Bible Men: King Solomon: Notes On the Meaning of Vanity

All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. Ecc 6:7 

The Peril of a Full Stomach

In the old world there were major feasts and even worship rites surrounding food and fertility. The climax invariably boiled over to some form of debauchery.

To be fat was celebrated. To be thin was frowned upon and even regarded as reactionary, as Shakespeare knew.

CAESAR: Antonius!

ANTONY: Caesar?

            CAESAR: Let me have men about me that are fat;

Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o'nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

ANTONY: Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous;
He is a noble Roman, and well given.

CAESAR: Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:

 My mother used to chide: Humbira nda wahuna! Cover your stomach when you are full. She is a church woman of the Tukundereza fame, and that was her way of shielding us from being vain and falling under the wrath of God. “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.  Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God…” (Deu 8:10-17).    

A full stomach is a good thing but it is a poor teacher. It makes a man reckless. It dims the mind and lifts the flesh.

Now Solomon was magnificently glorious, even by Christ’s admission. The lilies may have surpassed him in beauty but men (and women) were drawn to him like a moth to the light. His God given wisdom held kings in awe (1Ki 4:34).  

But that also became his snare. It is easier for the world to change a believer than a believer to change the world.  That’s how the king multiplied horses, wives, silver and gold. From there the lure of full stomach came naturally to him. He had to because he had 1000 women to keep happy.

And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl. 1Ki 4:22-23 

The Burden of “I” “Me” “Mine” and “Myself”

In chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes alone the number of times the letter “I” appears is 36. “Me” appears 12 times. “Mine” appears 4 times. “My” 8 times and “Myself” 3 times. “I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards… So I was great… And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy” (Ecc 2:4-10). 

That is the preamble. But the conclusion is disheartening. “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun…Therefore I hated life…” (Ecc 2:11,17). 

Desire is a good thing, for we wouldn’t be able to wake, breath, and move, without it. So we desire God, and it is then we hunger for him like a deer in a desert.

But some desires can end in tears, like the social media. It is a parade of everything we lack in life, and that’s a race a man cannot win. It is a race especially a believer does well not to be engaged in because he will never be happy that way.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Rom 8:5-6  

The heart is like a well in a quiet place. Desire is like sand, and when a lot of it falls into the well, that well eventually runs dry.

Solomon choked on his desires. It is that emptiness which informs his raving in Ecclesiastes. The modern man’s reaction is worse. He keeps silent.

The miser in parable of Luke 12 makes an interesting reading. He was rich, and the rich are susceptible to some of the most novel tragedies.

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? Luk 12:16-20  

If you consider it critically, God, in his graciousness, was really saving this man from his impending misery.

Prayer: The Famished Road of Life

Solomon had forgot God. He had become vain. But God in his mercy saved him. “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love” (Son 2:4).  

Should we point a finger at him? no. Because that is where we too were. Like him, we have been saved by grace.

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.  But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Tit 3:3-5 

Solomon became a good teacher, so should we. It is the purpose of life.

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.  For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.  For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.  He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Pro 4:1-4 

In religion it is not by way of a full stomach that we usually reach the mountain top, but more often it is by the famished road of prayer, sweat and tears. If that is where you are right now fellow believer don’t give up. Keep climbing.

 

 Bible Men: King Solomon: Notes On the Meaning of Vanity

All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. Ecc 7:23  

The Problem Solomon Presents to Modern Believers

I once had a very good Christian friend. But she was unapologetically critical. She believed all other denominations (including mine) are worldly and we will never see God. According to her we are Great Babylon.

We debated a lot. We argued a lot. But there’s one Bible name she couldn’t stand, Solomon. She insisted he wasn’t a believer but a castaway. However that friendship petered out because we had very few subjects we agreed on. My argument was that Solomon departed from his faith, but he changed. Her argument was that Solomon never changed.  

