ellauri153.html on line 812: Many ancient customs are strange to modern readers of the Bible, especially those of us who have never lived in cultures embracing polygamy or absolute monarchy. The incident of Abishag sleeping—chastely—in David’s bed is definitely a puzzling story. We’ll start with the Scripture passage in which Abishag is brought to David:
ellauri153.html on line 814: Even with extra blankets, the elderly King David could not generate enough body heat on his own to maintain a healthy temperature. A lifetime that had included being a fugitive, living in caves, being exposed to the elements, and fighting hard-fought battles had finally taken its toll on his aging body (see 1 Samuel 20:1; 22:1; 2 Samuel 21:17). David’s condition, called hypothermia, is not unusual in older people: toward the end of his long life, former President Ronald Reagan requested that his favorite electric blanket be returned from the ranch he had sold. Of course, no technology in ancient Israel would provide a continual source of warmth through the cool Judean nights. Only a human body had the capacity to do that.
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Why beautiful? Human nature never changes. Then as now, people prized physical beauty (Genesis 29:17; Deuteronomy 21:11; 1 Samuel 9:2; 2 Samuel 14:25; Esther 2:2–4). Kings had the privilege and power to surround themselves with beauty, and David’s servants likely thought to win his favor by bringing a beautiful woman into his palace.
ellauri153.html on line 824: Abishag was neither a wife nor a concubine, but her position in the king’s household gave her such high prestige that David’s son Adonijah asked to marry her after the king’s death, but Solomon recognized this as an attempt by Adonijah to make himself king, and he had his brother summarily executed (1 Kings 2:21–25).
ellauri153.html on line 826: Nowhere does the Bible approve of David’s state of affairs—just the opposite! God had warned Israel through Moses that any future king “must not take many wives” (Deuteronomy 17:17). Scripture does not say that Abishag’s presence in David’s bed was a good thing, nor does it present David as a good father. His many children by multiple mothers were a cause of great trouble for him and the whole kingdom (2 Samuel 13; 2 Samuel 15; 1 Kings 12:23–25). His own son and successor, Solomon, ignoring God’s clear warning, took his father’s excesses to a shocking extreme with 700 wives and 300 concubines who led him astray and turned his heart after other gods (1 Kings 11:2–4). The kingdom itself was divided and lost by Solomon’s son shortly after his coronation, barely one generation after the glory of King David (1 Kings 12).
ellauri155.html on line 523: Little in the narrative tells us what we are to think of David’s actions. Perhaps the very fact that he sought security among the Philistines is enough to make his choice questionable. After all, God had shown Himself able to keep David safe within the boundaries of Israel (chs. 18–26), so David’s seeking refuge in Philistia may indicate a lapse of faith. It could be that David’s raids from Ziklag confirm this. We see how David would go out against enemies of Israel such as the Amalekites (see Ex. 17:8–16) who were in the south of Judah. After defeating them, he would bring spoil back to Achish and lie to the king, telling him that he was conducting raids on the Israelites (1 Sam. 27:8–12). We do not want to make too much of this, for some actions are acceptable in times of war that are not necessarily acceptable in times of peace (for example, industrial espionage). This was a time of war, with both Achish and the peoples David raided being actual enemies of Israel. Still, David’s successful deception put him in a quandary. Achish was so pleased with David’s work that he commissioned David to join him against Israel (28:1–2). What would he do?
ellauri155.html on line 525: It is hard to know how to evaluate David’s actions in today’s passage. If they were sinful, let us note that David still accomplished good for Israel by defeating so many of the nation’s enemies. Sometimes we put ourselves in certain difficult situations because of our sin, but that does not mean God cannot bring about good from it. We should not use that as an excuse for sin, but we must also remember that the Lord is big enough to take advantage of our mistakes. Stalin made some mistakes but he did electrify the country as promised by prophet Lenin.
ellauri156.html on line 80: When David’s men came to the land of the Ammonites, 3 the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending envoys to you to express sympathy? Hasn’t David sent them to you only to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?” 4 So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.
