Just a side note on the way God deals with people. I find that God can be very ironic at times. God told the people to give liberty to their servants, but they didn't. God says He will give liberty to those who disobey, liberty to face the sword, the freedom to enjoy pestilence and famine; basically, God will free you from the burden of life. What God is really giving them is what they have given to others, but the way God says it has a sarcasm to it that I find fascinating.
What a change has taken place. Michal, whose love for David caused her to defy her father, now condemns him because of his dance and his choice to wear a linen ephod. This type of clothes might not have been see-through, but with light behind it would most likely make it possible for people to see the outline of a person's body. The dance spoken of here was usually performed by women, but David did it himself, to probably show the importance of this occasion. Michal didn't care but was impressed by David's actions. Though it is possible that Michal had no children due to an action of God, it is more likely that David refused to sleep with her again. Considering her contempt for him, I wouldn't have blamed him.
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Though verse 6 can have some disagreement over what the valley of Baca is, it is clear that those on pilgrimage will receive water from a well and from rain. In our pilgrimage in life as Christians, we will find that there are struggles we will face, but God will provide for us, and if this verse is read like it says, the presence of the pilgrim will cause wells to appear. The advantage of a well is that it can provide for those who come by later. How true is it that when we see the struggles/lives of other Christians, it can give us refreshment, like drinking cool water.
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At the end of this chapter, we see how David handled the fight with the Philistines in the valley of Rephaim the two times they came against him. Both times, David inquired of God, even though the second time looked exactly like the first. God had David attack differently, though the battle looked the same as before when they won. To me, it is a reminder that we should always seek God's wisdom no matter how things look. It may seem that the way done before might work, but God knows for certain. We need to trust His wisdom.
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In the middle of this chapter on Abner and Ish-Bosheth's deaths, we get this story about Jonathan's son. This seems out of place and breaks the narrative flow, and we can only guess why. My own thought is that with the death of Ish-Bosheth, the author is bringing out that there was actually a son who was in a more direct line to the throne. Yet this boy is ignored, one could guess because he is crippled. It is sad, but Israel wasn't interested, it seems, in a criple as a king. David will step into this story, but that is later. Right now, we have a boy who could be king, but because of the fear of others was crippled.
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"How much we owe to prison visions and literature! Shut up in the court of the prison, Jeremiah saw God as the unconfined creator of all things (33:2), the unlimited scope of intercession (verse 3), the evidence of future blessing (verse 6-9), and the liberating and righteous Messiah (verses 14-17).*
When the chapter ends, God makes it clear that he isn't done with Israel or David's seed. God makes it clear that the sun rising and setting will end before he forsakes his covenant. To say it another way, God keeps his promises no matter what things look like to us.
* Dr. Lockyer, All the Books and Chapters of the Bible. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1966
With all that is happening in this chapter, it might be easy to miss something. David has gone from 2 wives (not including Saul's daughter) to 6 wives and one of them from a foreign king. David may have been a man after God's own heart, but he disobeyed the law by marrying her (Deuteronomy 7:3; Joshua 23:12). This is going to have consequences later, but for now, it only seems like a happy time as David's power and family are growing. The seeds for future problems have literally been born here.
Side note: Abner knew that David was anointed by God, but it was only when he was offended that he decided to support God's choice.
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A cursory glance at this chapter, and one might assume that the reason God came to the Gentiles is because he didn't have another choice. It was plan B. He couldn't have the love of the Jews, so he'll accept the love of the Gentiles. That idea makes the Gentiles a lesser choice. This is a mistaken idea. What God gave to the Jews was a way to be a blessing to all nations and peoples. The Jews first in their disobedience to the law and then in their rejection of Christ have forsaken what God wanted to give them.
God's foreknowledge meant he knew this, so their actions didn't take God by surprise. God, by his grace, is now using those whom the Jews were supposed to be the blessing to (the Gentiles) as the ones who will, you could say, offer it back to them. This wisdom of how God does things is celebrated in what has been called the doxology at the end of the chapter. All glory to God, for he is worthy.
In this chapter, there are eight different pieces of wisdom about words. In today's world, people allow words to flow out, and I agree they are like deep waters (verse 4), and they can drown us if we are not careful. With the abundance of Social media platforms that show us what we want to hear, it is especially easy to get drowned. So, some advice from verse 17, the first person who speaks sounds correct, until they are cross-examined. Always try and find the whole story.
The fight between the twelve men has some debate over it. Some see it as just a playful wrestling match that went awry; others interpret it as a kind of duel to be held rather than start a civil war. What seems to have happened was that both sides fought so desperately that all twenty-four men lay dead. This brought about the battle that perhaps Abner was trying to avoid. It is impossible to know. What happened was a horrible battle where fellow Israelites killed each other.
The death of Joab's brother that Abner tried to avoid: first by trying to talk him out of following, and second by the use of the blunt side of his spear. Yet at the end, Abner, in trying to defend himself, killed Asahel. This will come back to cause trouble later.
God in this chapter isn't just promising that the people will return, though that is part of it, but promising to create a people who will follow him faithfully. The chapter ends with the promise that God will create a people who have singleness of heart and action. God will create a people from Israel who will be faithful. God will have a people that he can bless continuously. This ultimate promise is seen in the work that God is going to do in Jesus. The people that Jesus redeems will become a people that will have hearts that never turn from him. God do that work in me, I pray.
G Campbell Morgan says about this chapter that, as Saul killed his own morality, now he will go further and take his own life. Saul was so afraid of how he might die that he killed himself. Saul had no proof that his death would be more terrible under the Philistines, but he was afraid it might be, so he acted. This is a reminder that our expectations and not reality can drive us to do destructive things. Guard your expectations and keep them focused on God.
