Category: The Bible

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God’s Good People

INTRODUCTION

Several years ago, my wife and I took one of those vacations…you know the kind, It was a 4 day trip to Disney World, tickets included, for a total of $350 dollars. Total! They only required and hour or so of our time on Saturday morning for a tour of their facilities. So, we signed up!

I prefaced our tour with Phillipe by saying, “We won’t be buying anything today. So if you want to save your time, we’ll sign the paper and be on our way.” Phillipe assured us that we’d be quick and that he wasn’t allowed to let us off the hook that easy. We took the tour, which ended up taking about 3 hours, not one. The facilities were awesome. The rooms were fantastic! They had a lazy river and pizza shop right by the pool. I understate it when I say it was indeed nice.

We ended our tour sitting with Phillipe at a small round table in a big room with a lot of other small tables. (Every time someone would purchase a time share, I mean become a member of the vacation club, they would pop a bottle of champagne. There was a continuous popping going on in this room. They were selling these things left and right.) Phillipe gives us a run down of all the benefits and where you could vacation around the world.  All this could be yours for $43,000! I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. He had to be crazy! I just paid $350 for a vacation, what made him think I had $43,000 laying around the house for a time share. I had no problem saying no.

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God’s Good World

INTRODUCTION

Every good story has a good beginning. Consider this line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Can you name this book?*

Do you remember the first movie you ever saw in the theatre? I don’t know if it was my first movie, but I remember being a small kid watching  Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. The opening music…the way the words scrolled across the screen…and then the camera moved into panning an imperial ship. I was hooked.

What’s one of your favorite movies? How does it begin? One of my favorite movies is Red Dawn.** In the movie’s opening, a high school teacher is giving a lecture on the  invasion practices of a medieval army, describing their practices. This foreshadows the films plot and ending. It also shows the beginning of the invasion of WW3 in a small Colorado town.

The Bible has a great beginning too! The opening words are, “In the beginning God…” There’s a lot we can learn from how the Bible begins. What do these 4 words tell us about God and/or the Bible?

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Exegetical Notes: 2 Samuel 22:26-36, 50-51

2 Samuel 22 is comprised of a psalm of thanksgiving and praise directed toward God from King David. It reveals much about the king’s love for God. It also revels much about the character of God. Chapter 22 proves to be highly significant because of it’s classic psalm structure and the fact that this is the longest quoted material we have from King David.

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Exegetical Notes: 2 Samuel 21:1-6, 10-14

Chapter 21 provides us with a somewhat odd story regarding an ongoing famine during the reign of David. It gives seemingly several odd theological and ethical dilemmas. However, we do see an emphasis on the justice of God for those who may be oppressed as well as some possible causation for natural disaster.

21 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?”

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Exegetical Notes: 2 Samuel 13:15-20; 31-39

The immediate context of these verses is found in 2 Samuel 13:1-14, where Amnon, with the help of his friend Jonadab, devise a plan for Amnon to force himself upon his half sister Tamar.

One common thread we see between our two pericopes is that of grief, which can be noted from the tearing of garments and wearing of ash on the forehead (13:19, 31). We would do well to consider that grief, no matter its shape or form, is a consequence of sin. This is not to say that grief is always the result of personal, direct sin. At times, it may be. However, at other times, as is the case with Tamar in verses 1-14, her grief is caused by the sin of others.

Grief runs in direct contrast to God’s original creation where everything is described as blessed by God and “good” (Gen. 1:28-31). We weren’t meant to experience the pains of death, illness, and sin. Yet, in a fallen world, we often do. Grief is meant to cause us to seek comfort in the gracious redemption of creation through Christ (Rom. 8:18-25).

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Exegetical Notes: 2 Samuel 3:8-31

8 Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, “Am I a dog’s head of Judah? To this day I keep showing steadfast love to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David. And yet you charge me today with a fault concerning a woman. 9 God do so to Abner and more also, if I do not accomplish for David what the Lord has sworn to him, 10 to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.” 11 And Ish-bosheth could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him.

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Exegetical Notes: 2 Samuel 1:22-2:7

22 “From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.

Continues the lamentation of David over the death of Saul and Jonathan (see. 1:17, 18). Officially titled “The Song of the Bow”. 

David highlights both Saul’s and Jonathan’s reputations on the battlefield in verse 22. Jonathan is known for his mastery of the bow and arrow, while Saul is a known swordsman. 

23 “Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In life and in death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.

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Exegetical Notes: 2 Corinthians 9:1-15

9 Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints,

Paul uses a bit of honey here to convince the believers in Corinth to complete their original intention of participating in the Jerusalem Offering. (See. 8:6)

“the ministry for the saints” – more specifically the Jerusalem Offering. As Paul would go from town to town on his missionary journey, he collected an offering to present to the believers in Jerusalem.

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