Archive for the ‘1 Samuel 17’ Category
Above: Icon of Jeremiah
Image in the Public Domain
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READING JEREMIAH, PART XXVII
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Jeremiah 47:1-7
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The Philistines were descendants of the Sea Peoples.
Interpretations of the Sea Peoples have changed in recent decades. The older version of them was that, starting in the fourteenth century B.C.E., the Sea Peoples moved from Greece to Asia Minor then to the eastern Mediterranean region. They destroyed the Hittite Empire (in Asia Minor). The Sea Peoples attacked Egypt during the twelfth century B.C.E., but the Egyptian forces defeated them. Afterward, the Sea Peoples settled on the coast of Canaan, assimilated with the local population, and became the Philistines.
The Sea Peoples’ defeat at Egyptian hands is a matter of the historical record.
However, the former historical consensus regarding the Sea Peoples may have been wrong. The Bronze Age Collapse (circa 1177 B.C.E.) affected the Mediterranean region. The powers were interdependent. Then a combination of climate change and natural disasters, followed by social and economic collapse, may have driven a diverse group of refugees from one land to another, then to another. Some of the ancient empires may have collapsed from within, not due to the Sea Peoples. Nevertheless, the Sea Peoples may still have proven disruptive. Certainly, they were not welcome.
The Philistines were one of the oldest enemies of the Hebrews. The Philistines oppressed the tribes of Israel for an undefined period of time (Judges 3:31) and again for about 40 years (Judges 13-16). Hostilities between the Philistines and the Israelites continued into the twilight of the age of the judges and into the time of the Israelite monarchy (1 Samuel 4-31; 2 Samuel 1-5, 8). In fact, the Philistine military threat was the main justification for creating the Israelite monarchy.
I have already read prophetic oracles against Philistia during this project of reading the Hebrew prophetic books, roughly in historical order. I have read the oracles in Amos 1:6-8 and Isaiah 14:28-32.
The oracle in Ezekiel 25:15-17 awaits my attention, in due time.
Jeremiah 47:1 establishes a temporal setting for the oracle against Philistia:
before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.
—The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
Pharaoh Neco II (r. 610-595 B.C.E.) attacked Gaza in 609 B.C.E.
The Septuagint copy of the Book of Jeremiah lacks 47:1. The rest of the germane text of Chapter 47 refers to the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian conquest of Philistia circa 604 B.C.E., followed by mass deportations. The juxtaposition of these facts indicates editing subsequent to the time of Jeremiah the prophet.
Jeremiah 47 depicts God as destroying Philistia. The prophet pleads:
Ah! Sword of the LORD!
When will you find rest?
Return to your scabbard;
stop, be still!
–Verse 6, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
The answer in verse 7 is that the sword of the LORD cannot rest until God commands it to do so.
Walter Brueggemann writes:
Yahweh is not dominated by any of our conventionalities, but acts in sheer freedom, owing no one anything. Listeners to this poem are invited to face this undomesticated God who may violate our sensitivities, this God who maybe the only hope for the Philistines as for Israel.
—A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming (1998), 441-442
God refuses to fit into human categories and metaphorical theological boxes. God does not issue trigger warnings. God remains undomesticated, despite human discomfort. So be it. If we object, we have the problem; God does not.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 14, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT METHODIUS I OF CONSTANTINOPLE, DEFENDER OF ICONS AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE; AND SAINT JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER, DEFENDER OF ICONS AND THE “SWEET-VOICED NIGHTINGALE OF THE CHURCH”
THE FEAST OF DAVID LOW DODGE, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN BUSINESSMAN AND PACIFIST
THE FEAST OF FRANCIS J. UPLEGGER, GERMAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND MISSIONARY; “OLD MAN MISSIONARY”
THE FEAST OF FRANK LAUBACH, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF MARK HOPKINS, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, EDUCATOR, AND PHYSICIAN
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Above: The Stoning of Saint Stephen, by Rembrandt Van Rijn
Image in the Public Domain
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Genesis 6:1-8 or Acts 22:1-22
Psalm 125
Revelation 2:12-17
John 6:41-59
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The Humes lectionary divides Genesis 6 across two Sundays: Today’s portion of Genesis 6 includes the debut of the Nephilim in the Bible. This is an example of pagan folklore adapted for scriptural purposes. And Richard Elliott Friedman, in his Commentary on the Torah (2001), describes stories of the Nephilim as being elements of a larger story
widely separated, distributed across great stretches of the narrative.
