The description of David given here sounds like what we
would call a Renaissance man, "who is skillful in playing, a man of valor,
a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is
with him.” Given that David was just
anointed as king in Jesse's presence it surely must have seemed strange to the
father that his son is again singled out for recognition and to serve the
current king. Saul's initial reaction
was to love David, making him his right hand man, his armor-bearer. As we meet Goliath we find he is nine feet tall,
his coat of mail weighed two hundred pounds and his spear two hundred forty
pounds that is a scary guy. His taunt
and promise that if anyone defeated him the Philistines would serve the
Israelites certainly seemed a safe proposition.
Saul, if you recall was the biggest man of Israel and now he is cowering
in fear with the rest.
This has been one incredible day. The women found the empty tomb and saw an
angel, Peter rushed to the tomb to see for himself and marveled and wondered
what had happened, the men on the road to Emmaus saw Jesus and conversed with
him then rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the others and while they were
discussing these things, Jesus appeared to them. Is it any wonder they were terrified. What in the world was going on here? How can such things be? They still disbelieved for joy, one of my
favorite phrases in the Bible. They knew
it was too good to be true, surely they were imaging this miracle, but there
Jesus stood. Eating the fish proved the
resurrection wasn't some spiritual apparition, it was bodily. His ministry in the body might be finished
but theirs was just beginning, they had mission and purpose now they needed
only the power which was promised. We
have received it all, what hinders us from mission and from joy?
The distance from Caesarea to Joppa seems to be about 36
miles, a full days journey so Peter invites the servants to lodge with him that
evening at Simon's home before starting out next day. He has been told to go with these men, so
there is no delaying due to indecision.
Cornelius, no matter what he knew about Peter, had reason to worship him
but it would nearly be unimaginable for a centurion to worship anyone other
than the emperor, much less a common Jewish man. The angel's word, however, certainly made him
expect something great. Peter's
admonition to stand up and not worship are well spoken but Peter's humility
isn't all that great. He credits himself
with condescension to associate with these outsiders in obedience to God's Word
and says, so what do you want.
Cornelius' response is essentially, I had an angelic visitation also
although he doesn't use that word, and I, too, was obedient to the word of God
to send for you. Could this be a
coincidence or was the same God speaking to both men? Cornelius says, we are here waiting to hear
what you have to say. The onus is now on
Peter. Peter stands before a soldier
just as David did, whose knee will bow?
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