It didn’t take long to create an utter mess. David had been anointed by Samuel, the man
chosen by God to anoint the first kings of Israel. When Saul had died, David inquired of the
Lord where to go and was told to go to Hebron where his tribe, Judah, accepted
him as their king. David reached out to
the people of Jabesh-Gilead who had buried Saul (remember that his body and
that of Jonathan were affixed to the wall of Beth-shan). Saul’s mother would likely have been a woman
of Jabesh-Gilead, so they would have been kinsmen of his. Abner, the head of Saul’s army, took it upon
himself to set up Saul’s other son, Ish-bosheth, as king and the rest of the
tribes accept him as their new king for a period of two years. Doesn’t it sometimes frustrate you that God allows
such things? We are required to accept
things as they are in the belief that He is sovereign and that there is a
purpose for all things.
There are echoes of the story of Esther in the story of John
the Baptist. The king, Herod here, has a
bit too much merriment at a banquet and then makes rash decisions that end up
not being what he would wish at all. In
Esther’s case, it all worked out in the end.
In John’s case, it certainly appeared not to work out well. Herod was a Jew and he had broken the law
concerning marriage to your brother’s wife.
Herodias divorced her first husband, Herod Antipas’ half-brother, in
order to marry Antipas who had also divorced his wife. John’s commitment to the righteousness of God
wouldn’t allow him to remain silent in the matter as, apparently other Jewish
leaders had done, so Herod had him arrested and imprisoned. Herod’s attitude towards John however, was
complex, “When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him
gladly.” He knew the truth apparently
but it spoke against him. When we are
perplexed it often means we aren’t hearing because of sin in our lives that we
don’t want to deal with as sin.
Paul was not prepared to restore John Mark to the mission
team since he had left them once before in Pamphylia. We have no details of this incident, only
that we are told in chapter 13 that when the original missionary journey from
Antioch was undertaken someone named John began to be with the team early on
and then left to go back to Jerusalem.
Barnabas was for restoration while Paul opposed it and apparently the
disagreement was strong enough that the two men chose to part ways. Barnabas was the man who brought Paul into
the church, he seems to have had a heart for restoration and raising up those
who were outcasts. We need people like
that in the church and here we can see this not as a church split but
multiplication of ministries. Paul
raised up this man Silas to be his new companion and it seems that he too chose
well in the matter. We first hear of
Timothy here as well and it is odd that as the work now is to deliver the good
word that the Jerusalem council has not required Gentile believers to be
circumcised that Paul would circumcise Timothy but sometimes we have to take
away objections to hearing the message and that is what Paul has done. God is sovereign and purposeful in all
things, even when we are at odds it is sometimes the case that He uses this for
His glory.
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