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.

 

Bible Men: King David: Kingship and Sensitivity

David's heart smote him - 1Sa 24:5 

The Search for the True Man Continues

Sensitive. Men tremble at that word. It is not a beautiful word.  It conjures defeat. It is not a mountain word but a valley one.

But David’s heart smote him.

That is a peculiarly King James Bible word (that book which is alone the word of God and a literary masterpiece). The word roughly means to beat and cause wounds.

One remarkable thing about our forefathers is that they lived the ideal of manhood to the full. They brooked no sensitivity. They fought everything fiercely including the heart. It is only in our age a man can say to his boy, “I love you, son.” My grandpa would’ve spat to the ground for such “nonsense.”

They had no God or hope in the world. So they knew nothing about praise. And without love the heart wilted. They died early because of an overkill of anger and hate.

Nevertheless today’s man is in a different maze. He doesn’t want to become like his fathers. He detests it. But he doesn’t also want to be consumed in the flames of love. It confuses him about his manhood. Fears ravage him. If he speaks his mind he is a chauvinist. If he doesn’t speak he is useless. If he hates he is a bigot and a hater.

But man is human. He feels, he hates and he loves (he judges).  But if he denies the testimony of his own heart he shall never have peace.

He should love to believe God, but he fears for his education. Reason is his refuge but also his jail. He can’t beat or fight because he will be called an abuser. He can’t even beat his own heart or allow it to beat him.

Our fathers took one path and ignorantly died in it. “Wisely” we tread the middle path, but it is a path without convictions. Our fathers paid the price of churlishness; I believe we pay the price of indifference. And to die without a heart usually denotes the beginning of hell.  

David’s heart smote him. We have to feel again. We have to be beaten in the heart without flinching because we are human.

God insisted on the children of Israel to be different in the world. But he also insisted on them learning how to fight. Today’s boy child cannot kill a snake because of mom’s protection. His dad absconded. He also fears his wife. So the boy child lives in a limbo.  

But if we want to be true men I think we have no choice but to be different. God shows how to fight differently. It can be through prayer or his word. Therein is his power.

Have you searched for joy in this life but without success? Try God. His joy will surprise you! “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jer 33:3).  

I think we err to kill humanities because of love of money. I think it is a fruitless search. Money is good, but without the heart we cannot breath.

David was Sensitive: That is why He was Man after God’s Heart

He may have been a king, but he was also constantly aware of his own poverty. “Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak.” Today we tell jokes to hide our sensitivity. But that is cowardly. Besides jokes can backfire badly.

But to know that “in me dwelleth no good thing,” to know one’s own proclivity for depravity, that demands deep sensitivity, and it is always to dwell closer to God.

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Ps 139:1

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;  To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.  Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Psa 63:1-3 

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Psa 42:1-2 

Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Psa 29:1-2  

David’s Strength was His God

David was a well-rounded man. He was a “war machine,” but he was also a lover of men and family. He could dance like mad for his God, but he could also cry like a child without shame. Now that is a free man! “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Joh 8:36). 

Who is your strength?

In the Bible God has given us the perfect example of manhood. He has given us Christ. He also gave us Solomon (and the prophets) to show us the futility of being in love with anything else in this world apart from him. We came from him, and we shall return to him.

Some men aver that Samson broke one chief rule of manhood. He became sensitive. So Delilah’s “love” killed him.

But it’s not that he became sensitive. Rather it is because he became insensitive to God. That is how he lost his strength.

It is the same fate which met King David. While he was running away from King Saul he was very sensitive towards God. But after Saul died and he became king, things eased off. That is how he met Bathsheba, and how he lost his strength. So too followed one of the most insensitive acts of his life.

And David’s heart smote him.

But always there will be things right and things wrong in this life, and to lose that is to lose sensitivity. God did not abolish the manly attributes. He ennobled them. He gave them the coat of beauty and glory. “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psa 8:4).  

God picks the rough diamond from the dust and washes it clean. You are that diamond. Have you been washed? I beg you to ask him! He will do it.

 

Bible Men: King David: The Suffering King

“but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death”  1Sa 20:3. 

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. Psa 23:1 

David Never Walked Alone

That God was behind him in everything he encountered in life was David’s greatest belief and strength.

God was a real person to him. He was his life. Do you know a God like that? It may take time to come to that sort of acknowledgement, but when it does no one is ever left in doubt that a threshold has been crossed.

