Psalm 61, 62; 2 Sam 3:6-21; Acts 16:6-15; Mark 6:30-46
The reunification of the kingdom begins when Abner sees the handwriting on the wall. Having been responsible for the elevation of Ish-bosheth, Abner understands that it is important to get out front of the inevitable rise of David to the kingship of Israel. David is growing “stronger and stronger” so Abner decides it would be a good time to make overtures to David with him being the deliverer of the kingdom. David’s stipulation is that first Saul’s daughter, David’s wife, Michal, must be returned to him. Recall that when David was on the run Saul treated David as a non-person and had given her to another man. Ish-bosheth decides that his hand is weak so he retrieves Michal from her husband who clearly loves her and Abner brings her to David., having gotten consent from the tribes of Israel to accept David as king. Political intrigue is always the rule.
“You give them something to eat..” The disciples have just returned from the mission on which Jesus sent them without provisions, trusting the Lord for all they will receive, housing, food, etc. They have seen the Lord’s ability to provide and have rejoiced in Him and yet no one could imagine that He could feed 5000 people. They had relied upon Him providing through people of peace on their mission but today there was no one with resources adequate to provide for the mass of people assembled. Amazingly, Jesus is able to provide miraculously for the needs of the people with only five loaves and two small fish. Could the kingdom be coming together with one king accepted by all the people?
Notice here the transition in pronouns from verse 6 to verse 11. Luke begins verse 6 with third person plural, “they went” and in verse 11 he says, “we made a direct voyage.” At this point his story becomes personal, he is an eyewitness to all that will follow, he is not relying on any source but his own eyes and ears. He sees first a person of peace, Lydia, who implored the missionaries to stay with her, she would provide for their needs while they were in Philippi which is clearly a Roman city without many Jews there. To establish a synagogue required ten Jewish men based on Abraham’s bargain with God over Sodom that He would not destroy the city if ten righteous men were found there. Absent a synagogue, the Jewish women in particular would have gathered at the riverside as a place of prayer and discussion of their faith and so Paul goes there and finds these women receptive to his evangelism concerning Jesus. Lydia, a worshiper of God, she would not have been a Jew but a believer in Yahweh, accepts Paul’s testimony and there is a base for missions quickly established in this place. The lessons today all are about the establishment and enlargement of kingdoms and acceptance of a rightful king.
Crown Him the Son of God, before the worlds began,
And ye who tread where He hath trod, crown Him the Son of Man;
Who every grief hath known that wrings the human breast,
And takes and bears them for His own, that all in Him may rest.
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