But this is why I believe Solomon changed. Immediately after introducing himself in his Ecclesiastes, Solomon fires his first salvo. NIV reads even better: “‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’”

I believe it takes a radical to start off like that. In his Ecclesiastes the words vanity, vanities, and vain (meaningless) appear about 40 times. You jump from one vanity chapter to another.  Such a confessional book couldn’t have been written if the writer had not met his turning point.

I think part of my friend’s problem is that she couldn’t see Solomon’s repentance with her own eyes. In David we can see his Psalm 51. In Solomon you search for his “Psalm 51” moment but in vain. In the Old Testament we saw the repentant wearing sackcloth and ashes. But in Solomon it does not seem like he tore his soft raiment. Rather he seems to have gotten away quite free, and still he kept his wives.

However it is startling that the people who get stung most by God’s grace are sometimes the believers themselves. I believe my friend was caught up in that dilemma most believers find themselves in but they don’t admit. Her anger was not with Solomon, her anger was with God. “All these years I have been with you dad?” Her lament is the lament of the elder brother.

Nonetheless it can be argued that Solomon here comes across more as a philosopher than an evangelical preacher, that being his time. He is bluntly realistic. Sometimes you feel the note of a fatalist or a stoic wrapped up in his musings. He sinned. But should a man live forever in sorrow over empty ashes? So he lays bare all the facts of his life as bare facts deserve. It hurts but it sets a man free.

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Ecc 9:7 

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Ecc 9:9  

The Peril of an Easy Life

Solomon had too much time in his hands. For a man of 700 wives and 300 concubines he must have had time.

David had Saul who gave him sleepless nights. Jacob had Laban who kept him busy and Hannah had Peninnah. Samson had the Philistines and Delilah. Isaac dug his wells relentlessly but in quiet fortitude. In contrast Solomon was born in a palace. God visited him in his sleep with a blank cheque. He had gold and silver for toys. He had peace and one doubts he ever saw blood with his own eyes. 

Whereas David wrestled in the wilderness with real giants, Solomon’s struggle was that of a man who had too much and gained nothing from it. “What does it profit a man?” asked Christ. Then Solomon broke every commandment God had placed before him concerning the kings of Israel. He made God angry, and that is the most vexatious sore of them all.

But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. 1Ki 11:1-2  

And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. 1Ki 11:9 

Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.  Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. 1Ki 11:11-12   

Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s repentant note. It might not satisfy our flesh but let’s remember “Salvation is of the LORD.”

There’s a Better Hope

Unlike Solomon who lacked the gospel’s eternal hope, comfort and joy of life, God has given us himself, the greatest possession of all, which is Christ. He had no earthly possessions but he has made the whole world rich by his grace. “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (Joh 4:14).  

The old prophet cried, “Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?” But today life can no longer be vain for one who is in Christ. “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psa 16:11).  

There is a Season for Everything

Change happens. When Solomon was young he behaved vainly. But now he was old (though we fight strenuously not to arrive there, but we do). Change set for Solomon. Has it set for you?

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Pro 3:13-15 

So at last Solomon changed. All indications are that he died happy. “How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!” (Son 4:10). 

What love! what a feeling!

 

Bible Men: King Solomon: Notes On the Meaning of Vanity

In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. 1Ki 3:5 

God the Father

God is a gracious giver because he’s the Father and we are his children. It is his nature to give because he’s caring. Like a young chic we open our mouths daily expecting that he will give us food.

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. Psa 81:10  

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Mat 7:11 

To Abraham he said: “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever” (Gen 13:15).  And to Joshua he said: “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.” (Jos 1:3). And to Moses he said, “What is that in thine hand?”

God is quite prodigious. He gives and gives and gives. He sows even among thorns and the hedge ways. Where are you right now and what do you want?” The whole accent of the scriptures is predicated on asking.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Mat 7:8 

Pray (ask) without ceasing. Do not faint.

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Jer 33:3  

And the apostle encouraged: “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Php 4:6).  

God has opened his heart. So why don’t we ask?

