You have heard me say from time to time that I am involved in a continuing effort to get educated beyond my intelligence. Mostly that involves reading. And avoiding various temptations. Given my age those temptations consist mostly of television, social media, and not getting too worked up about politics.
So, when I’ve been asked to bring our message – which is both a great responsibility and a great honor – I try to give it my best efforts. And use the opportunity to study something about our readings that is not so well known or understood or appreciated and talk about that. Sometimes the scriptures make that fairly easy. Sometimes it can be challenging.
Such as is our reading from Samuel this morning – challenging.
Not long ago I read Natan Sharansky’s autobiography, “Fear No Evil.” Sharansky is a Russian Jew who grew up in the later years of Soviet communist rule. He was not particularly a “religious” Jew in those days but became obsessed with the idea of emigrating to Israel. The Soviet communist government refused and Sharansky objected so strongly that he was thrown into prison. Now in prison he said to himself, I am a Jew. I will learn the Hebrew language. I will study the Psalter in Hebrew. And then, somehow, he acquired a small Hebrew Psalter.
Over a period of time, he learned Hebrew. He studied the psalms and found them soul changing – particularly the 23rd Psalm.
“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil
For thou art with me.
The psalms are attributed to David. Indeed, they are sometimes described as the “Psalms of David.”
From the trip to the Holy Land – over twenty years ago now – I keep remembering things I saw or experienced. Our tour group did a lot of walking. One day in Jerusalem we walked down one side of a ridge toward the Pool of Siloam. We walked past areas which are thought by some to be the location of structures David might have occupied in what is called the City of David. And as we walked, we could look down across to houses on a lower level on the other side.
So, who was David?
I found a book about David by David Wolpe. Rabbi David Wolpe. The blurb on the book jacket describes David “as a warrior who subdued Goliath and the Philistines; a king who united a nation; a poet who created beautiful, sensitive verse; a loyal servant of God who proposed the great Temple and founded the Messianic line; a schemer, deceiver, and adulterer who freely indulged his very human appetites. “I first read the book a few years ago and re-read a good bit of it in preparation for this message. I want to share parts of it with you.
So, let’s begin with David and Goliath.
Goliath has issued a challenge to Israel and no one has taken him up. David has been sent by his father to take food to his brothers who were already at the front. He hears from the Israelites milling about of Goliath’s challenge and the possible reward for anyone who can defeat him.
Now David utters the first words we hear him speak in the text of the Old Testament Scriptures: “What will be done for the man who strikes down yonder Philistine and takes away insult from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should insult the battle lines of the living God?”
As Rabbi Wolpe continues: “Here is the characteristic Davidic combination of idealism and self-interest, mixed with stunning self-assurance. David wishes to know what is in it for him. He also feels the national and even theological affront of Goliath’s impudence. Underlying both is the certainty that, should he choose to fight, he will win…. David has no unease about his suitability and readiness for his mission.”
Some others report David’s words to Saul, King Saul. Saul brushes aside the possibility that David can fell a giant. David insists, saying that as a shepherd he has killed both lions and bears protecting his flock. As there is no one else who wants to take on Goliath, Saul reluctantly fits David with his armor. It is so heavy that David is unable to maneuver in it. So, he takes it off.
Without the heavy armor David is ready. First there is the “trash” talk, then David let’s fly. Again, quoting Rabbi Wolpe, “Unerringly hitting the one place on Goliath not covered by armor, the stone strikes his forehead and the giant falls forward. This in apparent violation of physics – the force should have driven him back…His stone hits and the stricken giant falls forward.”
Continuing: “[David has used] an element of deception that displays clear cunning. David, it is assumed by everyone, will attack with a sword. When he does not, Goliath taunts him, “Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?” This is presumably David’s staff, and perhaps Goliath is assuming David will use his staff to attack. But David is concealing his real weapon, the slingshot. Had Goliath anticipated it, a shield would have effectively have rendered it useless. David’s eloquence, nerve, deception, ruthlessness (he wields Goliath’s own sword to cut off the Philistine’s head; the stone only knocked him out), and triumph are all elements of the king we will come to know.”
The Rabbi contrasting David with Saul: “David brims with self-assurance. He has his eye for the main chance (and the second and third chance, for that matter.) He not only identifies the opportunity but assumes that he can accomplish what no one else in Israel would dare to do. Whatever the reason Saul would not fight Goliath…it hardly matters. The contrast is palpable and, for Saul, no doubt painful. Although David stands before Goliath and declares that he comes in the name of the Lord of hosts, God does not instruct him to take on the giant; David just knows instinctively that he should and that he can. Whereas Saul disobeys God’s will, David anticipates it. The qualities that [we might] come to dislike or distrust about David, his audaciousness, his entitlement, are here on display in a way that makes it clear that he, not Saul, must be king…. David, self-confident, quick-witted, gentle when needed, considerate with subordinates, and determinedly ruthless, is a king.”
Yet this ruthlessness is a hard thing to take.
Our reading, our story, this morning ends with the ominous message in David’s letter to the battlefield commander, Joab: “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.” To complete the story Joab cannot send just one man forward; it would be too obvious. So, he sends several. So, several die, compounding David’s sin in a very literal way. Possibly we will have the rest of the story in readings on a future day. Let me go ahead and share a little of it. Uriah is killed and shortly thereafter David marries Bathsheba. Nathan the prophet confronts David about what he has done – and outlines what David has done in pretty gruesome detail. And he adds what will now happen to David. David says, “I have sinned against the Lord. “To which Nathan says, “The Lord has put away your sin, you shall not die.” And adds. “Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die. Then Nathan went to his house.
Rabbi David Wolpe says what is remarkable about all of this is what didn’t happen. What didn’t happen is that Nathan went to his house – he did not die by confronting David. Even in these brutal times – he just went home to his house.
David respected the man of God who told him the truth.
The message this morning has been about someone who was very flawed. God did not give up on him. Indeed, David passed away in his sleep in his own bed. Sometimes we can be very flawed. God does not give up on us. God loves all of us, wants to make use of us, wants us to be a part of the Kingdom of God. Indeed, David and Bathsheba are granddad and grandmother – many times removed – of our Savior Jesus. Let us close our message with this wonderful prayer Paul sent to his friends at Ephesus – and to you and to me here in North Little Rock:
May God the Father
Out of the rich treasury of his glory,
Strengthen you through his spirit
With a power that reaches you innermost being,
May Christ find a dwelling-place through faith in your hearts,
So that rooted and grounded in love,
You may measure with all the saints,
In its breath and length
And height and depth,
The love of Christ,
Which surpasses understanding.
That you may be filled with all the fulness of God!
Amen!
Richard Robertson
Two books I would recommend for further reading:
Natan Sharansky, “Fear No Evil,” 1988, Random House, Inc.
[Rabbi] David Wolpe, “David, the Divided Heart,” 2014, Yale University Press, Jewish Lives