Ps. 89: God's Own

Psalm 89:27 "I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth."

The 89th Psalm is pretty long. And it is mainly about how great David is. And God says a lot of great things about him. This David appears to be someone who's anointing and influence will endure forever. We already know he died, so this isn't his physical nature that goes on. But he is apparently being counted as the greatest king.

And this king will undergo some serious trials, to the point where it will seem like God abandons him. He will be rejected by his people, and they will want him dead.

God's love for David is pretty incredible. David must be a heckuva guy.

Ps. 7: David's Righteousness

Psalm 7:8 "...let the LORD judge the peoples. Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High."

This seventh Psalm is something called a Shiggaion about Cush, a Benjamite. I can't remember if David had trouble with Benjamites during his reign. I thought they were on his side (Judah's). But Saul was a Benjamite, and that may be where the tangle was. I looked up Shiggaion, and discovered it's derived from the verb shagah, and means to "reel about through drink." So this Psalm is written with extreme emotion and maybe somewhat rambling and sloppy, which is what happens when you are in a glass cage of emotion. Is it though? I don't know, it looks all right to me. There are powerful pleas and requests of God throughout this Psalm.

Verses 3-5 are a somewhat incredible declaration, offering that one's foes could overtake him and trample his life away if he somehow wronged them without them declaring war on him. You'd have to make absolutely certain your house was in order. I like to think I haven't wronged people, but you never know if you say something that was taken offensively, or if you cut someone off in traffic without knowing, they can carbomb you. I don't know if I could make that kind of a declaration. But the point of it seems to be an attempt by David to come clean and prove his innocence.

I'm not sure where David is coming from in verse 8. David wants God to judge him according to his righteousness. If we are to believe that there is no man sinless since the fall of Adam, how can David expect God to spare him? Or was he? To what degree would God say, "OK, David is righteous enough." Bathsheba, and other wives, household gods, etc. David was not exactly working with a completely clean slate. I imagine he realized that, and was hoping God was working on a sliding scale. A comparative righteousness. But this is a shiggaion, and maybe David didn't have complete clarity.

The evil get what they deserve, and David hopes they deserve a lot, while claiming God as his shield and protection. Perhaps David is searching for some sort of justification for wiping out his enemies. You know, "they shouldn't have been pregnant with evil or digging holes for themselves to fall into." David wants to be innocent really bad here. 

Ps. 6: Anguished Cry for Mercy

Psalm 6:5 "No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave?"

Besides the flowery language here, I think I can appreciate the Psalms on a level that brings a humanity to David, the seemingly invincible king described several books ago. These first few Psalms have given a closer look at David's anguish and personal pain and dialogues with God as he dealt with his enemies and his family.

He has gone through quite a bit of pain, if the sixth Psalm is any true indication. He believes that God will be his deliverer and protector, as God's love is life-giving and unfailing.

If David has a thought on his heart about wanting to live if only for the mere fact that he can continue to praise God (v. 5), I just think that's amazing. Who praises God from the grave? No one? I wondered if the grave was a place of consciousness, but maybe its not. Just still curious. I don't want to miss the big picture. If David dies, he thinks, how can he continue to praise God? What a walk...what a friendship. There aren't too many people I think about missing when I die. It's just not something I think of. Let alone ceasing to be able to praise God.

David doesn't put up some macho mask here, either. He talks about weeping all night long, flooding his bed with tears. I assume that would annoy his wife. Whichever one he was with. That is weepy. That is a crybaby. But there I go judging again.

Also, he doesn't act like this constant harassment by his enemies doesn't bother him. It's a pain, its exhausting, and of course emotions can take control. This guy David was like Patton on roids and angry drugs. He was all that was man at that time. But he doesn't rely on his own bravado, instead choosing to place his trust in God for strength.

1 Ch. 16: Sing A Song

1 Chronicles 16: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done."

David establishes a place for the ark to dwell and then puts some Levites in charge of it. Then he passes out cakes to every Israelite, which I imagine is no small task.

Following that is David's song of praise to the LORD, a well from which Chris Tomlin and Michael W. Smith and others have drawn inspiration from modern praise songs. And they added a rockin' beat. I believe this is the first time this song is recorded in the Bible. It is a pretty interesting read. 