We Fear to Ask Because We Fear to Be Known

Partly I think it’s because we don’t know God. And from childhood we are taught to be suspicious of strangers. The other reason is pride. Who is God that I should obey him? “So he died to save me? Did I ask him?” Children have asked their parents harder questions. And Cain asked God: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Why We Are All Prodigals

This young man sat down once and thought hard on life. He was a man at last and capable of thinking for himself. The world was beckoning and the atmosphere at home was stifling. So he stood up and faced his father. “Give me what is mine.” A true African father should’ve killed him on the spot. But his father gave him. He brashly asked for it and he brashly spent it.

Nevertheless the prodigals make very loyal believers once they have come to themselves. They have been to the pigsty and they know how it smells. It’s why the Father never gives up on them. It’s why he goes out hunting for the one lost sheep even up to this day. It’s why he’s ever on the lookout. It’s why every day he whispers: “Where art thou?”

The Fall and Vanity

Being vain therefore has the spiritual sense of being separated from God (living as strangers), or being alien to what is good, to embracing a life that is “useless.” As long as the prodigal was at home living with his father he was doing well. His journey to being vain started when he left.

So after the fall man inherited the world of “thorns” and “ashes and dust” to this day (Gen 3:14-19). The heart of man became inclined more towards evil than good. “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Rom 7:19). In short man became vain and only God can save him from his condition.

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Rom 8:20 

I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Ecc 3:10-11    

Asking is easy, but sin has made it harder. It is the dust which has settled on the heart’s window sill. You brush it off today but following day there’s another layer.

Solomon started well. The heart was young and the dew of youth kept it cleansed. But he grew big, and the ruts of the heart grew wide. Vanity crept on him without his knowledge. Fortunately God rescued him just before the world completely swallowed him.

God means that we should all be happy up to this day. He didn’t leave us alone but he gave us Christ our “hope of glory.” His wish is that no one should perish but that all should inherit eternal life in the end (John 3:16).

Do you know what you want from life and have you asked God for it? Please keep asking and don’t give up until you get it.

Desiring God is the Chief End of Man

To some the idea of being intimate with God sounds scary. To say like David “Thou hast searched me, and known me” feels too intimidating. Why? Because we fear to come to the light. We fear our deeds will be known. So we spend our days as a tale that is told. It sounds liberating, but in truth it’s a terrible jail.

In contrast it is the life of being known that’s really liberating. Just try lying and see how soon one gets tied in knots. That’s why Christ came to get us out of our prisons. He came so our true potential may come out of hiding. So if God appeared to you in a dream tonight saying: “Ask what I shall give thee” what would you answer him?

Bartimaeus knew. He shouted over the din of the people that he might see and Christ granted him his wish. God grant that no fear will prevent you from asking what you want too.

Bible Men: King Solomon: Notes On the Meaning of Vanity

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. Ecc 1:1-2 

Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. Ecc 1:10 

The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. Psa 94:11 

Grief, Sorrow and Happiness

There is a season for everything under the sun, so King Solomon pronounced, and mine was a very angry season.

The election fever was everywhere in the air, at work, at home, at the village market, in the news, at church and practically everywhere. It left me, like Jonah, very angry.

At home I took one camp and mom took the other. In fact I was the only villager who was in the “wrong” camp, and loving my neighbor became sorely trying.

Earlier I had tried getting over the meaning of vanity in our present age but in vain. I read and read Solomon but the more I read him the more I got angrier.

I returned to election fever and I tried to explain my reasons to the other camp, saying things like ethics and hatred of corruption. But I sounded like a fool. I sat down and got angry proper. Then a young lovely friend called. She said, “You sound depressed. What’s the matter?”

I answered like a man: “It’s nothing.”

“But you are always depressed anyway! I should’ve known!” She screamed and hung up.

I paused and considered. Pride. Anger. Bitterness. I had heard those words flying around recently. Was that really me? Vanity!

The first death announcement arrived that night. It was of an old family man I had known since childhood. We buried him. Then a week later a second death announcement arrived at night. It was of a young family woman I grew up with. I shook my head. But we buried her. The night we returned from her burial is when we heard the third death announcement. It was of an old family woman of childhood memories.