He was a shepherd boy watching over his father’s flock but always he knew there was a greater Shepherd watching over him day and night.

The wilderness didn’t just happen to be his favorite haunt, it was sent, the green pastures didn’t just sprout, nor the trickling streams, and the overcast skies, they were sent. So when he lay down at night David knew it was God who sent and God who took. Even the words which flew to his mouth at the touch of his harp were sent by God and not a human being!  

I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. Psa 3:5   

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety. Psa 4:8 

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. Psa 23:2 

The Anointing to Hardship

David got anointed to be king at childhood. God gave Abraham a dream. Rise up and leave. Abraham clutched onto that dream day and night. But he arrived in Canaan only to be sent to Egypt! He dreamt of plenty only to find a famine in the land. Had God lied?

No! Abraham believed God. He hoped against hope but the luster of his dream never faded. Why? Because he believed!

So David’s leap from the hinterland to the palace had backfired? No, David believed! Are you a believer? It pays to believe! “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb 11:6). 

God Must Be Crazy!

 This loving God. This “crazy” God. Who could give up such a “crazy” love? Moses had begged God to leave him alone once but God refused. Have you ever imagined what might’ve happened to Moses if God had listened to him?

That’s how obsessive our God can be! And who can dare lose such a God? So David knew. His troubles were merely accoutrements for his wilderness song!

Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. Psa 33:3  

I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. Psa 144:9  

It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword. Psa 144:10 

So David’s entire life was knit around worship. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being.”

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Psa 23:3 

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psa 103:1-5   

Loneliness is a terrible affliction, but even that was sent. Compounded with life in the wilderness, and forever fleeing his enemies, David knew the pangs of sorrow from childhood. That had to happen so that he might know without doubt that God loved him. Do you see God in your own sorrow? “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved” (Psa 62:5-6).  

So David learnt quite early that God’s anointing is really anointing to hardship. His anointing was only a precursor to the future anointing of the suffering servant. And Jesus is a descendant of David. Beloved, have you learnt only to expect good and not evil from the Lord?

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 

Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 1Pe 4:12-13,16  

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Ps 23:4-5 

And so we believe, and so we praise! Because we judge him faithful who hath promised.

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Heb 13:5-6  

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2Pe 1:3-4 

God is Patient, Gentle and Loving

And when eventually he became king David had no doubt that it was the gentleness of God which had made him thus (Ps 18:35). It is the gentleness of God which is still keeping us this day – and forever!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. Psa 23:6  

 

I pray you believe that. I pray you feel really crazy about that!

 

Bible Men: King David: Why He was A Man after God’s Heart

But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart - 1Sa 13:14  

for the LORD seeth not as man seeth - 1Sa 16:7  

The Natural versus Spiritual: Why David was Different

In natural life we go by what we see with our own eyes. In the spiritual it is what the heart sees, much like intuition. So we see differently and hear differently because the heart and nature have a voice and speech.

It is why misunderstandings happen. For one will hear “Elias” while another will hear “Jeremiah.” One will hear “thunder” but another will hear “nothing.” But to David (and he was a born poet) not even the wind’s sound was vague, but it had a bearing to his God of the hills. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (Psa 19:1-3).  

The Natural Hates to Look Small

Eliab may have worried about how small his young brother David made him look (and that was natural because he was the first to be born).

But that’s also the curse of self-love. For no one likes to think of himself as being small (or playing second). It is why nations go to war. But all these are the ravages of sin. It is the offshoot of our fall. And Jesus said to his disciples: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Mat 24:6).  

God sets our eyes on the eternal. But a lot of time we are caught up over who is first. I think that’s why young David and his elder brother Eliab saw things differently. The one cared about the honour of God, the other worried about his own honour.

So at last there’s such a thing as being “born again”. There’s such a thing as dying first. Paul called it “a high calling” and this always has bearing to God of heaven, who is the beginning and end of all things.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Joh 4:24  

But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 1Co 2:10 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. Joh 1:1-5 

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. Joh 1:9-10 

Faith is a Mystery

So King David could cry in trouble: “Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed” (Psa 6:2). David could cry like that because he knew his God “personally.” Have you known him like that? Can you cry to him like that? Or does the fear of losing yourself scare you?

And yet we can never quite be free in this life until we die. It is a paradox but true. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (Joh 12:24-25).  