–33
According to Dr. Friedman, Genesis 6:1-5 links to Numbers 13:33, Joshua 11:21-22, and 1 Samuel 17:4. Dr. Friedman describes Goliath of Gath as the last of the Nephilim, the final one to go down to defeat.
The big idea in Genesis 6:1-8 is the increasing wickedness of the human race. “Wicked” and “wickedness” are words many use casually, with little or not thought about what they mean. The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (1973) offers various definitions of “wicked.” The most helpful one, in this context is:
evil or morally bad in principle or in practice; sinful; vicious; iniquitous.
In Jewish theology, wickedness (or one form of it) flows from the conviction that God does not care what we do, therefore we mere mortals are on our own. The dictionary’s definition of wickedness as being evil in principle or practice is helpful and accurate. Moustache-twirling villains exist in greater numbers in cartoons than in real life. Most people who commit wickedness do not think of themselves as being wicked or or having committed wickedness. Many of them think they have performed necessary yet dirty work, at worst. And many others imagine that they are doing or have done God’s work.
One may point to Saul of Tarsus, who had the blood of Christians on his hands before he became St. Paul the Apostle. One lesson to take away from St. Paul’s story is that the wicked are not beyond repentance and redemption.
On a prosaic level, each of us needs to watch his or her life for creeping wickedness. One can be conventionally pious and orthodox yet be wicked. One can affirm that God cares about how we treat others and be wicked. One can sin while imagining that one is acting righteously.
Unfortunately, some of the references in Revelation 2:12-17 are vague. Time has consumed details of the Nicolaitian heresy, for example. And the text does not go into detail regarding what some members of the church at Pergamum were doing. According to Ernest Lee Stoffel, The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), the offense was probably a perceived license to sin, predicated on salvation by grace–cheap grace, in other words. Grace is cheap yet never cheap.
Moral compartmentalization is an ancient and contemporary spiritual ailment. The challenge to be holy on Sunday and on Monday remains a topic on the minds of many pastors. Related to this matter is another one: the frequent disconnect between private morality and public morality. Without creating or maintaining a theocracy, people can apply their ethics and morals in public life. The main caveat is that some methods of application may not work, may be of limited effectiveness, and/or may have negative, unintended consequences. I feel confident, O reader, in stating that the idealistic aspects of the movement that gave birth to Prohibition in the United States of America did not not include aiding and abetting organized crime. But they had that effect.
By grace, may we seek to avoid wickedness and succeed in avoiding it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 16, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROBERTO DE NOBOLI, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY IN INDIA
THE FEAST OF SAINT BERARD AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS IN MOROCCO, 1220
THE FEAST OF EDMUND HAMILTON SEARS, U.S. UNITARIAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF GUSTAVE WEIGEL, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF RICHARD MEUX BENSON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND COFOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST; CHARLES CHAPMAN GRAFTON, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, COFOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST, AND BISHOP OF FOND DU LAC; AND CHARLES GORE, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WORCESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND OXFORD; FOUNDER OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE RESURRECTION; AND ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND WORLD PEACE
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2021/01/16/devotion-for-proper-12-year-d-humes/
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Above: Judith with the Head of Holofernes, by Simon Vouet
Image in the Public Domain
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READING JUDITH
PART VII
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Judith 13:1-15:14
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The Lord struck him down by the hand of a female!
–Judith 13:15c, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
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A very attentive reader of the Hebrew Bible may think of Jael (Judges 4:17-22; 5:24-27), who used a hammer to drive a tent peg through Sisera’s temple until the tent peg went into the ground. One may also recall David beheading Goliath (1 Samuel 17:51).
