How Does David Look Now?

Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.  He had written in the letter, saying, " Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die."  So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men.  The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David's servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died. (2 Samuel 11:14-17 NASB)

 When I visited the Dominican Republic some years ago we drove by a modern monument that was clearly tragic.  When I asked about it, I was told it was for the the men who killed Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican Republic.  The story went that Trujillo had a group of men who would go through the city and kidnap women for him, once he slept with them, he would release them.  At one point he captured the wives of some of his top police leaders, and they refused.  So he jailed their husbands.  They still refused, so he killed them all and their husbands and threw them off this cliff where the monument stood.  So, 5 men (related to the victims) very high in Trujillo's court arranged for and carried out his assassination.  They paid for his death with their lives, but were remembered years afterward as heroes.

Trujillo was a tyrant, the worst of the idea of dictator.  He was an amoral thug, an evil ruler.  But, that's what we expect when someone has absolute power; absolute corruption.  We don't expect it from David though. 

Even knowing this chapter is coming, having gone through Samuel up to this point, it still shocks.  What David did as he sinned with Bathsheba is still such a deviation from his character to this point that it's hard to imagine.  Having Uriah killed is one thing, but to send the command by his own hand was a stroke of unusual cruelty for David.  It means that David knew he could trust the character of Uriah to not read the note while in transit.  It means that David knew the character of Uriah was above his own.  In fact, reading of Uriah to this point is tragically ironic as he consistently demonstrates more moral character than the king he serves so faithfully.  One of the saddest ironies of Scripture is the response by Uriah when David asks him why he did not go down to his house and hide David's sin with his wife.  He swears on David's life and the life of David's soul he would not do this thing.  He refers to the Ark and his fellow soldiers in tents, the army in the field.  Why was David not there?  It's a tragic irony, where you see his moral character and faithfulness to his king become his undoing.

David kills one of his own 30 faithful long-serving valorous body guards, one who fought beside him while running from Saul, while living in Ziklag, against the Amalekites, and in Hebron.  Uriah stands as one of faithfulness and character, highlighting these qualities lacking in David; at least right here.

It's true David seems devoid of these qualities right here, and that they are replaced with the worst of human qualities.  With David, the worst is never the end of the story.  With David there is another quality that remains at the bedrock of all the others.  He is willing to repent.  Chapter 11 is about his moral failure of epic proportions.  Chapter 12 is about his repentance, also of epic proportions.  Chapter 11 is the worst of David, where chapter 12 is arguably the best.

What this chapter does is bring David's rock-solid faith into sharp relief.  It's not a faith so strong he never fails.  It's a faith so strong he always gets back up and recovers from failure.  It's not amazing that David has this moral failure, it is shocking, but not amazing.  What is amazing is what Nathan is able to do in the next chapter.  And so you don't go all 'fearless-man-of-God' on Nathan, read chapter 11 carefully, and consider how many people knew exactly what David did.  I wonder how many of his faithful soldiers moved a few more blocks away from the palace.  While it wasn't amazing that Nathan knew, it was amazing that he had the courage, knowing what he did, to confront the king.  I'm sure he was afraid, but we'll get into that in the next chapter.

The hinge pin on which the life of David turns is the last verse of chapter 11.  From there a failure becomes a lesson.  But until that verse, it seems very dark, David seems in danger of becoming another despot, another malevolent dictator, another example of human depravity and the utter corruption of absolute power.

I wonder how many people, without the absolute power, hide from God wearing fig leaves, rather than approach the hinge-pin of their own lives.  I have lived from childhood comfortable with shadows and shades of truth.  I have seen it in my family (haven't we all?), but I never saw a real emergence from the shadows.  They weren't bad enough to really require some dramatic repentance, I suppose.  Or, like so many of us, denial makes living among them seem lit.  The gray semi-gloom becomes normal and we treat it like light.  Yet reading Scripture creates an uncomfortable feeling that all is not as light as it should be.

David passes out of darkness and into light.  He pays the consequences and accepts from his Master what comes from his own sin.  The pathway to light is often paved with consequences.  And it is usually these consequences that keep me in gloom, and my fear of them keeps me from a light I can barely imagine.  I suppose in times like this, what I need is the courage to follow the path of consequences into the light.  But I have found that I also need patience, peace, and joy never hurts either.  These things are only found growing on the branches of a life filled with the Spirit of my Master.  So, really, what I have always needed was the presence of my Master in me; just like David.