So David was a man after God’s heart because he lived not for himself but for his God. His ideals were quite above this world. As Paul put it:

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. 1Co 2:7 

Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints. Col 1:26

Faith Punches above the Weight: The Boy who Killed Goliath

For forty days Eliab and his army couldn’t see God. He wasn’t in their minds but only the terror of Goliath. But fear does that. Unbelief can fix one on one spot for “forty days.”

Young David came and saw what Eliab had seen. But David saw God in it and not Goliath. His faith reached to the clouds. “Art thou careful and troubled about many things? One thing is needful. This one thing I do. I fix my eyes on Christ.” David’s life was fixed on God.

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Psa 56:3 

From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psa 61:2  

My times are in thy hand. Psa 31:15 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. Psa 23:6  

It is Possible to Know God in the Inward Parts

It is written: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8-9).  

But it is possible to know God and know him quite intimately. In David’s psalms we see that every day.

“Thou hast searched me, and known me” cried David in the opening of Psalm 139. May we now end this devotion with David’s closing words in that psalm: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” 

 

Bible Men: Eliab: The Tribulations of the Eldest Brother

And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. 1Sa 17:28  

The First Family: From Eden to Sibling Rivalry to Death

And so the Bible opens with the famous story of the first family in the world. Cain was the firstborn and Abel second. In Cain we have the picture of a fiercely ambitious man, who, when God rejected his offering Cain never forgave God. God tried to reason, but Cain never listened. He was a vengeful man. So he killed his younger brother Abel to teach God a lesson. Abel died without even uttering a single word. But Cain, like “a true man”, never repented.

And Cain’s rejection and vengeance has continued to shake the family foundation up to this day.

We are not told about Adam’s feelings over his wayward son. But we are told about Abraham’s. He wanted God to recognize Ishmael, but God rejected him and chose Isaac instead. And Ishmael became a hater of the Jews up to this day.

Jacob stole his elder brother Esau’s blessings. And for twenty years Jacob lived in hiding from his elder brother’s wrath. And the rivalry between Joseph and his brothers nearly turned fatal.

And now we read of Eliab, Jesse’s firstborn and the elder brother to David. And God rejected Eliab and chose the last born David to be king over Israel.

And perhaps there’s another reason for Eliab’s diatribe against his younger brother, apart from his rejection. For forty days the Philistine giant Goliath had breathed down fear upon the Israel men until (we perceive) they felt like grasshoppers. Eliab had sat in that army with his three young siblings. Probably they had looked to him for leadership but found none.

And then David steps into that fray carrying nothing but his faith. The Israel army consisted of men of war. And then “this child” steps into that battle carrying nothing in his hands but his sling, a few stones, and his faith in the God of Israel! 

I think it was this sight of David which gave vent to Eliab’s nightmare. In his first encounter with the God of Israel Eliab had felt slighted. And here again in the face of his younger brother Eliab felt slighted a second time!

“And a little child shall lead them.”

The Genius of the Bible Writer

And herein is the genius of the Bible writer. He shines his brief light on Eliab giving us his single verse. And then he leaves matters in our hands. Eliab’s scream resounds deep into the recesses of the human heart, revealing the bone and marrow of his thoughts…

He meant to show us the heart of David (proud and naughty), but it is Eliab’s heart which is on display up to this day.

A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.  Mat 12:35-37  

He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. Pro 25:28 

Sin as a Leprosy

Sin is a rampaging disease. It’s a leprosy. It catches everyone who comes into contact with it. And the family is the first contact. From there it spreads to the nation and to the world as a whole.

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son the younger brother returned home from his famine, but immediately his elder brother started on his own.

And how can the fatted calf and the dance be enjoyable while one of our own chooses to stay out? So the Father went out and reasoned with his son. And shouldn’t we copy our Master too in his undisguised compassion for all up to this day?

The saying is true and worthy of acceptation: “Love covers a multitude of sins.” If only Eliab had held his peace! If only the light inside him had not grown so dark!

Every saint has a past, invoked Wilde, and every sinner has a future. Be gentle on your wayward brother or sister today.  

“Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound!”

So God has always been faithful. No single family is entirely evil from the beginning to the end. God held up a beacon of hope for Adam’s family after all. Abel died. Cain became an outcast. But God gave Adam and Eve another son called Seth. It was from his son Enos that men began to call on the name of the LORD (Gen 4:25-26). And Jesus Christ is a descendant of Adam.

The first Adam died. The second Adam lives.

