Skip to main content

Dealing with Disaster - (2 of 3)

This the second part of Dealing with Disaster with our model of how to respond to crisis that is shown in 2 Samuel 21:1-14.  (vs 4-6 here)

We saw in Part 1 that when David faced a crisis, he first inquired of God, and then he inquired of the people who had been wronged.  He wanted to know how he could possibly make up for the prior wrongdoings to them and atone for the actions of his predecessor.

In a request that would be considered shocking by most standards today, the Gibeonites did not ask for "silver and gold."  Money and financial reimbursements would not take away the pain their people had experienced.  They requested that seven of Saul's male descendants be turned over to them and hanged in the presence of the Lord.  While it is pretty easy to assume that Saul's attempted genocide of the people resulted in much more than seven deaths, we can assume that there was some symbolism here.  And this is certainly not a method of reconciliation that is acceptable in today's culture, but a covenant had been broken, people had been murdered, and wrongs had to be righted.

While this seems extremely unfair that children and grandchildren of Saul would die for his sins, it was actually a cultural norm.  He is my abbreviated version of Lifeway's commentary:
Culture today would say something like. "The sons were not considered guilty, but were still murdered.  How is that fair?"
Gibeonites:  "In reality, children unfairly receive the repercussions of their parents' decisions all the time, even if the children are morally guiltless.  If the parents decide to go to war, they might lose, and their fields are burned and their cities are taken, the children will suffer starvation, enslavement, and violent death...even if your modern world, suppose a mother gets drunk and drives her car with her children in the back seat.  If she has an accident, they may die or be paralyzed.  Is that fair?  No, but that is how life works."

While this may not seem fair, it does teach us another biblical truth - "Believers should expect God to act with justice toward all people."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2020 is Hindsight...Finally!

Wow, what a year! 2020 could literally be an entire decade, maybe more, of history, change, and lessons rolled up into these twelve months. While many aspects of 2020 were kind of sucky and we would like to forget them, it will certainly be a year to remember. And it will be enlightening when this year is looked back on in 10, 25, or 50 years to be discussed. I wonder if we'll seem like geniuses or idiots? Probably both to some extent! While there is so much that I could consider and analyze about this year, I'll try to break some of it down into four dimensions - Physical, Spiritual, Mental, and Social/Emotional. These are events and happenings from my world and perspective and I'm trying to be open in sharing and would love to hear from others on events you found most transforming. Physical When COVID cause gyms to close, that messed me up. Our town and state were late to be hit with severe cases and therefore later than many across the country to close up shop. I'm n...

Worship > Fellowship

I believe that worship, true worship of God, is more important than fellowship with other believers.  Now I'm not saying that fellowship and relationships aren't important.  But I am saying that if I'm not worshiping God, if I'm not right with him, then my other relationships can't be right.  My fellowship and worship with him is more important than my relationship with my wife, my son, family, friends, my church, and my community.  Think about it.  How can I love my wife like Christ loved the church if I don't love Christ?  I wouldn't know how to love without knowing him.  Why should she submit to me if I'm not worth submitting to?  And yes I do believes wives should submit, but I also believe that won't be an issue as long as she's submitting to a godly husband.  (Ephesians 5:22-25) Our love for others must flow from our love and worship of God.  1 John 4:19-21 reads, "We love because he first loved us.  If anyone says,...

Cookie Cutter Marriage

  Is your marriage like a cookie?  Maybe it's sweet.  Maybe it's comforting.  Maybe it's round (symbolic of the continuity of the rings).  Whatever cookie you feel your marriage may most resemble, and the possibilities are endless, they all require some of the same ingredients to be tasty and successful. If we were to examine several cookie recipes, we would see just how many variations there are.  You have numerous chocolate chip, chocolate oatmeal, peanut butter, sugar, and many many more that we could name off. But what makes a cookie a cookie?  Most cookie recipes call for some combination of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs.  This where it gets fun.  From here, you can add the flavor(s) that you and your family enjoy!  Do you want to add fruit, candy, chocolate?  Again, the possibilities are endless. The same is true in our marriages.  There are some core "ingredients" that we all need - love, trust, compassion, faithfulness...