I tried to go through without singing the tune of familiar P/W songs, but it was kind of hard at times. David appears to have set a standard here ripe for imitation. Generally I find praise music rather bland, because of the repetitiveness and the common buzzwords. Do modern P/W "artists" try to be David? Probably not. They'd probably be the first to admit it. Its also interesting to go through and see ideas and concepts David thought were important that don't translate to modern P/W. Like in verse 12, remembering the judgments he has pronounced. No one wants to sing about judgment. Unless you are hardcore band. All the gods of the nations are idols (v.26)? That's not very joyful and inclusive.

And there is another reference to the land praising God. The land, creation, expressing emotion. Very interesting to me, that. Not in a weird new-agey mystical way, but I never really saw "creation," as a living, glorious created thing. I wonder what spiritual connection there is between creation, that is, non-humans, and the LORD.  

1 Ch. 15: All Singing, All Dancing

1 Chronicles 15:15 "And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD."

The ark was coming back to Jerusalem from Obed-Edom's crib, and David was going to do it right this time. He made sure he didn't repeat the same mistakes as last time, and was going to deal with the ark the way it was intended, by having the Levites carry it with the poles. David had an intense encounter with God's holiness, and probably had a newfound respect for it.

I wonder how Obed-Edom must have felt. The ark's time with him led to great blessing and prosperity. He must have known that it wasn't going to last forever. Would the blessings continue after the ark departed? Would God remove the blessings? Why would he?

So...David gets the music fired up too. Worship is a celebration. Joyful songs as well as horns, strings and...gasp...percussion were used to accompany the party. I imagine it was quite the scene. What songs did they sing? Did they make them up on the spot? I wonder how it all sounded, what was the structure of music a million years ago? Did they do verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-coda? 

Verse 17 mentions that Heman, the Master of the Universe, played the cymbals, along with Asaph and Ethan. Interesting that he had time to stop battling Skeletor and come over from ... ok, enough of that.

The lead singer of this whole deal was Kenaniah. Minor thus far, as characters go, but immortalized in the great eponymous Petra song. I wonder what he sounded like? Deep rumbling baritone? Soaring tenor? I don't know. But if the Levites appointed him, he must have had what it takes to be the next Americ...to lead the entire nation in song.

David's wife Michal looked disapprovingly upon this whole situation, David dancing freely, intensely, celebrating before God. She thought it was unbecoming of a king to go that nuts before the LORD. 2 Samuel 6, entry.

1 Ch. 12: David's Warriors

1 Chronicles 12:22 "Day after day men came to help David, until he had a great army, like the army of God."

The content of this chapter is new to me, as far as I know. I don't remember reading this in depth about David's exile to Ziklag during Saul's reign in 1 Samuel 27 (entry). The thing about these men is that they are all Benjamites. Like Saul. Why would Saul's kinsmen defect to his enemy? Saul generally became a clown after his anointing. He abused his office, and was a jerk. 

So what's with these guys? They all have impressive attributes like physical strength and skills. They could handle their weapons very well. Being able to throw a stone or shoot an arrow with either hand was probably important. I'm no ancient combat expert, but the strong hand would be the first target I'd take out. These guys could switch and be just as deadly. Can you imagine the dedication that would go into perfecting a skill on your weak side? 

So powerful were these men, that amazingly, in verse 14, of the Gadites, the wussiest guy was match for a hundred, and the he-man a match for a thousand. 100 on it's own is staggering. Can you imagine the razzing? "Ah, that Macbannai, he only killed 114 Philistines."

I find verse 22 amazing. The army of God. I would not want to oppose anything that bore a comparison to such a thing. I imagine the army of God being in formation farther than the eye can see, but necessitating only one person.

Verses 23-37 describe the number of fighting men that joined David at Hebron to go against Saul. The numbers are impressive, but I don't see Saul's army anywhere. Do you think it was just as big? Even the Levites, who didn't have to enlist were so loyal they offered their services to David. 

1 Ch. 11: David Might

1 Chronicles 11:18 "So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD."

Here's a pretty basic review of some of David's exploits, including his establishment as king, his conquering of Jerusalem, and then a roll call of his mighty men. 

David, you'll remember became king because he followed God, and the LORD was with him when Saul sent him out on military missions. David won the hearts of the people, because of this, and it caused a rift with Saul. - See 2 Samuel 5, entry.

His conquering of Jerusalem was in spite of the mockers, who shouted that David couldn't even conquer a city of the lame or blind. David goes for it anyway, and gets it all done. This exploit also led to Joab being commander-in-chief of the Israelite army.

