David seems always to fall for the same ruse. As with Nathan in the matter of Bathsheba, Joab
and the wise woman from Tekoa, later known as the home of Amos the prophet,
concoct a story to tell David which will ultimately elicit from him wisdom
concerning an issue that is, in actuality, his own situation. The woman tells of two sons, one of whom is
murdered by the other and of a blood avenger who seeks the life of the
murderer. This will leave her childless
and without anyone to inherit whatever she has.
This would have been an exception to the law of the blood avenger for
those reasons. David judges that for
these reasons the law is not to be enacted against the remaining son and in so
doing, the woman points out that the same is true of Absalom who has been
banished for his actions in murdering Amnon. David sees that Joab is behind
this ruse and the woman finally admits that they have indeed conspired to get
the king to see the “truth” of the matter.
Jesus, like with all other moral teachings, raises the bar
on divorce. Moses permitted a man to
divorce his wife (a woman had no such rights) by giving her a letter and
setting her free. Jesus goes back to
Genesis for God’s original intent which was based in gender complementarity,
the original creation of male and female, and in that complementarity they can
become one flesh, what is lack in one is
completed in the other. They are to
remain one flesh and divorce is not contemplated. Jesus says that those who divorce and remarry
are adulterers. The thing to remember is
grace, sin is forgiveable if we come to the place of repentance but divorce,
according to Jesus, is sin. The church
has lost its moral footing on this issue and needs to reclaim it. It is interesting to me that this is
immediately followed by the issue of children coming to Jesus and his injunction
to let no one hinder them from coming. Divorce
often affects children most and children of divorced parents have reasons for
doubting the faithful love of God as they have seen covenantal love break
down.
Paul continues his journey to Jerusalem by saying goodbye to
old friends along the way, all of whom have not only a bad feeling about the
future but all of whom know how this is going to end. Agabus comes and prophesies with
demonstrations about Paul’s future if he persists in going to Jerusalem and
all, including Luke, do their best to dissuade Paul from going. Paul, however, has no concern about this
eventuality, he seems to agree completely with the prophetic word but is
certain this is God’s will. Remember way
back when Paul first became a believer he was told all that he must suffer for
the Name of Jesus. It would certainly
have included this and Paul, with the same attitude of Jesus, goes
willingly. Could God trust you with such
knowledge? We all have crosses to bear,
David did with Absalom and that only got worse, sometimes marriage can be our
cross as well when it is hard. God can
redeem and restore anything but if not, we are still called to bear it well.
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