2012-06-08
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week I was led to write about how circumcision of males was an example of a covenant between God and traditionally Jewish mankind. Today, the Holy Spirit directs me to write about covenant-worthy agreements. In Christ’s time, He warned us about the making of vows [covenants] before God in MT 5: 33-37. In view of what I’ve already written about covenants with God being vows unto death, it makes sense that we pray first and are very careful about making them, as Christ teaches us. However, there is other reconnaissance [vital information] that we need to know, things learned from Bible stories.
When David and Jonathan made their covenant of friendship in 1 SAM 18: 1-3, Jonathan never knew that David would one day be the king of Israel. At the time, Jonathan’s father, Saul, was king of Israel (as far as Jonathan knew). Jonathan didn’t have any way of knowing that Saul had disobeyed God in making a disastrous and key decision which would have a very adverse impact on the Jews of their future, when he and his Jewish foot soldiers planned an attack on the Amalekites in a ravine. 1 SAM 15: 7-8, “Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. [Shur was on the eastern frontier of Egypt]. He took Agag, king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword.” Agag was Israel’s worst enemy at the time. If the name, Agag, is familiar to you, it’s because you have read the book of Esther and learned that Agag’s descendant, Haman, was King Ashasueres’ [Xerxes’s] grand vizier in Persia, a man who arose out of a long line of a viciously anti-Semitic family [ES 3: 1].
Moreover, Jonathan was unaware that God had taken another very serious, unprecedented action, in 1 SAM 16: 13. Samuel was the main prophet for Israel at this time. “So Samuel, who lived in Ramah, took the horn of oil and anointed him [David] in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.”
I have written before that I believe had Saul lived in our time, he would have been diagnosed with Bipolar disease, a terribly troublesome malady in which the brain hormone, Seritonin, levels require chemical control that can only come from outside the sufferer and under the monitoring of a trained psychiatrist. In these cases, therapy sessions may also be required. Having offered this opinion, we will never know if I’m right in Saul’s case, because my guess is based on his behavior as described in the Scriptures. In ancient times, such behavior was ascribed to having been possessed by evil spirits. 1 SAM 16: 14-18, 23, “Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit tormented him. Saul’s attendants said to him, ‘See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit comes upon you, and you will feel better.’” So Saul agreed to this, and one of the servants recommended David, son of Jesse, who not only played the harp but was a brave warrior as well. David was described as a fine-looking man who speaks well. The Lord was said to be with him. [Little did that servant know that his words were probably put in his head by God]. (23), “Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.”
It was right around that time, when David was invited to live in Saul’s house, that the Jews were involved in a war with their Philistine neighbors [Gentiles] who lived to the SW of Jewish territory. Intermittently, David would be sent out to battle, and was central to a string of victories the Jews were having. Early after David had taken up residence in Saul’s house, he met and became friends with Saul’s son, Jonathan. Then followed the friendship covenant of 1 SAM 18: 1-3, of which I have already written much. There is considerable acrcheological evidence of the battles which took place between the Jews and the Philistines. After careful upbringings, both David and Jonathan knew the gravity of covenant-making.
As I mentioned last week, Jewish boys were told stories about the patriarchs [Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, etc] at night in their tents and acted them out to pass the time while tending their flocks of sheep during the day. Interestingly enough, there is an ancient town in Israel called “Mizpah,” a word that means “watchtower” or “place of watching.” It was at Mizpah where Jacob cut a covenant with his father-in-law, Laban [also his uncle], and Jacob erected a pillar of stones to mark this significant event. And yes, this was a covenant before God, so the pillar of stones was saying, “something important with God happened here.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we are learning the importance of wise decisions when making covenants. Our Lord Jesus warned us not to not to break promises that we make and not to make promises before God that come from the evil one [MT 5: 33-37]. Of course, we must use discernment in deciding what comes from the evil one and what comes from Your Spirit. Prayer and consideration are always necessary before making any vow before You. And yet a life without commitments is an empty, meaningless life. Having a good working knowledge of the Scriptures [2 TIM 3: 16-17] always helps. Taking the time to consult the Scriptures, understand them well, and praying first are actions taken that will help in wisdom and discernment. We can pray PS 51: 6 and PS 119: 125, “Sincerity and truth are what You require; fill my mind with wisdom…I am Your servant; give me discernment that I may understand Your statues.” Each of us needs a paradigm and a template from which to make ethical decisions. You have given us His word in the OT and NT for that purpose. Sadly, many humans have tried to alter, add or subtract from, or otherwise change the Scriptures to fit their desires at the time. Traditional Judaism has been brought to some confusion by the addition of the Oral Torah [Talmud, Mishna, and Midrash]-on-going writings that have at one time increased the commandments to number 613 instead of 10 and presented conflicting interpretations of Biblical truth. Other denominations have added questionable writings to what they consider to be cannon, e.g. the Apocrypha. Still others have set up a human-crafted template and then extracted bits and pieces from the truth to fit it, e.g. Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Jehovah’s Witness Watchtower, and so on. We accept the OT and the NT as Scripture; we dedicate ourselves to a better knowledge of You through study of them and frequent prayer, where we listen for You first and then engage in two-way conversation with You. You are a patient, compassionate, and wise God Who loves us very much. For that and so much more, we offer You praise and thanks in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m led to continue writing on “Covenant Assurance-covenant-worthy agreements” next week. As I was led to include in the prayer above, it’s really important to our eternal lives that we have a good working knowledge of the Scriptures. The people who belong to the denominations who swerve from the OT and NT are not evil people, just badly misguided ones. Our hearts should obey the new commandment of JN 13: 34-35. We should love them as Christ has loves us. There are also non-believers who are potential believers. It is God Who decides which heart will accept the truth and which one will reject it. Since we are not to know whose hearts these are, then we must show love even to our enemies [MT 5:44]. That command may be the most difficult we have to obey, but God knows best. How can we not help think of David, who was in turn being befriended by Saul and persecuted by him? And yet David had enough moral conviction that he saved Saul from being killed by his own sword on more than one occasion. I particularly remember the time when David was hiding from Saul in a cave. Saul came in to relieve himself and could have easily been David’s target, once and for ending this chase. But David chose to cut a small piece of fabric from Saul’s garment and never let Saul know how close to dying he could have been [1 SAM 24: 3-12]. While David was far from perfect, there were good reasons why God called him “a man after my own heart” [1 SAM 13: 13-14]. We should examine ourselves and ask: Can God call us a person after His own heart? Praise and thanks be to our God Who loves is so very much!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15