Where is David?

Genealogies are usually not the most exciting parts of the Bible.  The first dozen chapters of First Chronicles in the Old Testament is rather dry.  Matthew starts his Gospel with one of these lists, but it's rather exciting when the reader takes a minute to see what Matthew is really trying to say.

Matthew 1:1 - "A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the Son of Abraham."

Rather odd verse.  Neither of those are literally true statements.  However, Matthew is telling us that it is really important that Jesus came from the line of David since God promised a savior would come through David's family (2 Samuel 7:16) and through Abraham since God promised a savior would come through Abraham's offspring (Genesis 12:3).  God was fulfilling both this promises, and Matthew wanted people to make the connection.

Genealogies are lists which can get repetitive, but the writer is trying to get people's attention when there is a break in the list.   Look for the breaks in Matthew 1 and spend some time finding out why those breaks are significant.


How many times do you see David in the first chapter of Matthew?  More than you might expect!  Matthew was writing to a primarily Jewish audience, and all the good Jews knew that the messiah was coming from the David's line.  So where does Matthew mention David?

Matthew 1:1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham
Matthew 1:6 and Jesse the father of King David.  David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Matthew 1:17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
Matthew 1:20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Six times - pretty good, yeah?  Well, it turns out that there is another place you see David, though it is hidden from us English speakers.

In the Hebrew language, the symbols for the letters were used for numbers, too.  This made it easy for people to assign a number value to Hebrew words.  If this would be done in English, the letter 'a' would still be the letter 'a,'  but if it has a dot over the letter 'a' it would be the number '1.'

The first letters of the alphabet would be:

We could find out how much 'dad' is worth by adding the letters.

        

In Hebrew it looks more like this:

And the name 'David' would be:

(In Hebrew the vowels are not used, so it is just d-v-d)

David would then be equal to:

Why is that important?  Because now you can see David a few more times!

Matthew 1:17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.

So why do we have the Bible?  What is so important about what has been written down by a bunch of guys two to three thousand years ago?  The author and apostle, John, was willing to acknowledge the fact that there were a lot of things that happened, even during his own lifetime, that were not written down and recorded for people, but he wanted to give the reason that any of it has been shared.  It's not only the purpose of his book, but I believe it is the purpose of the entire Bible:

John 20:31 "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name."

Dangerous Healer

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In the book, The Horse and His Boy written by C.S. Lewis as part of the Chronicles of Narnia, a young man is talking to Aslan, the great lion who represents Jesus in this series.  The boy recounts a time when another lion, a wild and ferocious lion, was chasing him through a forest while he was on his horse, even landing a blow with his claws on the boy's horse.  The boy asked Aslan if he knew this other lion.  Aslan replies that there is no other lion.  In shock, the boy asks why Aslan had been chasing him, so the great lion describes the imminent danger he was in, explaining why such actions were required.

The same perplexed feeling that the boy felt may fill the readers of Hosea 6:1:

Hosea 6:1

Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces
    but he will heal us;
he has injured us
    but he will bind up our wounds. 

It is strange to 'return' to the one who has 'torn us to pieces,' the one who has 'injured us.'  He, however, is also the one who heals us and binds up our wounds.  It is hard to see someone suffering in hard times, but when we really trust God to be 'the God that he says he is,' it allows us to walk away from the need to rescue.  God is the only rescuer and savior that will help, and it is powerful when we come to the place of understanding that.

Hosea was speaking to a group of people who had been ignoring God for a while and bad things were coming.  The book of Hosea is a painful love story of a prophet who repeatedly loves a woman who does not deserve it, mirroring a God who repeatedly loves a people who do not deserve it.  This undeserved love flows beyond the book of Hosea into our lives, as well, so that we, too, may rejoice with the psalmist:

Psalm 31:19

How abundant are the good things
    that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you bestow in the sight of all,
    on those who take refuge in you. 

Pointing To Jesus

Solomon has been dubbed the wisest person to have ever lived.  He was able to demonstrate this wisdom to foreign diplomats like the Queen of Sheba, to his own subjects through wise judgments, and to all those around through the great prosperity that the nation of Israel experienced during his reign as King of Israel.  God has promised a dynasty for David,

2 Samuel 7:16
Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.

And this was coming true in the person of Solomon.

