from this line: had David been occupying himself within God’s purpose, fulfilling his kingly duties, he would not have been wandering about on the palace roof in Jerusalem and would never have seen Bathsheba bathing in the first place!

“Adultery.” Many believers these days do not like to think about it, but God commands the same sentence for adultery as he does for murder. 

I oft wonder why when so many of my fellow believers cheer and chant surrounding a murderer’s execution but I have never heard any of them calling for an adulterer to be put to death. Do they believe God’s Law has changed simply because adultery is accepted by secular society? Or perhaps it is because this sin hit a little too close to home for them?

At any rate, David’s adultery led to the murder of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband. We in the church do not like to talk about it, so we down play it as “David’s Sin” or even try to romanticize it as “The Story of David and Bathsheba,” but in all actuality it was a crime. 

David, the beloved King of Israel; the apple of God’s eye, was a criminal. He committed pre-meditated capital murder in his attempted cover-up of adultery. He had committed two capital crimes, each calling for the death penalty, and thought he had gotten away with them, until the prophet Nathan showed up at his door:

This is what the Lord says: “Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you….You did this in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel” (pg. 163).

Justice called for David’s death, but filled with remorse, David asked God to forgive him, and “God said yes” (pg. 165). It is my sincerest prayer that we, the Church, having been forgiven by God of our own sins, will strive to remember the mercy and grace God has shown upon us, before we determine to cast an unforgiving judgment upon others. 

As Charles Williams has said of the Lord’s Prayer, “No word in English carries a possibility of terror than that little word “as” in that one clause” – “as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

A CLOSING THOUGHT

Should criminals still be executed if they, like David, have asked for and received God’s forgiveness? 

Chapter 11: Reflection

Guest post by Dave Allen, a "The Story" reader! 

I am beginning to see a trend: 

First, we had Moses, a murderer turned fugitive (Exodus 2:12-15), whom God called to deliver his enslaved people from the bondage in Egypt. 

And now we have David, a soon to be adulterer turned murderer (2 Samuel 11: 17), whom God calls to be the king if Israel. 

What will be next? Perhaps a thief on a cross together with Jesus in paradise (Luke 23:39-43). 

*Lucado has it correct “The Lord does not look at the things people look at, The Lord looks at the heart.” (pg.145)

David, a small unassuming shepherd boy, what an odd choice, to be the next king. Although he has been described as “glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features” (pg. 146), by all human judgment he certainly had no leadership experience that would qualify him to rule the troubled kingdom. 

Nonetheless, this sheep-keeping lad was God’s personal; choice. “Rise and anoint him,” the Lord commanded (Samuel 16:12), “this is the one.” 

So there he was, anointed and called .... and his simple life seems to become more and more troubled, as he spends most of his time trying to avoid being killed by the very king he had been anointed to replace! 

Even years later, long after he had been made king, his life always seemed clouded in sadness. I have noticed this within my own studies. While surveying those who have experienced theophonies (an appearance of God to people), most have reported an un-definable “cloud of grief” as a constant presence within their lives- as if God’s calling has brought them to the particular attention of the devil.

Granted in David’s case, he brought much of his observable trouble upon himself. The important lesson is that he made no excuses. He confessed his sins, accepted whatever judgment God determined, and continued onward toward the fulfillment of God’s purpose.

The nameless criminal is the only person to whom Jesus confirms that he will be together with him in paradise.

A CLOSING THOUGHT

Have you ever considered what Moses thought as God was listing the Ten Commandments and he got to the one that read “Thou shall not murder”? Do you suppose that he thought back to the murdered Egyptian he had buried in the sand?

Chapter 10: Reflection

Guest post by Dave Allen, a "The Story" reader!

It was a dark and troublesome time in Israel when Samuel was born.

The long period of the rule of the judges ends with his birth. He belongs in the Hall of Fame of great prophets, and as such, his appearance signified failure on the part of God’s chosen nation.

Fittingly, as his name implies, he would speak in the name of God (“Samuel,” quite literally, means “name of God” or perhaps “heard from God”). He appears on the scene at a time when the nation’s leadership has become wholly negligent and corrupt.

Eli, himself, had grown old and fat (directly linking his death to the judgment foretold earlier in 2:29) while his children led the people into transgression (1 Samuel 2:22-25). Through his prophet, God pronounced his promised judgment upon the entire House of Eli (3:11-14; 4:10-22) and establish Samuel as God’s chosen Prophet-Judge over all Israel (4:1).

Sadly, in his old age, Samuel too, failed to pronounce judgment and correction over his sons whom he had appointed as judges. And because they, as with Eli’s son’s, had become corrupted (8:1-3) their perverted judgment (among other misdeeds) compelled the elders to demand that Samuel appoint a king to rule over the nation – convinced that a king would provide better judgment (8:4-5).

The “people thought that having a king like everyone else would solve their leadership problems” (pg.135), and they would not heed Samuel’s warning.

We often see a similar pattern within our own national leadership.

With an increased consistency, the headlines announce discoveries of the latest examples of governmental negligence and corruption (it never matters which party happens to be in office).  Television networks air entire specials focusing upon whatever the newest scandal may be, and church goers all over the country sit around complaining about how the nation’s leaders have “taken prayer out of schools, God out of the justice system, and Jesus out of the center of our lives”, never fully recognizing that we, citizens of the United States of America, much like the people of Samuel’s day, have demanded to govern ourselves- we wanted a government of the people, and God granted us our desire. We got exactly what we asked for.

We have a worldly government, and a worldly government can be expected to do worldly things. Perhaps rather than looking to elect a new political leadership, the Church would do better to pray for God to send us another Samuel!

A CLOSING THOUGHT

Why is it that whenever God starts a move toward correcting his wayward people, the religious elite always assume that someone is drunk (1 Samuel 1:14; Acts 2:13)?