|
|
December 22nd, 1958
Received by Dr Samuels
Washington D.C.
I am here, Jesus.
These sermons on the character of King David, which underlined those
episodes showing his essential goodness of heart in the difficult position
of being leader of Israel's armies in the nation's wars against her hostile
neighbors, have sought to explain why David was designated a man after
God's Own Heart. It was precisely for this goodness of heart, which he
was able for the most part to maintain in the face of the brutal conditions
which prevailed, that he was thus designated.
I am now going to refer briefly to several more instances of David's
love of mercy and restraint, and then devote myself to the psalms which
have come down to us under his name, for the songs he composed not only
dominated the thought of those which were written by others after his
time, but also helped to guide many of the others, certainly, in the aspect
of thanksgiving to God, which became part of the scrolls of the Dead Sea.
First, I wish to tell you how grieved David was when
Abner, General of Saul's forces, was killed by Joab, David's nephew.
Abner had slain Joab's brother in
the fighting between David and Saul's adherents for possession of the
throne of Israel. Later, Abner sought to make peace with David as ruler
but, on leaving Hebron after a conference with David, he was slain in
a blood vengeance slaying by Joab. The king felt this was treachery, but
the customs of the time insisted upon such slayings, not only of the actual
slayer, but of his kin, innocent though they might he. It was in obedience
to these mores that David delivered up the seven sons of the House of
Saul to the Gibeonites, as told in 2
Samuel, Chapter 21, and the seven innocent sons paid the price of
their father's actions against these people by hanging. Rizpah's
act of devotion in protecting the bones of Aiah, her father, and the other
victims, touched David, and he commanded that
they be given decent burial in the family sepulchre in Zelah, in the
country of Benjamin.
So you see that, as for Joab, nothing could be done by David against
him, for the times were barbarous; but David, with higher spiritual insight,
understood that this slaying of Abner was wrong, regardless of the customs
of the land, and he issued a public statement proclaiming his innocence
of Abner's death. He
ordered mourning garb for Abner, had him buried in Hebron and personally
attended the services. David, weeping at his grave, composed a dirge
lamenting his death as a victim of human wickedness.
Joab, of course, was also responsible for the death of Absalom, whom,
we know, David loved so tenderly, and Joab's disobedience of the king's
specific orders to spare his erring son, by
piercing him with darts as Absalom dangled helplessly from a tree,
caused a building up of intense resentment which David could never shake
off. And with Joab's slaying of Amasa, when the latter was captain of
the host of Judah (2
Samuel, Chapter 20), David felt that, while he would not take vengeance
against Joab, his successor to the throne should rid himself of one who
could cause him great troubles. And
so he charged his son Solomon (whom he favored over Adonijah, to please
Nathan, the prophet, and Bathsheba), to strike Joab, and also
Shimei, whose insults still rankled, when Solomon should become king.
Solomon did so, not really as instructions from David, but because Joab
had joined in a movement to crown Adonijah, and because little pretext
was needed for the new king to eliminate one who had vilified his father
as a member of a rival house.
In these final acts, David's role was surely not a creditable one, regardless
of the provocations, but neither was David in his last days of illness
and weakness the same person whose nobility of soul glows so radiantly
in his many kindnesses to Saul, to Jonathan, to Abigail, to Absalom, indeed
to that very Shimei, and to those many others whose faithfulness to him
in his straitened circumstances grew out of the seeds of that kindness
and mercy which he had showered upon them.
This human love thus characterizing David, the King, in his acts, when
viewed in the light of his age and exalted station in life, is perhaps
better understood when supplemented by a study of his psalms, which he
wrote at various intervals in his life, dating from his days as harpist
in the court of King Saul, to his experiences with his enemies from within
and without Jerusalem. His principal themes, as could be expected from
his life, were praise of God for His Kindness and Mercy, acknowledgment
of His Might and Power in the physical universe, and his trust in God,
especially when things looked black because of hostile conditions and
people. I shall consider these and others as they appear. These Psalms
of David, or in which David had his hand, were about seventy in number,
all from Book 1, with the exception of Psalm I, and in Book 2, those numbered
between 50 and 72, except 66 and 67. The others are scattered about in
the other three books, and I shall talk about them as well.
These psalms of David and those added to them by Asaph, his musician,
and others, became the hymnbook of the Second Temple built by Solomon,
and were a great source of religious inspiration to the people. In fact,
the Psalter, or as the Hebrews called it, the Book of Praises, has given
great help and consolation not only to Jews, but to Christians for many
centuries and have inspired them to greater trust in God and faith in
His Mercy.
Jesus of the Bible
and
Master of the Celestial Heavens
|
|