1 Kings 8:15
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David.

But Solomon had his weaknesses, as well.  He loved foreign women and was enticed by their gods and pagan rituals.  Soon Israel was struggling, again.

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God had a plan.  He had a plan from the very beginning.  2 Samuel 7:16 is one of the four great promises of the Old Testament.  God made many covenants or promises with his people throughout the centuries, but four of them stand high above the rest, similar to four great mountain peaks reaching high above the multitude:

• Genesis 3:15 Eve's offspring would crush Satan's head
• Genesis 12:1-3 Abraham was called to be a blessing to all people of the earth
• 2 Samuel 7:16 David's throne would last forever
• Jeremiah 31:31-34 The days are coming when God will make a new covenant with Israel

God's plan was not Solomon or any other hero of the faith - everything points to Jesus.  The offspring that would crush Satan's head was Jesus.  Jesus' atoning sacrifice through the lineage of Abraham would be a blessing to all people of the earth.  David's descendant, Jesus, would reign on the eternal throne.  That new covenant, which was whispered since the days of Adam and Eve, would be through Jesus.  Jesus was the answer to all four of the great promises, for the whole Bible points to him.

When we are able to step back and see how the Bible continually points to the person of Jesus, it reminds us that our lives should reflect the same reality.  Like a fleet of ships sailing across the ocean, we are able to avoid the problem of running into each other when we are all pointed toward the same destination, when are lives are all pointed toward Jesus.

Great things point to Jesus.  It stands to reason that we should be oriented toward him, as well.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

How should a Christian respond when they are in a 'helpless' situation?  If a soccer team was loosing the game while the other team cheating and the referees do not seem to care, how should a Christian act? If you are supposed to have more experience before you get a job, but you can't have more experience without doing the job, how can a Christian respond?

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We do not know much about Abigail's life before she encountered David, but chances are it was pretty hard.  Her husband was both "a fool" and one of the most powerful people in the area. He was selfish and self-absorbed. Most people in her position would feel very trapped; the consequences of having Nabal for a husband might be as awful as the consequences of having no husband at all. Without someone to provide for her, she would not have basic necessities.  Having a provider like Nabal was a daily challenge. How did Abigail handle her strenuous home life?

We may not know what her life was like, but we do know how she responded in a crisis - with humility and wisdom.  David was ready to destroy Abigail and her household for her husband  being cruel - it was an extreme response, but it's never a good idea to upset warriors.  Abigail's response sounded something like these Psalms:

Psalm 40:11
Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord;
    may your love and faithfulness always protect me.

Psalm 30:11

You turned my wailing into dancing;
    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

Abigail did not act out of anger or with intent to harm anyone, but humbly pleaded for David to spare her husband and household.  Anything else might have been disastrous.

We do not always have the ability to control our situations, but we can always control our responses. Sometimes fairness and justice seem to be lost in the process, but like the Psalmist we should be looking to our higher source for our vindication, not to the popularity found in the people around us.

Maybe being between a rock and a hard place is not so bad if you remember that the Lord is your Rock!  May God reassure you with his peace when it is lacking in your life.

Where to Put Your Trust

During the time of the judges (roughly the time between Moses and David), Israel was given a number of unlikely leaders including one by the name of Deborah.  These days Deborah is used as the name for a female - and it was used in the same way during Bible times.  Surprisingly, the nation of Israel was lead by a woman, one who made wise decisions in peaceful ways (Judges 4-5).  Deborah was given a message from God that the male military leader would win a battle against an enemy that was equipped much better than God's people; the Canaanites had the latest battle technology - chariots.  Israel would be on foot while their oppressors were riding in the "tanks" of their time.  Israel's leader said he would not go into battle without Deborah - he wanted Deborah there to make sure she was really getting this message from God; he was not putting his trust in God.

Psalm 20:7

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. 

Deborah said that she would go into battle with him, but the honor of the victory will not go to him.  Instead, the honor would be given to a woman (even though that woman was not Deborah!).  Two wise women lead Israel in surprising ways.  Female leaders are much more common these days, but it was a rare occurrence in ancient times.