Coming to Myself

Suddenly I came to myself. And immediately the meaning for vanity began to sink in. “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart” (Ecc 7:2).  

Life is big and expansive and good and bad at the same time. There’s only so much we can know here and there’s only so little we can do. Man cannot ‘simply put the whole of life together.’

But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. Psa 73:2  

Stop worrying! The voice screamed. God is in control. He’s sovereign bringing everything to pass according to his will. Mine – and yours – is only to cast our cares upon him, for he cares.

When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Psa 73:16-17  

I went back to my Bible and my God and whom I had quite forgotten! There was so much good there but which I had quite (in my choler) forgotten!

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Php 4:4  

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1Th 5:18  

Like the prodigal I had travelled to a ‘far country’ from where I couldn’t see God or see his stars. I came to myself at last. Part of the reason I’d missed the meaning of vanity was because I was deeply entangled in it myself!

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1Jn 2:17  

What is Vanity?

It means ‘vapour or breath’, or something futile, or empty. It implies something which does not satisfy. Sketches for this are scattered throughout the Bible.

It is there in the Prophets through Moses exhorting his people not to be vain. He pleads with them to choose life over death, and blessings over curses. “For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it” (Deu 32:47).  

It is there in the weeping prophet: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13).  

It is there in the Wisdom books of Job, the Psalms and Solomon in his Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song. It is properly brought out in Ecclesiastes.  

In the New Testament God gave us himself, he gave us Jesus, the bread from heaven, as contrasted with the vain bread of this world.

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. Joh 6:27  

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. Joh 6:32  

For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Joh 6:33  

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Joh 6:35  

Returning Home

Finally it’s only when the prodigal returned home to the father that he knew the meaning of vanity. And it’s instructive that Solomon’s life ended not in gloom but in a song and a wedding. And isn’t that the way of life always? “I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies” (Son 6:3).  

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Our duty is to rejoice in every season God sends our way.

Are you far from the father? Chances are you are living in vanity. You shall never know it until you return home to the father. Do it today because he’s waiting for you.

I called my friend but she didn’t answer. And immediately I started worrying if I had lost a friend!

Bible Men: King David: How He Dealt With Death

The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! 2Sa 1:19 

And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! 2Sa 18:33  

Death’s Sacrifices

There was a time death used to inspire fear. But today our encounter with it is more informed. In the old days people couldn’t even be seen anywhere near a morgue, but today people get inside and even spend considerable time there.

Today morgues are funeral homes, and they’re plush affairs, having even air condition, TV and music. In the old days there was only the public hospital mortuary and only the brave could enter there.

Today the burial scene has greatly transformed. In the old days there were no hearses. The dead were carried in an open pick up, or on top of a matatu, or a bicycle. Quite a few died at home and they stayed there (preserved in cold charcoal) until the day of burial.

Today burial scenes are elaborate. In the old time people were lowered using ropes, today it is a machine. Old days burials were short affairs, today burials are long, sometimes lasting (like weddings) the whole day, what with viewing of the dead, taking of pictures, speeches by family representatives, friends, the ubiquitous administration, politicians and lastly the church service and reading of tributes.

In the old days there used to be a single tent, today it is a costly affair with multiple tents, hundreds of seats, and food by a catering firm. In the old days mourners took plain tea and left, today it is a hefty budget exercise.

Christ dignified the human body, but the urge to turn it into an idle is always our undoing. Death used to usher in a somber moment, today it is a feast.

Personally I should vouch for a simple one hour send off, without a coffin (I think they are unsightly), with plain ash and soil (ash to ash and dust to dust). It is not just uncomplicated, it is aesthete.

The Death of His Foe King Saul

The death of King Saul was remarkable. He was David’s sworn enemy throughout his life, and yet when he died, David did not celebrate but he mourned him.

