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Week 15  1 Samuel

Last week I focused on David’s on-the-run psalms.
I wanted to see what David was thinking & feeling when he was under serious pressure. What was his reaction to actual life-and-death threats?
Coming at it from the front end I wished-hoped I’d find out if there was a pattern of interaction with the Lord (maybe even a formula I could plug-in). What did Duress Praying look like?
So anyway I only looked at four psalms. I was uncertain about 34 & 63. And 52 – the Doeg psalm – wasn’t really an on-the-run psalm. That left: 59 56 54 & 57.
One thing that showed up in all four cases – the pretty obvious thing – was that David more-or-less just blurted out: “HELP!”:
Rescue me from my enemies, O God
O God, have mercy on me
Come with great power, O God, and rescue me
Have mercy on me, O God. I look to you for protection.
The second thing – an unexpected thing – that came out each time was an assured confidence in the Lord:
You are my strength; I wait for you to rescue me
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you
God is my helper. The Lord is the one who keeps me alive
The Lord will send help from heaven to save me.
Asking for help was predictable. No surprise there.
What wasn’t predictable was David’s solid confidence in the outcome. I’m left thinking about how he arrived there. Wondering how long it took for him to arrive.

Note: quotes from 59:1 56:1 54:1 57:1 59:9 56:3 54:4 57:3 (NLT)

Week 14  1 Samuel

David seems like one of the most resourceful talented decisive and also cunning & ruthless outlaws imaginable. But Psalm 57 shows he was sometimes fearful and discouraged too.
David described his opponents as being like fierce lions – and he prayed a couple of when-a-lion-is-standing-growling-at-me prayers:
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy!
I cry out to God most high.
But he only asked for help a couple of times before moving on to other things. Here’s two of them:
First David had a forecastive-sense that things would turn out okay: (the Lord) will send help from heaven to save me.
Second he repeated this (seemingly unrelated) phrase:
Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens! May your glory shine over all the earth.
David started with a conventional Please-Help-Me-Lord type of prayer. But he moved forward to a (surprisingly) settled sense that help would be coming. And he made a point of ‘exalting’ the Lord.
Three key elements of David’s prayer were:
1. Please help me
2. I’m confident that I’ll get Help-From-Heaven
3. You – Lord – are the Greatest.

Note: quotes from Psalm 57:4 1 2 3 5 & 11 (NLT).
Psalms 57 & 142 both say that they’re Cave-Psalms. The Psalm 57 subtitle says: ‘the time David fled from Saul and went into the cave’. But so does Psalm 142: ‘David’s experience in the cave’.
And there are also two Cave-Stories in 1 Samuel: 22:1-2 & 24:1-22.
1 Samuel 24 is the better story but it looks to me like which psalm refers to which story is an open-question.

Week 14  1 Samuel

Ziph – in my bible map – is in Judah’s territory – latitude-wise at about the midway-point of the Dead Sea and maybe 15 kilometers to the west. That’s where David had run to: the hill country of Ziph.
The locals knew he was there and some of the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him. They had to make what looks like a two-day trek – maybe 45-kilometres – to connect with Saul. The king was murderously happy with the news and was soon headed south.
In the end nothing much came of it. David had already left the region so the Ziph treachery didn’t pan-out. But Psalm 54 was written at (or about) that time (the subtitle says: ‘the time the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “We know where David is hiding”’).
As you’d expect in an on-the-run psalm David asked for help. But two other things stand out:
The first one is that David said two things about the Lord: God is my helper. The Lord keeps me alive!
The second one is a kind of confident sense that the Lord heard him and would help him: I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. For you have rescued me from my troubles.
Saying something true about the Lord seems like a wise & safe thing to do.
Predicting that the Lord had already intervened seems slightly overconfident. Like crawling out-on-a-limb.