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom 5:19-21  

From Death to Life

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1). 

Our fall was not just a natural occurrence but a spiritual one. The great fall happened in the heart. We hope Eliab and his younger brother David made peace. We hope, even though love was shrouded in shadows then.

In his ode on love Paul waxes effusive when he surveys the plenitude of this mysterious act: “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”

Can this really be possible? Yes. Because the mist of hate has dispersed and now love sits on the throne. The clear and blue sky dwells in the heart now. May the Lord God grant us mercy that we may behold this mystery every day.

Bible Men: Jonathan: His Love and Shame

My father hath troubled the land. 1 Sam 14:29

Fathers and Sons: The Vain Wars

We live in a patriarchal society. A father does not feel complete unless his son resembles him, not just physically, but also spiritually. And therein lies trouble. For though the father wants his son to resemble him, the son might never want to be like his father.

True, in early childhood every son wants to be like his father. The morning is still bright and the sun is not furious. But then time happens. The light dawns, and the darkness is swept away. A distant disdain sets in, and the earth starts to get scorched.

It is always a rude awakening, and a few sons (and daughters) ever come out of it “alive.” But then the mercy of God is great. It knows no bounds. There are no prison doors it cannot break. Do you believe that? “Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live” (Eze 37:5).  

Saul wanted to kill David for no cause. But his son Jonathan objected. Saul wanted to enjoin Jonathan in his hatred and murder of David. But Jonathan loved David like his own soul! The son knew right when it is right and wrong when it is wrong. And murdering an innocent man is never right, though one’s father (or mother) says so.

“My father hath troubled the land.” And we know Saul had shown himself ready to kill his own son twice.

There are things which are impossible to say to one’s parents. It was a nightmare for Kafka once and it was a nightmare for Beethoven. But nothing is impossible to say to God. Have you tried him? 

The Distance from Hate to Love

“Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness?” (1Sa 20:30).     

The wording of this insult is telling. Jonathan, his son, was the intended object. The wording of the insult delineated his mother’s character instead.

But was this the deranged state of mind of Saul or was this the general trend of men everywhere? It is said of the Jewish man that he thanked his God every morning that he wasn’t born a woman. And our own fathers were enamoured of this epithet “Nyukwa!” (Your mother!) It was just one word, carefully spat out, but it left one’s head reeling.

And so in King Saul and his son Jonathan we have a glimpse into the workings of a relationship between a father and a son, between the heart of darkness and the heart of light. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12).  

Jesus Came to Open Prison Doors

That war is still in progression. And the bone of contention up to this day is not whether a child looks like his parents, but about what moral bent one should take – is it a man’s own way or God’s?

Granted, our fathers were ignorant. They had no God or hope in this world. They did their best though they did it most savagely. Fear meant love, so today we have a glut of love instead. We know better. But neither have we fared better. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10).  

So it’s not what your parent did with your life, but what God can do with it if you let him. Holding onto grudges is wrong. It’s fighting the will of God, which is what Saul did, and in the end it is vain, though Satan would never allow one to “see” that.

In contrast his son Jonathan accepted it. He removed is robe and gave it to David. Jonathan knew God had chosen David. He sought reconciliation, his dad chose to fight. Jonathan chose the way of friendship and not war. Therefore Jonathan died in peace. But not so his dad. The fruits of Jonathan’s obedience were enjoyed by his son, Mephibosheth, who lived with David in his palace at Jerusalem.

Parents, your children will never be like yourself. That’s always a losing battle. Rather strive to make them resemble God, because that’s always the winning way.

So which way will you choose? Is it reconciliation or war, obedience or disobedience, light or darkness? “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Mat 4:16).  

What fruits are you storing up for your children? Is it hate or love? Is it war or peace? Give them God for their inheritance and the rest will come naturally. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mat 6:33). 

Finally choose the way of love. It never fails. Never! “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing” (1Co 13:2).  

Moving From the Tent into the City of God

There are things which will never change - truth and beauty. Traditions will be swept away but the word of God will remain forever.

Sin is painful. It will continue so until we are clothed in new bodies. (2Co 5). While we are in this tent we shall continue to groan. We shall continue to moan. But a new earth and heaven is coming (Rev 21).

In the city of God there will be no pain or tears or death. It’s God who has promised that. Do you believe him? Please do!

To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. Isa 42:7  

Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. Eze 36:36  

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Joh 8:36