The New English Bible (1970), The Revised English Bible (1989), and The New Revised Standard Version (1989) capture the original Greek text well. Those translations tell us that Holofernes was
dead drunk.
Renderings in other translations include the following:
- overcome with wine;
- drunk with wine;
- wine-sodden;
- overcharged with wine;
- drunk; and
- unconscious from the wine.
In a conservative, patriarchal culture, a man dying by the hand of a woman was especially disgraceful, from a certain point of view. The dismay of male chauvinists was great.
Furthermore, sexual innuendo pervades the story. Without delving into the depths of Freudian excesses, I point to the following elements:
- The decapitation of Holofernes is a form of decapitation.
- “Bethulia” means “virgin.”
- “Bagoas” means “eunuch.”
At the end of Chapter 15, the Assyrian army, without its head (and its former leader without his head), fled in panic. Judith’s strategy was effective. All she had to do was to kill the commander to throw the army into confusion.
And, as Judith and the people of Bethulia readily acknowledged, God was the real victor. God had worked through Judith.
When God works through us, may we acknowledge that readily. May we do the same when we realize that God has worked or is working through others.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 12, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, ABOLITIONIST AND FEMINIST; AND MARIA STEWART, ABOLITIONIST, FEMINIST, AND EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINTS BARTHOLOMEW BUONPEDONI AND VIVALDUS, MINISTERS AMONG LEPERS
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LOUIS POTEAT, PRESIDENT OF WAKE FOREST COLLEGE, AND BIOLOGIST; HIS BROTHER, EDWIN MCNEILL POTEAT, SR., SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN BAPTIST MINISTER, SCHOLAR, AND PRESIDENT OF FURMAN UNIVERSITY; HIS SON, EDWIN MCNEILL POTEAT, JR., SOUTHERN BAPTIST MINISTER, MISSIONARY, MUSICIAN, HYMN WRITER, AND SOCIAL REFORMER; HIS BROTHER, GORDON MCNEILL POTEAT, SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN BAPTIST AND CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND MISSIONARY; AND HIS COUSIN, HUBERT MCNEILL POTEAT, SOUTHERN BAPTIST ACADEMIC AND MUSICIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUDWIK BARTOSIK, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1941
THE FEAST OF THOMAS CANNING, U.S. COMPOSER AND MUSIC EDUCATOR
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Above: Tobias and the Angel, by Wenceslas Hollar
Image in the Public Domain
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READING TOBIT
PART VI
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Tobit 5:1-6:17/18 (depending on versification)
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The Book of Tobit is a novella with faulty history and geography. Regarding geography, making the journey from Nineveh to Ectabana (about 450 miles) in a mere two days thousands of years ago would have been miraculous. I realize that Azariah/Azarias means “God has helped,” but the geography in the story remains erroneous.
The dog is an odd detail, starting in Tobit 6:2 and again in 11:4.
- Dogs were unclean animals and not pets. Biblical texts mentioned them in negative terms. (Exodus 11:7; Judith 11:9; Luke 16:21; Proverbs 26:17; 2 Peter 2:22; Exodus 22:31; I Kings 14:11; 1 Kings 16:4, 21; 1 Kings 19:23-24; 1 Kings 22:38; 2 Kings 9:10, 36; Psalm 68:23-24; Jeremiah 15:3).
- “Dog” was a term of contempt for a human being. (1 Samuel 17:43; 2 Kings 8:13; Matthew 15:26; Mark 7:27)
- Sometimes “dog” referred to the wicked. (Isaiah 56:10-11; Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15)
- Sometimes “dog” also referred to a male temple prostitute. (Deuteronomy 23:18-19)
- Mentioning a dog in positive terms in Tobit 6:2 and 11:4 was, therefore, odd. Perhaps it was a remnant of an older folk tale. In the context of the Book of Tobit, the dog was a second angel in disguise.
The reference to the fish (Tobit 6:3) that tried to swallow Tobias’s “foot” is one aspect of the story one can explain easily. We are in the realm of euphemism. As elsewhere “feet” are really genitals. (Exodus 4:25; Ruth 3:7; Isaiah 6:2)
The fish-related cure for blindness and method of repelling demons are fascinating aspects of this folklore. What a fish!