Facing Two Armies With God

Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and in the rear, he selected from all the choice men of Israel, and arrayed them against the Arameans.  But the remainder of the people he placed in the hand of Abishai his brother, and he arrayed them against the sons of Ammon.  He said, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me, but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you.  Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight." (2 Samuel 10:9-12 NASB)

The character of Joab in Scripture is not one of those I would point out as one of great theological insight, not one of upstanding moral character, or one as a good example of anything but killing people.  He was really good at that.  His references to God aren't often and they aren't typically deep, but sometimes it's the practical piece that turns out to be so great.  That's the case here.

So, here Joab has brought part of the army; the good part, but only part (1 Chronicles 19 says all the fighting men).  We're not told how many enemies were here, and 1 Chronicles 19 only tells us part of the numbers involved.  It was still fighting front and back.  It wasn't a good tactical situation to address, but Joab was not in his first rodeo either.  He put the best against the 'attackers', and the rest against the 'defenders'.  That kept the defenders from becoming the attackers.  But then he rally's the troops.

Joab's words are actually very insightful, but only along practical lines.  They don't form a pattern I would necessarily follow every time I go to God or address Him.  Remember this isn't David and His insight into God, it's his 'pet assassin' he's not even that fond of.  So, consider the source as you consider the statement.

"Be strong and let us show ourselves courageous for our people and the cities of our God; and may God do what is good in His eyes."  The statement has three elements: 1) Be strong/courageous in action as we engage this bad situation.  2) Be inspired by our concern for our people and their daily life including worship. 3) Let God do His part, whatever He decides.

The lesson I learn is also made up of three parts: 1) My Master can work with courage because it demonstrates faith in Him. 2) My Master does not put in situations for myself alone, but to use me as a blessings in the lives of others. 3) My Master will do what He sees fit to do, BUT it would also be good to know what He would have me do as His designed role for me.

The third lesson may have been assumed for Joab because he already was the leader of the fighting forces, and he had a fight before him.  He just did his job the best he knew how.  But David would ask before battles, and sometimes do the battle differently at different times.  I think Joab's statement assumes that he can't know what God will do, nor what God would have him do.  I doubt that Joab thinks God doesn't have those insights, but I think Joab thought that they are inaccessible to him.  Keep in mind, David's not there.  Ordinarily, it would be David providing that insight.

So, I am to be courageous because I am convinced my Master loves me, has my back, and is using me for His service.  The work of my Master done through me isn't just for me, but for those I love around me.  The work of my Master done without me is even more important for His glory. 

Yeah, okay, I totally twisted that one around, but it's still true.  True, I need to do the work, be faithful in it, and know God will do as He sees best.  But really, isn't His part more likely to gain Him glory than my part?  I bring 'five loaves and two fish' worth of my own ability, and yet He feeds 5,000 hungry males worth of effective work.  Isn't His part more important than my loaves and fish?  Doesn't what He does bring Him more glory than what I do?  I believe it does.

Just When You Thought You'd Made It...

Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, "Are you Ziba?" And he said, " I am your servant."  The king said, "Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?" And Ziba said to the king, " There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet."  So the king said to him, "Where is he?" And Ziba said to the king, "Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lo- debar." (2 Samuel 9:2-4 NASB)

Then the king called Saul's servant Ziba and said to him, " All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master's grandson.  You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce so that your master's grandson may have food; nevertheless Mephibosheth your master's grandson shall eat at my table regularly." Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.  Then Ziba said to the king, "According to all that my lord the king commands his servant so your servant will do." So Mephibosheth ate at David's table as one of the king's sons. (2 Samuel 9:9-11 NASB)

 The story of Mephibosheth, and his inclusion in David's story is interesting.  One reason for the 'interest' in my opinion is Ziba.  Everyone forgets about Ziba, and I suspect that, in David's day, that's pretty much how Ziba wanted it.  He was the servant of Saul, and the detail in 2 Samuel is that he had fifteen sons and twenty servants of his own.  He was finally out on his own and doing well, when this happened.

Another interesting detail, Ziba has the distinction of being known as Saul's servant, but Saul's dead.  Also, Ziba knows exactly where Mephibosheth, the one crippled in both feet, is.  I think it's an important detail that this son of Jonathan wasn't with his family, but with someone else, outside of the territory of Benjamin.  Why isn't the servant of Saul responsible for taking care of one of the last survivors?  If Mephibosheth is lame in both feet, he's not that able of taking care of himself, so why isn't this servant of his grandfather taking care of him?