Note: quotes from 1 Samuel 23:14 19 & Psalm 54:1 4 6-7 (NLT)

Week 14  1 Samuel

The backstory to this on-the-run psalm makes it a bit different from the others. After escaping from Saul David had stopped at the home of a priest who he knew – Ahimelech – who helped him with provisions. Unfortunately for Ahimelech a man named Doeg witnessed the exchange and reported it to Saul. David was an enemy-of-the-state. So that made Ahimelech a traitor.
Saul’s own soldiers wouldn’t kill a priest. But Doeg didn’t hesitate. The subtitle to Psalm 52 says: ‘regarding the time Doeg the Edomite told Saul that Ahimelech had given refuge to David’.
The psalm really doesn’t say much of anything about David-in-exile. Nothing about how he  managing as a refugee / vagabond.
But Psalm 52 does have something to say about the future of Doeg the murderer: you love to destroy others…But God will strike you down once and for all. He will pull you from your home and uproot you from the land of the living.
In every bible book I’ve read so far this year (except Ruth) I’ve seen a lot of murder going on. I keep reading about murder after murder after murder and the unfairness is revolting and upsetting.
But David – even if he is on-the-lam – takes the time to remind readers one thing about a murderer’s future (something that’s consoling – even if it’s not completely adequate in the moment). Eventually God will strike a murderer down once and for all.

Note: quote from Psalm 52:4-5; story 1 Samuel 22:9-19 (NLT)

Week 14  1 Samuel

Because David had saved Israel by killing Goliath in chapter 17 almost everybody was happy. The one not-happy exception was the king: from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. And since David could read the signs he ran.
It seems like a weird destination but David went to the Philistines looking for help.
What doesn’t seem weird was that the Philistines weren’t happy seeing him. The subtitle of Psalm 56 is describing that exact situation: ‘the time the Philistines seized (David) in Gath’ (this is helpful info since the 1 Samuel story doesn’t say David was arrested).
Anyway Psalm 56 was David’s reaction and response to his going from-Saul’s-frying-pan-into-the-Philistine’s-fire predicament. And three of the things he said were pretty interesting:
The (understandable) first thing David did was to ask for help: O God, have mercy on me, for people are hounding me.
Second thing was the (intriguing) comment about his reaction to fear: when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. There were other options. But he moved from Fear toward Trust.
Third thing was that David followed up his from-Fear-to-Trust comment with a (logical) question: I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me? (he asked the same question twice). And it’s a good reminder about how David figured things stood. How much of a threat is a Weak Guy if I know a Strong Guy?

Note: quotes from 1 Samuel 18:9 & Psalm 56: 1 3 4 11 (NLT)

 

Week 14  1 Samuel

The subtitle of Psalm 59 says that it’s “a psalm of David, regarding the time Saul sent soldiers to watch David’s house in order to kill him”.
Saul’s murderous hatred of David developed pretty much overnight. Chapter 17 is the great David-and-Goliath story where David becomes a national hero. The chapter ends with Saul wondering about David. But he doesn’t hate him – yet. By the end of the very next chapter everything has changed. A lot. Saul sent troops to watch David’s house. They were told to kill David when he came out the next morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t escape tonight, you will be dead by morning.” So she helped him climb out through a window, and he fled and escaped.
And so now David is on-the-run.
Mostly I’m wondering about David’s Psalm 59 reaction to the attempt on his life. To suddenly being almost literally under-the-gun. I notice two things he says:
First: you are my strength; I wait for you to rescue me, for you, O God, are my fortress.
Second (near the end): as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when & I am in distress.
David’s confidence & assurance are what stand out as being the most impressive & unexpected responses.
So I’m wondering what-all else will show up in the other on-the-run psalms.

Note: quotes from 1 Samuel 19:11-12 & Psalm 59:1 9 16 (NLT)

Week 14  1 Samuel

A couple of years ago I started tracking the subtitles of the psalms.
Quite a few of the psalms have no subtitle at all. But the ones that do give some extra information about the psalm. Details like:
• who wrote the psalm (“a psalm of David” or “a psalm of Asaph”)
• a specific person addressed (“for Jeduthun, the choir director”)
• recommended instruments (flutes or stringed-instruments)
• recommended tune (“Death of the Son” or “Doe of the Dawn”)
• the psalm’s purpose (“a love song” or “a meditation” or “for teaching” or “a prayer” or “a song for the ascent to Jerusalem”).
All that’s okay but my one reason for looking at psalm subtitles this year is because some psalms were written by David when he was on-the-run from Saul. And last year I wrote myself a note (that I just found): “in 2024 try matching-up the ‘flight-psalm’ subtitles with the actual events in 1 Samuel”.
I found six on-the-run psalms with a pretty definite 1 Samuel connection:
1 Samuel 19:1 11-18 (Psalm 59 David escapes from Saul)
1 Samuel 21:10-15 (Psalm 56 David & Achish of Gath)
1 Samuel 22:9-19 (Psalm 52 Doeg rats on the priest)
1 Samuel 23:19-24 (Psalm 54 the Ziphites betray David)
1 Samuel 23:29-24:7 (Psalm 57 hiding in-the-cave )
1 Samuel 23:29-24:7 (Psalm 142 again hiding in-the-cave).
So my plan is to look at each event in 1 Samuel and check to see what David was thinking about during that event.