David forgot all that he had suffered at his hands, but only embraced lovely memories about his arch foe. He hated him, but he was his king and God’s anointed. He hated him, but in death king Saul was like all of us, he was human.

The lament of David in his song embellishes his humanity. His is a picture of true biblical love which, “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (1Co 13:7).

And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him. 1Sa 18:14

And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.) The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! 2Sa 1:17-19  

That wasn’t a sarcastic rejoinder but more like sadness at a broken mirror (of which we all are). The mirror falls, breaks into splinters, and some find their way into the hearts of the living. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1Co 13:12).  

May God grant us all a heart like David’s. Not that he was a saint, but God alone had pronounced him as one. David had nothing to boast about, for he was God’s as much as Saul was his too. “And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword” (2Sa 1:12).  

The Death of His Son Absalom

That he forgave the son who wanted to kill him only adds glitter to David’s heart. I don’t think it was power which Absalom was really after, but to get at his father for years of ignoring him. I think it was this anger which enraged the young man.

Yet in life David really loved his son, but rather than show it, he had restrained himself. His death pierced him like a knife. He lost his mind and he forgot he had an army of hundreds of loyal soldiers under his watch.

His own sorrow and bitterness combined to make him almost unrepentant. His army threatened a mutiny unless he repented, which he did. Sorrow, like love, makes one blind. David loved his son, but it came too late. Absalom’s own bitterness destroyed him.

Are you angry with yourself for another’s death? Are you angry with God? Be angry at all costs. But remember the battle is not yours but his… It wasn’t your fault. Parenting is tough. We keep silent in the hope the silence will speak louder than words, only for our hopes to be astonished. Are we to blame? No. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh, praise be the name of the Lord.

What do you see in your enemy? Is there hope? Would you cry for him when he dies or would you rejoice?

Love your enemy and pray for him. Turn the other cheek and do not resist evil, says Christ in his Sermon on the Mount. Because it is when I am weak that I am strong.

The Death of King David

The great king David’s reign also came to an end at last: “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David” (1Ki 2:10). 

“Thy gentleness hath made me great” he cried, and so too we cry to God every day because it is only through his mercy that we have come this far.  

LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Psa 39:4  

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1Th 5:16-18 

God bless!

 

Bible Men: King David and Bathsheba: The Evening When It Started To Rain

And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.  And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 2Sa 11:2-3 

Adultery and Why It is Difficult to Understand

Few scenes reek of treachery as this one. It comes after God had accomplished great victories for David. Saul had died. The warring nations surrounding him had been subdued. He had come to his rest and his cup was running over.

Then David saw a beautiful woman bathing. And instantly the clouds split and it started to rain. But rather than flee David threw himself into the downpour.

And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.  And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child. 2Sa 11:4-5.  

The duplicity of sin is not hard to unravel, as Moses had warned, “be sure your sin will find you out.” So suddenly David sent for Uriah. And the rain beat hard.

And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.  But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. 2Sa 11:8-9  

There are times a man can sweat even while it is raining. “And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah” (2Sa 11:14). The day becomes very dark when a poet turns into a villain, because he makes the devil look like a saint.

As if it wasn’t enough to make Uriah a cuckold, David gave him the letter directing his commander how to get rid of him, and Uriah innocently carried his death sentence in his own hands. Where was David’s heart at this time? Did it not smite him? But outside the rain poured and it did not let. Uriah died. And so the door for David to marry his wife was opened.

And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. 2Sa 11:27  

But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. Pro 6:32  

“Thou art the Man.”

Sin brings depression. And the consequences of sin can remain even after we are forgiven. Nathan shone a mirror before David’s face, but David couldn’t recognize himself.

And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2Sa 12:1  

And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die. 2Sa 12:5 

Nevertheless Nathan refused the rain to fall on him. “Thou art the man.” For David the rain outside had built into a flood.

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 2Sa 12:10  

That judgment took its toll fast. The child died. One son raped his sister. His favourite son Absalom scandalized him before his death. In total four sons of David perished untimely. The flood devastated him.  