The central question of the story of Deborah is, "Whom do you trust?"  It is the same question before us nearly three thousand years later.

Isaiah 50:10

Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
    who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on their God. 

The greatest power does not belong to the one who has the most confidence.  Many leaders fall into the trap of thinking they are the answers to the problems of their community and world.  The power is beyond us, yet for those who believe, it is also within us - the one who moved into our neighborhood and lived with humans: Jesus (John 1:14).

Isaiah 50 is known as one of the Servant Songs where the servant of God is described as someone who obeys God and suffers for it.  Isaiah 53 is probably the most well known Servant Song where it describes the servant as being "bruised for our transgression... crushed for our iniquity... and by his wounds we are healed."  He is the one who deserves our admiration and honor.  Jesus is the one who deserves our trust.

There was a very real and a very frightening power the Israelites were up against during the time of Deborah.  You may also be facing something that appears to be beyond you - therefore, trust in the One who is also beyond you, yet within you.

Not Inadequate

The book of Judges is a frustratingly insane part of the Bible (if insane is defined as doing the same thing over and over while expecting to get new results).  The Israelites were in their new land and had defeated most of their enemies (part of their problems came from marrying many of these pagan people and being drawn to their gods) after Joshua, and their question became whether to listen to God and obey Him or listen to their own sinful desires.  This created a cycle of being oppressed by a foreign people, crying out to God for help, God sending a judge (leader to deliver the people), enjoying a time of peace and prosperity, and falling back into sinful behaviors.

Gideon was one of the judges.  He was not the big, strong Samson who overpowered the Philistines.  Instead, he was quite the opposite, being a member of the weakest family in the weakest clan in one of the weakest tribes of Israel (Manassah was only a half tribe, not even a full tribe!)

Judges 6:1 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years God gave them into the hands of the Midianites.

This the the recurring theme, and once again we find the children of Israel wandering away from the God who had saved them before. God's power is made perfect in a person's weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), for God wanted everyone to know it was He doing the work, not Gideon.  Gideon did not even trust that God was going to help him, at first, and required two different miracles with a sheep skin to prove to himself that God was really going to do this.

We have 20/20 hindsight of the book of Judges, seeing that if they just would have listened to God they could have avoided a lot of pain and suffering.  God did promise grace, that even when things were bad and the Israelites looked like they were out of luck, God would come through and work in their lives again.

Deuteronomy 30:2-3 and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. 

God does not use guilt, but the devil will.  God does not want you to be bogged down by your past sins - Jesus already paid full price for you!  Spend some time with God listening to to His voice and what He wants to say to you, for God wants to use you, despite any weaknesses or inadequacies you feel about yourself.

If You Can't Control Your Situation, Control Your Reaction

"It's critical that when you are heading the soccer ball, you strike the ball; don't let the ball hit you."  This is what my high school soccer coach told us.  Most of soccer is played with the feet, but when the opportunity arises and a header is called for, hit it the right way.

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The Biblical character, Esther, was in a tough position.  She was not supposed to approach the king without being summoned, but if she did not approach the king many of her Jewish countrymen would be murdered.  Her uncle knew that God was bigger than one person and the fate of the world does not rest on her, but why not let God use her in this unique situation?

Esther 4:14
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” 

It is similar to striking the soccer ball - that she would be much more effective if she attacked the situation with God working through her rather than just letting the situation come upon her.  She could not change what others wanted to do, but she could control her reaction.

The writer of the book of Hebrews picks up this idea by encouraging his readers and listeners to attack their situations and live on purpose.  The world does not need more people who just react to what is given to them - God wants to use people who will run the race marked out for them.

Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

These words follow Hebrews 11 which is known as the great faith chapter - the definition and word are used in powerful ways to show how God has worked through his people and how he continues to work through them, people who see that God is active in their lives.  They lived by faith, therefore fix your eyes on Jesus, get rid of sin, and run.

You are not in your present situation by accident.  Wherever you are, God is working through your circumstances.  You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, so live for Jesus.  God can work through other people, too, but maybe you are where you are for such a time as this.