365 Reflections

2 Samuel 13:1–2 (ESV) Now Absalom, David’s son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar. And after a time Amnon, David’s son, loved her. 2 And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. Notice the language of idolatry. Nothing is wrong with beautiful women but Amnon is both tormented and heartsick that he cannot have his beautiful sister. Idolatry is evident when our desires affect our emotions and well-being. That's because idolatry turns something good into something ultimate. It becomes the only thing we can think about. We see that Amnon's desires affected him enough to be noticeable to others.  2 Samuel 13:3-4 (ESV) But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother. And Jonadab was a very crafty man. 4 And he said to him, “O son of the king, why are you so haggard morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” Amn...

We come to the fateful episode of David's life. His tryst with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah. 2 Samuel 11:1 (ESV) In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. The first thing we see David doing wrong is not going out to fight when he should have. He is king. This is what they do. The reason spring is mentioned is because of the dry ground it affords military marches and conquests. On top of this, we must remember that David's chief gift is military strategy. This is God-given gift. He wasn't called to sit on it and relax. I find that the less I give myself to what I know God has called me to do, the more time I have to ponder the enemies alternatives and be tempted by fleshly indulgences. Why does David stay home? I believe it has to do with this enemy - the Ammonites. Remember the last chapter when David...

Delilah is the personification of dangerous love. For all my life I've heard about her danger but Tim Keller really brought out for me what the main issue was for Samson concerning this woman who would become his undoing. The whole narrative is bracketed by terms rooted in the concept of infatuated love. Even from the beginning, it says: Judges 16:4 (ESV) After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. Samson just got away with a sexual episode with a prostitute in the capital city of Gaza. But that was just casual sex, Delilah is what Samson considers a loving relationship. You get the feeling that her entrance into his was life primed by the casual encounter in the first place.  Samson needs the love of Delilah.  Judges 16:5 (ESV)   And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we wi...

By Judges 14 we see that Samson is surrounded by Philistines. He goes in and out among them peacefully and comfortably. The details of these chapters is meant to give us a picture of just how accustomed to the nations around them Israel had become. In fact, the comfortability with the pagan nation is such that Israel will intermarry and even celebrate together with the Israelites as it happens. When he found a pretty girl among them the text tells us they gave him 30 companions . Judges 14:10–11 (ESV)  His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. 11 As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. YET Judges 15 makes it clear that Israel is in fact being RULED by the Philistines. Judges 15:11 (ESV) Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us ? What then is this that you have done to us?...

Samson's story takes off like a jet plane. Right away he heads to the Philistines and spies out a girl to his liking. Judges 14:3 (ESV) But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes .”  Notice that Samson is reflecting the attitude of his day. He will do what is "right in his own eyes"  just as his countrymen. Here it begins with a woman from the very people he is meant to overcome on behalf of Israel. But the next verse is not what you expect: Judges 14:4 (ESV)  His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord , for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.  Samson's desire for a foreign woman is from the Lord? Yes. God is going to use the very thing Israel was doi...

2 Peter 2:1–3 (ESV) But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. False teaching IN the body is as old as the church.  Peter turns from compelling believers to trust in the written words of Prophecy to warning them against "new" and false prophecies from within their ranks ("among the people .. among you").  This has been the reality of the movement of God from the beginning.  Wherever there is a Moses, there is a Korah.  Where you have a David, there is an Absolom.   In the early times after the New Testament, a he...