2 Samuel 11-12

2 Samuel 11-12

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 11: David Lies with Bath-sheba

                The start of the chapter begins with David and his men going into battle to destroy the children of Ammon, and Rabbah. While in Jerusalem, David (from the roof top) notices a very beautiful woman bathing, her name; Bath-sheba.

                David decides that he really likes this woman and has her called into see him. He "lies" with her and she ends up conceiving a child. David calls for the Bath-sheba's husband and has him come to his home. There he gives him food and tells him to wait with him, until the morning. So Uriah (husband to Bath-sheba) stays with David, in the morning David has it arranged so Uriah will go back to battle and puts him on the front lines so that he will surely die in battle, and he does. Now David can be with Bath-sheba and have her, for himself!    

         

Chapter 12: Plural Marriage

                This chapter follows directly from the last chapter, where essentially David lusted after another man's life (against the 10 commandments) and took her to be his wife, after he arranged for her husband to be "killed" in battle.

                The Lord is not happy with this, so he sends Nathan to talk to David and this is what David said;

"...there were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: but the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb (a young female sheep), which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man who was come to him," (2 Samuel 12:1-4)

                So to sum it up, one rich man and one poor man. The rich man had everything and the poor man had nothing, except one lamb. So the rich man, instead of killing one of his own lambs for a feast decides to kill the one the poor man has and take everything from him.

                When David hears this, he is outraged and tells Nathan that the man who had done this must die! Nathan tells David that HE IS THAT MAN! Nathan tells David that the Lord had given him everything, the Lord anointed him King over Israel, gave him wives, cattle, sheep and a home. But he still had to go and despise God, by breaking one of his commandments and lusting after another man's wife. Not only did he lust after her, he committed adultery with her and then had her husband "killed" in battle so he could have her.

                So the Lord tells Nathan that because of this, he will take everything from David and his wives will be given to his neighbors. The Lord says that David committed adultery in secret, but he will punish him openly and publicly.

                So here is a question; Is plural marriage bad? The LDS church practiced plural marriage from about 1850 to 1890, the LDS church practiced plural marriage for about 4 decades. Many people condemned the church for this practice, but right here in the Bible it gives us an insight into plural marriage. We know that David had many wives, but he got in trouble for taking another wife. Why? Was it because of plural marriage? No. Because David already had wives, which the Lord had given him. So we learn that when God authorizes plural marriage it is ok. In the case of plural marriage in the LDS church, often times the woman (after having their husbands killed to mobs, who disliked the church) were left as widows. In the 1800's being a widow was not a good thing, because woman had very few rights. So the wealthier more prominent and righteous men took them into their own homes as their "wives", this gave them a place to live and a status in that era. Most of the time, the men still only had sexual relations with their original wife. Not all men in the church could have plural marriage, the prophet through the guidance of God would choose who could and could not have multiple wives. This was due to the fact that the Lord knew certain men would abuse this.

                So, moving on... David repents and feels really bad for having committed this sin.  But the Lord causes the child he had with Bath-sheba to come down with a sickness. So David fasts for several days and lays himself on the earth in prayer and sadness. Even with all this prayer and fasting, the Lord's will was different from David's and his son still passed away. But David arose from the earth, washed and anointed himself in the temple, changed his clothing and worshiped the Lord (2 Samuel 12:20) - this shows the importance of Temples, something that the LDS church has today.

                Bath-sheba was really upset (and rightfully so, her son had just died), but David comforts her and "lies down" with her, and she conceives another son, and they name the son; Solomon. The Lord is pleased with Solomon and blesses him. David conquers the Royal City of the Ammonites. 

1 Samuel 15-16

1 Samuel 15-16

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 15: Saul Disobeys

                Samuel comes to Saul and tells him that he was the one that the Lord had sent to anoint him as king over the Israelites. Samuel tells him that he has a message from the Lord and that he should listen to him. The message from the Lord tells Saul that the Amalekites are evil and that they must be punished for what they have done to Israel, even saying;

                 "...utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." (1 Samuel 15:3)

                This is a very interesting point about God. At times he commands someone to "utterly destroy everyone" (See Judges 21:11) and at times God tells people to "not kill" (See Exodus 20:13). What is the reasoning for this? Well in Isaiah 55:8/28:10 the Lord tells us that his thoughts are not the same as our thoughts. This is an important principles to remember with anything that happens. God knows best, even if we don't understand why something is happening, eventually we will know and understand and be grateful for the master plan that the Lord has for each and every one of us.