In these two chapters we read of God indirectly setting the healing of Tobit and Sarah into motion. We also read of Raphael preparing Tobias to marry Sarah. God has a hidden hand in the Book of Tobit. God works subtly in this story. Many of us can cite examples of God’s subtle, hidden hand in our lives and in the lives of others.
The Book of Tobit is partially about wellness. In this reading, Tobit, Anna, and Sarah are not well. Tobit is blind, Anna is overwhelmed, and Sarah is at the end of her rope. By the end of the book, all of them are well.
But what is true wellness? The best answer I can find comes from Irene Nowell, O.S.B., writing in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume III (1999):
True wellness is a consequence of humility, the recognition that life and health are gifts from God.
True wellness is heavily spiritual.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 30, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE SECOND DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANDREW THE APOSTLE, MARTYR
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Above: Icon of King David
Image in the Public Domain
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READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33
PART XXXVII
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2 Samuel 10:1-19 and 12:26-31
1 Chronicles 19:1-20:8
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“Let us be strong and resolute for the sake of our people and the land of our God; and the LORD will do what He deems right.”
–Joab, in 2 Samuel 10:12, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
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King David’s Ammonite war frames the story of Uriah and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11 and 12), absent from 1 Chronicles.
Ammonite court politics caused the Ammonite war. Nahash, King of Ammon, had died. Hanun, listening to bad advice, mistook David’s official condolences for a spy mission then humiliated his envoys. David’s forces won battles, though. They did so against superior Ammonite-Aramean forces. The author meant for us to understand that God was on the side of Israel in this war.
1 Chronicles 20:4-8 tells of another war against Philistines. It seems that keeping Philistines down was difficult. This passage mentions Elhanan, who slew the brother of Goliath. This passage contradicts 2 Samuel 21:19, which says that Elhanan slew Goliath. This language in 2 Samuel 21:19 is very similar to that in 1 Chronicles 20:5. 2 Samuel 21:19, of course, also contradicts 1 Samuel 17, which tells us that David slew Goliath. If I were a Biblical literalist, this matter would bother me.
Back to the beginning of the Ammonite war….
David had kept faith/kindness (hesed) with King Nahash of Ammon, just as he did with Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9. The text makes the connection between those two chapters. We readers are to think positively of David in his dealings, with Mephibosheth and his treaty partner, the King of Ammon, according to the text.
One translation of hesed is “kindness.” Kindness is absent from the end of the story; the forced labor of prisoners of war, although common in the region at the time, indicates the opposite of kindness. Kindness is also absent toward Uriah the Hittite in 2 Samuel 11.
David, in these and other cases, practices hesed selectively.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 31, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT NICODEMUS, DISCIPLE OF JESUS
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Above: David With the Head of Goliath, by Nicolas Tournier
Image in the Public Domain
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READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33
PART XVI
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1 Samuel 17:1-18:5
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I went out to meet the Philistine,
and he cursed me by his idols.
But I drew my own sword;
I beheaded him, and took away disgrace from the people of Israel.
–Psalm 151:6-7, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
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One can learn much by consulting an unabridged concordance of the Bible.
2 Samuel 21:18-22, set during the reign of King David, begins:
After this, fighting broke out again with the Philistines, at Gob; that was when Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, a descendant of the Raphah. Again there was fighting with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehmite killed Goliath the Gittite, whose spear had a shaft like a weaver’s bar.
–2 Samuel 21:18-19, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
1 Chronicles 20:15, also set during David’s reign, mentions Elhanan the Benjaminite, too. The Chronicler altered 2 Samuel 21:19, though.
Again there was fighting with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite; his spear had a shaft like a weaver’s beam.
–1 Chronicles 20:5, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
One Elhanan son of Dodo the Bethlehemite receives a brief mention in 2 Samuel 23:24 and 1 Chronicles 11:26. Whether Elhanan son of Jair/Jaare-oregim was Elhanan son of Dodo is uncertain. According to Hans Wilhelm Herzberg, I and II Samuel: A Commentary (1964), the son of Jair/Jaare-oregim being the son of Dodo is “questionable.”
