Can you imagine someone saying to you of your spouse, “he is
such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him”? That is what Nabal’s servant said of his
master to Nabal’s wife and she didn’t bat an eye. Apparently the man was a piece of work and
she knew it. David and his men have
provided protection for Nabal’s shepherds and his sheep while they sojourned in
the wilderness in hiding from Saul. Nabal, we are told, was a Calebite, which
tells us two things, neither of which comport with his character. Caleb was a faithful man of God who, along
with Joshua, was one of the two spies to counsel the nation to enter the land
in keeping with God’s commandment. The
other thing we know is that Caleb was of the tribe of Judah, the same tribe as
David. Nabal was certainly no read
descendant of Caleb and he failed his own tribe by refusing to provide
hospitality to David who had provided protection for his goods. He was, however, equal to his name, which means
fool or senseless. The man was
apparently quite rich and could easily have afforded to provide as Abigail’s
lavish provision tells us. She is acting
to save not only her husband but also his wealth and his servants.
The kingdom of God and its growth are mysteries. We may have biological understanding of how
seeds grow in the ground but why this is so is not so simple. The question of why this is so is the central
question to which there are no answers found in science. That things are the way they are is given but
why they are this way is yet another problem.
Jesus tells three parables, all of which relate to the kingdom and all
of which use very common symbols. The
lamp is surely intended to give light. Why bother with it if you hide the
light? You know what to do with the
light. The seeds grow because that is
the way things work whether you know the science behind it or not. You may not know that but you do know two things,
how to plant and how and when to harvest.
Finally, the mustard seed is a tiny seed which, when planted, far
exceeds any expectation you might have for it except that you know what it is
capable of doing. The kingdom of God is
similar to these things because we have the knowledge we need, all that needs
to happen is to act in accordance with what we know.
I love the way Luke phrases things sometimes. First, he
tells us that Iconium the unbelieving Jews “stirred up the Gentiles and
poisoned their minds against the brothers.”
Many Christians today would say that they would shake the dust from
their feet because of such opposition but that wasn’t what Paul and Barnabas
did. Luke tells us their response to
opposition was, “so they remained for a long time…” They didn’t give up, they kept preaching and
the Lord did signs among them.
Ultimately the only reason they left was because they learned of a plot
to kill them. Re the events at Lystra
where Paul and Barnabas are mistaken for Zeus and Hermes, see this article on the
myth of Baucis and Philemon. The people
there didn’t want to risk judgment from the gods for failing to provide
hospitality and, because of the healing of the man, presumed that this was the
sign that gods were among them rather than men filled with the Spirit of
God. Based on their beliefs, it is hard
to fault them for acting as they did, it was risky business not to do so. We need to also be looking for God to show up
but we know Him and we should know what to do when He reveals Himself, and it
isn’t to act like Nabal.
No comments:
Post a Comment