David's mighty men were originally enumerated in 2 Samuel 23 (entry). Not much new is revealed here, except that the huge Egyptian in 2 Samuel becomes a 7.5 foot tall Egyptian in 1 Chronicles. These mighty men served as David's bodyguard, and inspired fear throughout the land, and brought terror to his enemies. They protected David, and generally caused a ruckus for him. Of course they were probably endowed with the strength of God to kill 300 men, and kill a lion in some snow and all that.

2 Sa. 6: David's Ark

2 Samuel 6:7 "The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God."

Well, it is time for David to bring the ark back home. He brings 30,000 of his men after it. I don't know if he was expecting a fight? I don't know. Maybe the Philistines still had the ark...

So they load the ark up on a cart being drawn by oxen, and its probably not the best way to carry it. It was not carried the way it was inherently designed to be carried. By Levite priests, with a pole through the rings. It was stable, and it was also what God commanded. But here they were, the ark rattling along on rudimentary roads. Of course it was bound to fall off. And Uzzah reaches out to keep it from smashing on the ground, and he is struck dead. It was a happy time, with much celebrating, but then God kills Uzzah.

I more or less accept this, as I have read God's justice since the beginning. He is completely holy. I guess this makes sense. It's still horrible, the loss of life. But Uzzah was unjustly put in this position, so David's anger is somewhat out of place. David eventually gets it right.

After a sacrifice, and a cooling off period, David is back in the mood to celebrate, and he dances and leaps with all of his might before the LORD. Which got me thinking. What would trigger me to do that today? What would compel me to become this undignified to dance all crazy-like for God. Michal saw it, and was not pleased. She thought it was ridiculous for the king to act like that, and tells David. David uncorks the burn of the century though... "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD." Snap! Michal's attitude costs her the ability to bear children.

1 Sa. 17: A Giant Problem...heh heh.

1 Samuel 17:49 "Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground."

This must be a flashback...or not chronological with chapter 16. At the end of 16, David is serving Saul in the king's court. At the end of 17, Saul doesn't know who David is. Does Saul have that many people in his court? I don't know. But anyway.

This is perhaps one of the best-known Bible stories ever. The birthplace of sports cliches, David and Goliath. David, the unknown shepherd boy coming out of nowhere...the least among the family of Jesse. Goliath, the nine-footer out of Philistine State. Offerings of the king's daughter's hand in marriage...tax exemption.

David had complete and total faith in God. David drew from the experiences of killing a lion and a bear to protect the flock he was charged with guarding. How could he be afraid in this situation? I'd take on a nine-foot warrior over a lion or a bear any day. Maybe. Right? I wonder.

David took the typical criticisms...too small, inexperienced, wrong weaponry...but David needed one of the five smooth stones he took from a stream to kill the giant. I love how David ran at Goliath. Just throwing aside anything resembling fear or hesitation, and rushing headlong into battle. He knew he was going to be the victor, without a doubt in his mind. And something tells me it wasn't just the impetuousness of his youth.

And because of this, the Philistines freaked, because this was their guy, and some kid took him down. The Israelites were given a huge military victory that day. David's trust in God brought God's victory.

Was Goliath a Nephilim? If the flood was a total wipeout of Earth's population except for Noah, then no. An Anakite? Perhaps. Joshua says that Anakites remained in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod...Gath being Goliath's hometown.

1 Sa. 16: Harping Shepherd King

1 Samuel 16:11 "So he asked Jesse, 'Are these all the sons you have?'
'There is still the youngest,' Jesse answered, 'but he is tending the sheep.'
Samuel said, 'Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.'"

Saul's deposing was troubling to Samuel. Samuel seemed like the type of guy who wanted to see Israel get back on track without much upheaval. Now there was a king. Now the king was a failure. Now there was going to be a new king. Changes, changes, changes. But God had it all figured out, so there was no cause for alarm. God had the next step already planned out. And even God's conduit to man, Samuel, had no idea, and still managed to be troubled in his heart.

The chosen one was David, after a sort of Man Pageant from the house of Jesse. Saul was unaware of the goings-on, as it was obscured by the sacrifice ruse.

And the most ironic thing of it all...Saul, tormented by an evil spirit from the LORD, had David come to his court to soothe him with his harp playing. Yeah. His replacement. Came to his own court. To make him feel better. Amazing irony, I spose, since Saul had no idea he was even being replaced.

And I wonder about this evil spirit from the LORD. Did God inflict evil on Saul? Did God just allow an evil spirit to torture Saul? Also...another shepherd becomes king. Saul was a donkey-minder, and here comes David, last mentioned in Ruth 4, a shepherd boy, not chosen because of his stature and reputation, quite the opposite. It was because of his heart. We'll see if this trend continues.