According to 1 Samuel 17:7, the shaft of Goliath’s spear
was like a weaver’s bar,
just like the spear shaft in 2 Samuel 21:19 and 1 Chronicles 20:5.
If I were a Biblical literalist, the questions of who slew Goliath and who Elhanan killed would bother me. I am not a Biblical literalist, though. I agree with the scholarly opinion that Elhanan slew Goliath and that someone altered 1 Samuel 17 to relabel “the Philistine” occasionally as Goliath. Besides, I know of the tendency to credit kings for the deeds of their warriors. One may recall reading of Saul receiving credit in 1 Samuel 13:4 for what Jonathan had done in 13:3.
If I were a Biblical literalist, I would also seek to reconcile 1 Samuel 16:18-23 (in which Saul, having learned who Jesse and David were, took David into the royal court) with 1 Samuel 17, in which David had not yet entered royal service (verses 12-15) and Saul did not know who Jesse and David were (verses 55-58) until David told him in verse 58. I would also try to reconcile 1 Samuel 16:18-23 with 1 Samuel 18:2, in which David entered royal service after slaying Goliath.
The Biblical stories one needs to read the most closely are the tales one thinks one knows. One may not know those stories as well as one thinks.
“David and Goliath” has become shorthand for being an underdog. That theme does exist in the story. However, I choose to focus on another theme, that of the consequences of mocking God. 1 Samuel 17 drives home that the uncircumcised Philistines (verse 26) were mocking the “ranks of the living God.” Some translations use “disgrace” instead of “mock.” Everett Fox, in Volume II of The Schocken Bible, points to the Philistine champion falling face-down (verse 49) as if in a posture of worship after David found the Philistine warrior’s weak spot and killed him. Fox also refers to another Biblical example of mocking God in the presence of Hebrew soldiers. He mentions the Assyrian mocking of God in 2 Kings 18, during the reign of King Hezekiah. One may remember that, in 2 Kings 19, an angel slew the Assyrian army.
Mocking God is a bad idea. So is shutting down one’s critical faculties. I refuse to check my brain at the threshold of a church building and at the cover of a Bible. I also try not to mock God.
Anyway, for the rest of the story…
David went on to forge a friendship with crown prince Jonathan, win battles, and make a name for himself, according to 1 Samuel 18:1-5. The author presented David as possessing excellent royal qualities. David was becoming a political threat to King Saul, in that monarch’s unsettled mind.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 15, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY OF NAZARETH, MOTHER OF GOD
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Above: Saul and David, by Rembrandt Van Rijn
Image in the Public Domain
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READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33
PART XV
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1 Samuel 16:14-23
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My hands made a harp;
my fingers fashioned a lyre.
–Psalm 151:2, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
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This story flows directly from 16:1-13. Remember this detail, O reader, when we get to Chapter 17 (the familiar story of David Goliath), in which Saul supposedly met David for the first time. The explanation for such inconsistencies in 1 Samuel is the editing of different sources into a composite narrative. I have no idea what really happened, which version is accurate or closer to objective reality when these inconsistencies (plain when comparing texts) present themselves. I focus, however, on spiritual lessons I can derive from the story.
Another matter I notice on this re-reading of 1 Samuel is the question of the passage of time. In-universe, how long had Saul been the King of Israel by the time of 1 Samuel 16:14-23? And how long had he reigned whenever (depending on the version of the rejection by God in which one chooses to place more trust–Chapter 13 or Chapter 15) God rejected him? And how long did Saul reign after that? Saul reigned for about two decades, study Bibles and other reference works tell me. The Jewish Study Bible defines the reign of Saul as 1025-1005 B.C.E. The New Interpreter’s Study Bible prefers 1020-c. 1000 B.C.E.