                So with this commandment from God, Saul doesn't hesitate in mustering up his men to prepare an attack on the Amalekites. Before he goes to attack the Amalekites, he sends a warning to the Kenites who live nearby that Saul will spare them. So Saul and his men do what the Lord asked and utterly destroy everyone and everything except, they spare the best livestock as plunder and the king Agag of the Amalekites. The Lord is displeased with their ignorance to his commandment. The Lord tells Samuel that he is disappointed in Saul, Samuel prays all night crying out for Saul.

                The next day Samuel goes on a search to find Saul and talk with him, but cannot find him, because he had been moving around. But Samuel does find a statue that was made to honor Saul. Finally when Samuel meets up with Saul, Saul explains that he doesn't think he disobeyed the Lord.

                So Samuel asks him why he can hear animals in the background if he "utterly destroyed everything".  Samuel tells him that he essentially thought it would be ok to take the best animals and spare the king, completing most of what the Lord had asked. After talking with him some more, Saul admits that he was afraid of the people and gave into their demands of plunder. He tells Samuel that he has sinned and asks Samuel to go with him to worship the Lord. Samuel refuses and walks away, but Saul grabs his robe and it rips. Samuel takes the opportunity to teach and object lesson; just as his robe has ripped, so has the kingdom torn from the hands of Saul. But still Saul practically begs for forgiveness and yet again Samuel uses this opportunity as a teaching moment.

                Samuel tells Saul;

                "...Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices , as in obeying the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice..." (1 Samuel 15:22)

                Obeying is better than sacrifice. Maybe you have heard the phrase "It is easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission"? This is a very common and I would think widely used phrase in its literal meaning in today's world. We see this happening everywhere! But in the world of the Lord, Asking for permission is better than asking for forgiveness. It is much easier to do the right thing the first time, instead of having to make things right and living with the guilt and pain of your bad decisions for the rest of your life.

                Samuel leaves and goes to put Agag to death, then leaves to go home in Gibeah. Samuel never sees Saul again and the Lord is grieved that he has made Saul king of Israel.

Chapter 16: Saul Chooses David

                This chapter introduces King David. The Lord comes to Samuel and tells him that he should not mourn for Saul, but instead for to the home of Jesse in Bethlehem to anoint the new king. Samuel is a little worried about this, because he thinks that if Saul finds out that he is doing this, that he might be killed by Saul. So God tells Samuel that he should just claim he is making an offering sacrifice and inviting Jesse to go with him.

                Samuel goes to Bethlehem and has the town elders there to meet him. Samuel meets up with the elders and tells them that he has come in peace and that he must go and consecrate the sons of Jesse. Samuel goes to a feast and meets Jesse's son Eliab, who he thinks (by his appearance) is the one that the Lord has chosen. But the Lord tells Samuel that he should not consider his appearance of height, because the Lord does not look at the same qualities in man as men do. The Lord looks at a man's heart, whereas the natural man looks at his appearance on the outside.

                Jesse introduces Samuel to seven of his sons, but the Lord rejects them all. Samuel asks Jesse if he has more sons. Jesse tells Samuel that his youngest is out tending to the sheep. Jesse sends for David and tells everyone that they will not sit down to eat until he arrives. David comes and Samuel anoints him in front of everyone, and from that day on David is filled with the Spirit of the Lord and his power.

                Saul doesn't find out that David has been anointed (but not yet crowned king), and as soon as the Spirit of the Lord entered David, an evil spirit of the Lord entered into Saul. So one of his servants suggests that they find someone to play the harp to soothe him. The servant suggests the youngest son of Jesse, who is David!

                David travels to see Saul and begins serving him. Saul likes David so much that he has him become his armour-bearer and has him play the harp to soothe the evil spirit when it comes.