However David repented from his heart. His Psalm 51 is a classic dirge. “For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me” (Psa 51:3). It is instructive that in his old age Abishag, a young Shunammite girl was brought to David to comfort him, but he never touched her. 

Forgiven. Washed. Clothed.

The amazing thing about our God is that he forgives. There is no other God on earth who acts like that. It is no wonder elsewhere the gospel is called “the foolishness of God.” God went out to look for David. God restored him to being a man after his own heart again. God saves to the uttermost even to this day. Remember the self-assurance of Peter?

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Luk 22:31-32  

Whither should we be without God’s grace?

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Rom 8:26  

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isa 1:18  

The grace of God super abounds. He gave David and his wife another son, Solomon, his heir, and by extension, Christ’s…

And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. 2Sa 7:16  

A study of the lineage of Jesus Christ brings up very sorry wrecks. Who can save like our God?

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Psa 139:7-8  

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom 8:1  

According to St. Augustine David’s fall “should put upon their guard those who have not fallen, and save from despair those who have.” For the king the daylight was long in coming, but coming it eventually did. Are you in such a night? Are you in such a flood? The daylight will come. It always does to those who believe. 

Bible Men: King David: Depression, The Scriptural View

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Psa 42:5 

Suffering as a Christian

“Beloved, think it not strange… But rejoice (to be full of cheer).” So the apostle Peter offers in his take on Suffering as a Christian (1Pet 4:12-19).

Jesus’ rendering is even more arresting in his beatitudes on the same subject. According to Christ we are not only to rejoice, but be “exceeding glad (properly jump for joy)” (Mat 5:11-12).

Did the old believers believe this? Yes, every word. They literally lived their faith.

And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. Heb 11:36-38  

And these were historical facts and not myths. But we of the present generation are usually attended by many fears, so our faith lacks power.

Present Suffering Means Nothing Compared To Eternal Glory

Every believer is a sufferer. By virtue of his carrying a “burden” in his chest from the Lord therefore he can’t run away from his calling as Jeremiah found out:

Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.  Jer 20:9  

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 2Co 4:17 

The hunger for peace is real. Daily we pine for it. For some even the dropping of a needle is enough to rustle their peace. It is like a reed growing beside a stream. So the psalms of David sometimes ring with a haunting loneliness.

And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. Psa 55:6-8  

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Psa 42:2 

And that is every believer’s hunger too. We hunger for a glory which is quite beyond this life. We hunger for it because it is what the Lord himself has promised us.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Rom 8:16 -17

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Rom 8:22-23  

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28  

The palms are a pathos galore. They shake with pain. But (and this is the chief difference between a believer and a non-believer) they also irradiate with joy. No matter what the suffering might entail but in the end they always resound with praise!

When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. Hab 3:16  

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Hab 3:17-18  

Reading through the Lamentations of Jeremiah is like weaving a tapestry around a block of pain.

I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. Lam 3:1-5  

But in the end this is what Jeremiah sees:

This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lam 3:21-23  

So Paul too chooses to see glory (joy not misery) in his own infirmities “for when I am weak, then am I strong.”  Likewise Paul glories (make boast) in tribulations with a view to the graces it would bestow on him.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Rom 5:3-5.  

The exemplary nature of the love of God is that it hides nothing. It doesn’t shy. Rather faith shocks. Do I doubt God? I tell him! (Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him!)

Do I feel a rising repugnance for him? I tell him! (O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived!)

And so too we can say of depression that it is not anything new. “Brethren, think it not strange.”

 For elsewhere (in prison!) Paul breezes:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Rom 8:35 

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Rom 8:15  

God Gives Songs Even At Night

And at mid night Paul and Silas sang! Are you at a place like that fellow believer? Have you tried singing? Have you tried praise? Think God.

When peace like a river attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say

It is well with my soul.

Yes, you too can sing my brother and sister, in any circumstances. Hope thou only in God, and in the night his song shall be with you. Amen.