1 Samuel 16:14-23 flows directly from 16:1-13, which flows directly from the end of Chapter 15. 1 Samuel 16:14-23, therefore, comes from the same source as the second rejection story, the one in Chapter 15. The Spirit of God gripped David in 16:13. The Spirit departed from Saul in 16:14. Saul seemed never to be comfortable as the King of Israel. He became unhinged after 16:14. Saul, aware of who David and Jesse were, made David a royal arms-bearer. David’s main reason for being in the court was to make Saul feel better with music. Saul, unaware of Samuel’s secret anointing of David, welcomed the former shepherd’s presence.
I wonder how we, using modern psychiatric and psychological categories, would define King Saul’s mental state after 16:14. We have categories of which ancients knew nothing, after all. The description in the text depends upon the traditional, spirit-based belief. (Spirits are real, I affirm, but so are organic, genetic, and psychological causes.) Keep in mind, O reader, that, according to the Bible, demonic possession causes epilepsy and mental illnesses. Also consider that future generations may have different categories than we do. I believe that Saul suffered from excessive stress, at least. I also accept that he may have had some form of mental illness. I suppose that, if Saul were alive today, a doctor would prescribe medication and a long vacation. I also guess that Saul, if alive today, would undergo therapy. These are only guesses. I, as a student of history, know that reading the minds of dead people is difficult and frequently impossible.
Speculation about modern labels and the applicability to the mental state of the first King of Israel in interesting. It is not, however, the territory into which the author of 1 Samuel 16:14-23 went. No, the author’s point was that God had rejected Saul (who was suffering the consequences) and chosen David instead. David was ascendant. Saul was on the decline.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 15, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY OF NAZARETH, MOTHER OF GOD
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Above: Saul and David, by Rembrandt van Rijn
Image in the Public Domain
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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1 Samuel 17:57-18:16 or Jeremiah 32:36-41
Psalm 111
Romans 12:1-8
Luke 17:1-19
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The Books of Samuel, in the final form (probably edited by Ezra; this is an ancient theory with contemporary academic champions), consist of various sources. If one knows this, one can notice many of the seams. Inconsistencies become obvious. For example, one may notice that King Saul knew that David was a son of Jesse in 1 Samuel 16:20 and that David played the lyre for the monarch in 16:23. One may also notice that Saul did not recognize David in 17:33 or whose son he was in 17:56. One may notice, furthermore, that David had to identify himself to Saul in 17:58.
I know too much to affirm spiritual inerrancy or infallibility.
I also know that King Saul was similar to many potentates in many lands and at many times. I read in the composite text that Saul was a terrible public servant. (So were almost all of his successors in Israel and Judah.) Truth and justice should prosper under a good ruler. A good ruler should try, at least. A good ruler knows that he or she is a servant holding a temporary job. A good ruler seeks to make responsible decisions and does not mistake events as being about himself or herself. A good ruler thinks about the long-term common good. Consequences of short-sighted leaders are frequently disastrous, as in Jeremiah 32:36-41.
What passes for a psychiatric or psychological diagnosis of King Saul comes from 1 Samuel 16:23–an evil spirit. Cultural anthropology tells us that they, in modern times, can mean anything from severe stress to a mental illness. Either way, the description of Saul is that of a man unfit to rule. After all, those who govern are still servants. God is really the king.
Despite all the bad press about King Saul, I feel somewhat sympathetic for him. I read about him and remember that he never sought the job (1 Samuel 12). I recall that Saul seems not so bad, compared to Solomon. I think of Saul, doing his best yet failing. I know the feeling of working hard yet failing. I ask myself how Saul may have succeeded in life. He seems to have needed counseling, at least.
Tragedy, in the Greek sense, has a particular definition. A good person tries to make good decisions (most of the time, anyway) and fails spectacularly, dooming himself or herself. The accounts of King Saul do not fit that definition exactly, but Greek tragedy does help me understand the first Israelite monarch. I read stories while making a combination of good and bad decisions and often trying to decide wisely. I read of a man with defective judgment. I read of a man whose demise was not inevitable when he became the first King of Israel.
I, like David, mourn for Saul (2 Samuel 1).