ellauri156.html on line 100: 9 The Lord said to Egad, David’s seer, 10 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’” 11 So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice: 12 three years of famine, three months of being swept away[a] before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the Lord—days of plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”
ellauri156.html on line 374: Aika hemmetisti kyyhkypaisteja papille, kun jokainen menstruoiva nainen tuo niitä sille 2kpl/kk. Pappi pysyy hyvin selvillä seurakuntalaisten varmoista päivistä. Hmm. Jos Bathsheban kuukkixet oli ohize jo vähintään viikko sitten, kohtahan sillä oli ovulaatio, eikäpä ihme että Taavi-enon mälli teki heti tehtävänsä. Vaikka mä en kyllä usko eze jäi siihen yhteen kertaan. (2) When did this cleansing occur, and when was it completed? Was Bathsheba’s bathing which David witnessed part of her ceremonial cleansing? If so, there may have had to be a delay before the Law permitted intercourse. Otherwise, David would have caused her to violate the Law pertaining to cleansing, since it may not have been complete. The translations which make her cleansing a past, (continued) completed event seem to be suggesting that she was now legally able to engage in intercourse, though certainly not with David. If she was still in the process of her cleansing, David’s sin of adultery is compounded because it was committed at the wrong time, while cleansing was still in process. It is also possible to read the text (as does the NASB) to say that Bathsheba waited at David’s house until she was ceremonially clean from her evening with David. It is interesting that nothing is said of David waiting until he was cleansed. The inference I take from this “cleansing” reference is that Bathsheba was still concerned about keeping the Law of Moses, even if David was not. Big fat hairy diff.
ellauri171.html on line 1102: When Tamar reached puberty her half-brother Amnon, David’s eldest son, developed an unnatural obsession with his young half-sister. He watched her, he waited in places where she passed, he could not get enough of her presence, and above all he wanted to possess her.
ellauri171.html on line 1123: Since they were directly commanded to go, her servants also had to leave the room – David’s heir was not someone to be crossed. Then, still feigning the irritation of a sick person, he went into the bedroom alcove and insisted he would only eat the food if she brought it to him there and fed him with her own hand.
ellauri171.html on line 1157: Absalom waited, biding his time. For two years he said nothing, did nothing, but then he set his trap. He gave a feast for all David’s sons. At the height of the festivities when Amnon was half-drunk, Absalom had his half-brother killed, stabbed to death in a scene reminiscent of a Mafia killing. In the ensuring turmoil Absalom escaped, fleeing for sanctuary to Geshur, his grandfather’s territory.
ellauri171.html on line 1161: It is to be hoped that Tamar did not accompany her brother to Geshur, since her status there would have been even worse that in Israel. Instead, Maacah may have used what little influence she now had to see that her daughter returned to David’s harem. In either place Tamar’s position would have been lowly, little better than a servant. Tamar means ‘date palm’; the name suggests a date palm.
ellauri184.html on line 644: The fact that Jesus had been preaching God’s word was irrelevant to Pilate. Sitähän ne liuhuparrat myötäänsä tekevät. The term “Messiah” which Jesus had been using, was more threatening to Pilate as it was laden with political connotations. The term presupposed that the “big king" (God) would make his reign prevail via a small king (Messiah), who had yet to appear. The only thing that remained unclear was exactly who this “small king" would be (a descendant of David’s?) and under what circumstances he would appear.
ellauri185.html on line 809: In II Sam. 24:15, God sends a pestilence that kills 70,000 Israelites because of David’s ill-conceived census. Jesus says in Luke 21:11 that there will be plagues. Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah speak of God sending plagues, for example, in Ezek.
xxx/ellauri148.html on line 167: And these are things which are explicitly stated in the Torah, and they comprise all the things which are said by the prophets. Even in the section “Balaam” it is said and there he prophesied about the two Messiahs: about the first Messiah who was David who saved Israel from the from the hands of its enemies, and about the last Messiah, who will arise from among David’s children and who will save Israel at the End. And there he says:
xxx/ellauri148.html on line 272: The Messiah is the Son of David who will rule on David’s throne for eternity. The city from which Messiah will rule will be Jerusalem according to the Bible and rabbinical tradition. In the time of Messiah, Jerusalem will be transformed into the city of King Messiah.
xxx/ellauri250.html on line 860: During David’s youth as a shepherd, he (David) developed many skills. He learned music, how to write, use a slingshot, how to pull uncircumcized men by the beard, and how to love Jonathan and obey the Lord. Do I understand that it’s my responsibility to develop my abilities like Jonathan Livingston The Seagull, and it’s God’s responsibility to direct me in how I use them? Do I realize that the most important skill I possess is my love for the Lord and my heart to obey Him? What miracles might God want to do through me that would show the whole earth that there is a God in the land? Kan jeg ble en helt liksom Harry Hole?
xxx/ellauri296.html on line 123: The Achaeans were a proto-Greek component of the Sea Peoples from Crete, and the Cretans were allied for centuries with the Pelishtim, to the point where “Creti and Pleti” was a common phrase for King David’s bodyguard. The Pelishtim (pelasgit?) are commonly referred to as “uncircumcised” in the Bible. At least one archaeologist has no problem with calling the Pelishtim “Greeks.”
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