2 Sam. 3-5
Here is another example of what I mentioned yesterday. David took all these wives – something that definitely comes off as contrary to God’s Biblical plan and preference,. He even goes so far as to take his former wife, Michal (Saul’s daughter) from her current husband, causing him much grief. Yet there is no indication that any of these actions are considered to be wrong or ungodly.
I know Michal belonged to David before she was given to Paltiel. But taking her back didn’t undo that wrong, and two wrongs never makes a right. David had plenty of wives, while Paltiel, who clearly loved Michal, likely only had the one. How was this right for David to do? Perhaps this is just reinforcement that David, or any other figure in the Bible other than Jesus, no matter how good a person they were, is not to be my model for life. While I can learn from them, Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the one I should strive to model.
And once again, David was quick to execute the men who took Ish-bosheth’s life (the last of Saul’s sons) while doing nothing to Joab for killing Abner in cold blood. In fact, Joab remained in a high position with David for his entire reign. David actually had his son, Solomon, execute Joab after David’s death. I wish I understood the nuances of these actions because too often I can’t make heads or tails out of what was right and what was not so much. I guess the world isn’t all that black-and-white, but how, then, are we to live?
John 1:1-28
I love John’s description of who Jesus is in the first chapter of John. Jesus is the Word, who was God and who became flesh and dwelt among us. He was the life that is the light of men that the darkness has not overcome. This is Ps 119: 105 personified – “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” The Psalms refer to the law as God’s word, and Jesus Himself says that He is the fulfillment of the law (Matt 5:17). Because Jesus, the word that is life, fulfills the law, John is able to say in vs 17, “the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”