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 29, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC AND RELIGIOUS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS BOSA OF YORK, JOHN OF BEVERLEY, WILFRID THE YOUNGER, AND ACCA OF HEXHAM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS
THE FEAST OF JAMES EDWARD WALSH, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY BISHOP AND POLITICAL PRISONER IN CHINA
THE FEAST OF SIMON B. PARKER, UNITED METHODIST BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF TIMOTHY REES, WELSH ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER AND BISHOP OF LLANDAFF
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2020/04/29/devotion-for-proper-25-year-c-humes/
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Above: David and Goliath
Image in the Public Domain
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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1 Samuel 17:1-49 or Jeremiah 32:1-15
Psalm 110
Romans 11:22-36
Luke 16:19-31
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[Yahweh] smote kings in the day of his wrath,
he routed nations;
he heaped corpses high,
He smote heads across a vast terrain.
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The key term for this post comes from Romans 11:22–
the kindness and severity of God,
as The Revised English Bible (1989) renders that verse. That is another way of saying “judgment and mercy.” That which we call judgment or wrath of God is frequently the proverbial chickens coming home to roost. As logicians remind us,
If x, then y.
That formula can also work so that y is positive.
One can draw a variety of lessons from these readings. The lessons include:
- Never be insensitive to human suffering. (Luke 16)
- Never think that other people exist to do one’s bidding. (Luke 16)
- Never forget that one is vulnerable, regardless of how imposing one may be or seem. (1 Samuel 17)
- Never oppress. (1 Samuel 17)
- Never think oneself wiser than one is. (Romans 11)
- Never lose hope, regardless of how dark the times are or seem to be. (Jeremiah 32)
After all, God is just/righteous. Divine judgment and mercy, balanced, are expressions of God’s justice/righteousness.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 28, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JAROSLAV VAJDA, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOZEF CEBULA, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1941
THE FEAST OF SAINT PAMPHILIUS OF SULMONA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND ALMSGIVER
THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER CHANEL, PROTOMARTYR OF OCEANIA, 1841
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM STRINGFELLOW, EPISCOPAL ATTORNEY, THEOLOGIAN, AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2020/04/28/devotion-for-proper-24-year-c-humes/
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Above: Goliath Laughs at David
Image in the Public Domain
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For the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year 1, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970
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Grant us, Lord, the Spirit to think and do what is right;
that we, who cannot do anything good without thee, may,
with thee, be enabled to live according to thy will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 125
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1 Samuel 17:41-47
Acts 26:12-23
Matthew 10:5-15
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I admit without any hesitation and regret that I do not like people knocking on my doors unless I know them already. When I want or need to interact with the outside world, I go out into it. However, when I am home, I enjoy my privacy. When I want to interact with strangers, I do not go home and lock the doors.
Needless to say and write, I usually avoid speaking with people who knock on my front door with the intention of converting me. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are easy to recognize; I simply refuse to open the door. This strategy is more effective and easier than my previous one, which was confusing them with my superior knowledge of comparative religion and Christian theology and history until they left. I recall one unpleasant encounter with two Church of Christers, to whom I spoke honestly. I also remember them telling me that I was going to Hell for not belonging to the Churches of Christ. My Anglicanism, influenced by Lutheranism and Roman Catholicism, does not meet with the approval of such members of the Churches of Christ.
I am certain that more than one person regards me as one of those who rejects the Gospel and consigns me to the judgment of God, as in the Gospel pericope.
The message of God has outlasted Philistines, the Roman Empire, and the martyrdom of St. Paul the Apostle. It has survived rejection by many people.
The message of God will outlast all of us. We can either reject or accept it, but we cannot halt it. Depending on how we act, we may condemn ourselves.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 11, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE TENTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR C
THE FEAST OF LUKE OF PRAGUE AND JOHN AUGUSTA, MORAVIAN BISHOPS AND HYMN WRITERS
THE FEAST OF SAINT KAZIMIERZ TOMAS SYKULSKI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR
THE FEAST OF LARS OLSEN SKREFSRUD, HANS PETER BOERRESEN, AND PAUL OLAF BODDING, LUTHERAN MISSIONARIES IN INDIA
THE FEAST OF SAINT SEVERIN OTT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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