Note: I didn’t include Psalms 34 or 63. They seem like possible maybes. But at the same time they might be maybe nots.

Week 14  the day after Easter

Yesterday was Easter Sunday – March 31 2024. Millions of people all around the world affirmed: Jesus Is Risen Indeed! I don’t know most of them but it’s pretty nice to be part of that big a company of believers.
So that was yesterday. Today is the first day of April and that means the beginning of the second quarter of the year. 2024 is 25% gone.
I checked my reading progress for January-March. I‘ve read the 236 chapters from Genesis – Ruth + 89 psalms. 325 chapters. That means I’m 27.3% through the bible in 25% of the year. I’m just a small step ahead of schedule but I feel satisfied with that.

Note: I got bogged down again in Judges this year. I think one big problem with being a 21st-century bible reader reading through the OT is that I’m a 21st-century bible reader. What that means is that I’m left trying to dope-out the point of 3,000 year-old stories that seem to feature cutthroat violence & ruthless lawlessness & anarchic malevolence & dog-eat-dog vendetta murder theft torture and degradation.
It’s very hard to do but one of the basic challenges for a bible reader – under these circumstances – is to ferret out the Main Things:
> I try to sift out the dreadful & non-fundamental things (leave them in the Residual Pile)
> I try to focus on lastingly important things (the Fundamentals)
> Finally…I hope and pray for some assistance (at some point the Lord has to start turning on some lights for readers. Otherwise the bible stays a Dark Book).

Week 13  Judges

The stories of Gideon & Jephthah & Samson are all fairly long (Gideon 100-verses. Jephthah 47-verses. Samson 96-verses).
When it comes to grading them by their successful military victories I’d probably rank them: #1 Samson. #2 Gideon. #3 Jephthah.
The real point though – the glitch – is that the stories of Gideon & Jephthah & Samson don’t end with their spectacular wins.
Gideon vs. Midianites. Victory for Gideon! But then with some of the captured loot Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family. What-in-the-world possessed him to do that is anybody’s guess. But it was an evil and negative turn in what had been a good-looking career.
Jephthah vs. Ammonites. Victory for Jephthah! But…prior to the fight Jephthah (idiotically) promised the Lord that if he beat the Ammonites he’d sacrifice whoever-or-whatever he first saw when he came home. And who did he see? His daughter! For gruesome asininity it’s hard to find a match for Jephthah. An astute-guy who goes evilly-stupid.
Samson vs. Philistines. Multiple victories for Samson! But along with his big successes Samson was a textbook example of Self-Destructive & Irrational & Intemperate Lunacy and a Total Lack of Self-Controls.
The First Three judges consistently navigated their way forward.
The two-step pattern with the Second Three was a) one good step forward and then b) a decision to head back toward square-one.

Note: quote from Judges 8:27 (NLT)

Week 13  Judges

Yesterday I thought that my idea about ranking the Six Majors was pretty good. I figured I’d rank them like I did with the fifteen kings last year.
Today when I thought about it more-and-more it started to look less-and-less like a workable plan.
Anyway one thing I did notice was that the Six Majors seemed to divide into two groups. The First Three & the Second Three.
The First Three – Othniel & Ehud & Deborah/Barak – were successful. Their stories are Success Stories.
The Second Three – Gideon & Jephthah & Samson – were successful. So their stories were Success Stories too. But not just success. Something more like Success with a taste of Failure added-in.
I checked out the First Three:
Othniel’s story is very short (not much longer than the Snippet Lives of the Six Minors). But the Lord promoted/elevated Othniel and gave Othniel victory. Then there was peace.
Ehud’s situation was a bit different but the Lord raised him up too. Ehud organized a successful rebellion against the Moabite overlords. Then there was peace.
The Deborah-Barak story is longer & more complicated. Barak is the warrior-chieftain – the boots-on-the-ground guy. Deborah is something more like a General / Executive Director (the brains-and-heart behind the operation). The result was the same…then there was peace.
I looked for any problems & errors & infractions that clouded the stories of the First Three:
Othniel? No.
Ehud? No.
Deborah/Barak? No.
But I know things are going to be a bit different with the Second Three.

Note: quote from Judges 3:10 (NLT)