David calls for Mephibosheth and makes him like one of his own sons.  But he also gives to him all that belonged to Saul.  At first this sounds great.  But two things make this rather disruptive.  First, Ziba was doing great on his own, in his own right, and now he's back to being a servant.  Second, this wasn't the only survivor of Saul's household.  Read the confusing account of 2 Samuel 21.  There were actually at least seven additional children in Saul's house, two sons of Saul and five sons of one of his daughters.  What happened to them when David returned all that was Saul's to Mephibosheth?  And these are just the ones we know about.

It's at the point where David gives Ziba the responsibility to manage the lands and house of Saul on behalf of Mephibosheth that we are told he has fifteen sons and twenty servants of his own.  I think we're told this to provide some idea of Ziba's situation before he is again put in the role of 'servant' of a living master.  He's no longer 'master of his own fate'.  And he was doing so well at it too.

So here's a few possible motivating things in the back ground which could explain this kindness and Ziba's fate.  First, I suspect that everyone knew about Mephibosheth, but he was always the 'leftover' rather than the choice child.  I think that's why he was with this other, generous family.  I don't think his family was all that keen on his being with them.  He was lame, and therefore obviously 'stricken of God'.  He had a 'lofty' name (takes away shame), but clearly he's a constant reminder of the day Saul fell (that's when he went lame, that day).  The family had another "Mephibosheth" to take his place (who was later hanged by the Gibeonites).   So for David to show this kindness is unexpected, and I think that's one reason Ziba brings him up.  Who would show kindness to one 'stricken of God'?  Well, it seems David would, especially when the son is actually one of Jonathan's.

The second thing here is David's love for Jonathan that sees a son of his treated this way by the family.  So he reverses his fortune, and now he's on top.  Now the family works for him, and he's no longer dependent on the 'leftovers' if any.  It can't sit well with the rest of Saul's family.  When sons of Saul are required to atone for the Gibeonite atrocity by Saul, Mephibosheth (son of Jonathan) is spared, but seven others are not.  It can't sit well with the family that David spared the cripple.

This brings me, finally, to Ziba and Mephibosheth in the account of Absalom's rebellion.  As David is leaving Ziba meets him and claims that Mephibosheth thinks he's going to get the kingdom now (seriously?), and for this David gives everything to Ziba.  Then when David returns Mephibosheth is a wreck, obviously never having taken care of himself while David is gone, and claims Ziba never came to get him and he had no donkey (missed the last taxi out of town?).  David gives him half back, and Mephibosheth says Ziba can keep it, he's just glad David returned.  David didn't seem to know who to believe (neither sounds that credible), but I think Ziba was the liar of the two.

So what's my takeaway here?  I think the lesson best learned from Mephibosheth is found when you look at all three characters, Mephibosheth, David, and Ziba.  I learn that God never discounts someone just because they're lame (the first recorded 'disabilities act').  I also learn that not following the first rule doesn't work out well (e.g. Ziba).  And finally I learn that whatever I consider to be my weakness, whatever may be considered my weakness by others, God still knows my name, where I am, and the number of hairs on my head.  Of course he also knows of every sparrow that falls to the ground, so I shouldn't get too proud of my status.

One of God's favorite things to do in order to show His glory and power is to reverse fortunes.  He loves to turn things around.  It's an element of His character that has found it's way into all our human stories.  The best stories have a reversal of fortune, and God 'writes' the best of the best stories.  The story of Jesus is a HUGE reversal, and we are the ones who benefit.  It's all over the place with David, the shepherd, priest, and king; Abraham, the landless, son-less, wanderer, and father of nations; Joseph the son, slave, ruler, and savior.  Just look at Hebrews 11, and this 'role call of faith'; they're all 'reversals of fortune'.  In fact the whole point of that chapter is that we have the biggest and best reversal yet to come: Heaven.

My lesson is that God reverses fortunes: the last shall be first, and first last.  The workers in the vineyard all got a denarius, even those who worked only an hour.  Weird Al Yankovic has a song that I really love, "Everything You Know Is Wrong".  I think God yells this constantly, but we still love our own reason and logic, and are still surprised when fortunes reverse.  Maybe, just maybe, this Creator of all matter truly IS in control.  Maybe?