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Don't just stand there, do something! This line has been said in many books and movies to persons who have the power to intervene and are not. As we have noted before, this is something we face in our lives. There are times when we wish God would do something. We know he is able, but it seems he is ignoring us. What we do know about God is that he is righteous and will do what is right, but I appreciate that God doesn't tell us to be quiet and accept what is happening, but is okay with us asking him this question.
God wants us to come to him and ask him to intervene. This isn't because he has an ego, but because there are times when our prayers make a difference. I can't say how, but they do according to God's own word. God may say no, but he does listen. What makes the difference for us is our attitude when we come to him. An attitude of humility and even desperation is okay; an attitude of anger and blame isn't. Come before God.
What is worship? For many, it is the songs we sing before the message, or the slow songs after the fast ones, in a service. They can be, but it is only part of true worship. True worship, as defined by Paul, is when we present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. There is nothing in Paul's teachings that says that our salvation is a separate thing for our bodies than it is for our spirit. If we are going to be Christians, our bodies, our actions are just as important as our spirit. Worship is the holy use of our bodies for God. This can be singing, but it can also be doing taxes if we are doing it as unto the Lord.
Paul says lust be sincere and follows that with hating what is evil (what not who). Love in the Christian sense isn't let and let live or ignoring evil. It involves clinging to what is good.
David did something that became an ordinance in Judah that all who are part of an army share in the rewards. The men who stayed behind weren’t cowards; they were exhausted. These men didn’t have the strength to fight, but they stayed behind, and it seems they guarded the things that they didn’t take with them. David wasn’t setting up a communist ideal;
He was saying that all who were in the army, front-line fighters and support, deserved the spoils of the victory. We see this as just fair today, but in those days and still in many places today, it is only those who fight who enjoy the spoils.
Blurb for my new book coming out late November 2025.
Princess Sarah
of Rishona, the last royal heir, has found herself enslaved by a tyrannical dragon
and a kind and brilliant giant. The oddity of this is that the dragons of Adamah are
good, and giants aren’t known for their intelligence or kindness. For Sara, the goal
is simple: learn the skills she needs to survive, escape, and then find her way
home, but nothing is ever that simple.
About the Author
Charles (CS) Areson lives with his family in Indiana. He enjoys reading, board games, D&D, and writing a variety of fiction and religious non-fiction. His current focus is to take his stack of finished but unedited works and prepare them for publication. These works include (the working titles): Carpenter Tales, The House of a Thousand Rooms, Closing the Door, Teia and the Dragon, Braydon the…, The Max and Link Trilogy, and of course, The Dragon’s Queen Trilogy. Got an hour? Ask him about them.
His children’s book, The Bee in the Blackberry Bush, is available in Lao, Spanish, and English. His children’s book, The Heirs of Nosera, is a mostly true fantasy written for the love of his grandchildren.
The outcome of the chapter is pretty clear: Saul is going to die. Yet, I have to wonder if things could have ended better for Saul. Saul was fasting, and though this could have been the act of a man who was desperate and depressed, it was also a sign of repentance. Could Saul have had a final change of attitude toward God had he refused to eat? We will never know, but what is true is that repentance is always the right choice, no matter what others may say.
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Israel had so many benefits, yet many, according to Paul, are not really Israel. Yet as Paul goes on in this chapter, it can be seen why some believe that God makes people behave the way they do. Everyone's choices, however, do matter. This is what John Wesley sees in this chapter. God has the right to show mercy on those who believe and to harden those who are hard. If we truly believe that God is the creator (the potter), then God has the right to do what he thinks is right. God doesn't have to show mercy on your or my sins if we don't repent. The fact that he does when we repent is because he has chosen, not because we earned it. John Wesley didn't see this passage, according to his notes, as proof that God predestines every action, just his reaction to every action.
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You are gods, but you will die like men. What a fall. Yet it reminds me today that though we might start off well, we can end poorly. I was reading about Hezekiah today, a king of Judah who started off great but ended in a place of pride and disobedience. Starting great can be a great boost, but none of that matters if you don't cross the finish line. For many, they start out with lots of energy on a project or even in ministry, but burn out as the trials of life wear them down.
This is why maybe God gave us the Sabbath. It was a reminder that we can not keep going all out, even if we think we can. It is also a reminder that we need to trust God. Then I wondered if the saying attributed to both St. Augutus and Ignatius, as we take it, is accurate: "Pray as if it all depends on God and work as if it all depends on you." Shouldn't we pray that it all depends on us (which means we are desperate in our prayers) and work like it all depends on God (which means freedom to sabbath).
This may seem a far cry from what this chapter is teaching, but I don't think so. Ultimately, our trust and our work need to depend on God and his faithfulness.
In looking up who made the quote, I came across this article, which summed up what I was thinking.
There’s an old saying that we should “pray as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on you.” It’s been attributed to St. Ignatius, who said something similar, if not using those exact words, as reported in Vida del Bienaventurado Padre Ignacio de Loyola by Pedro de Rivadeneira. Many think the phrase captures the Ignatian spirit: turning it all over to God in prayer and then working tirelessly and urgently to do God’s work.
I prefer to reverse it: “pray as if everything depends on you, and work as if everything depends on God.” This means that prayer has to be urgent: God has to do something dramatic if everything depends on me. It also puts our work in the right perspective: if it depends on God, we can let it go. We can work hard but leave the outcome up to him. If God is in charge we can tolerate mixed results and endure failure.
Ignatius writes about work and human effort in a letter to an aristocrat named Jerome Vines, whom I imagine was a busy, hard-charging, Type A character who was getting upset about the fate of his many projects. A busy man, Ignatius writes, “must make up his mind to do what he can, without afflicting himself if he cannot do all that he wishes. You must have patience and not think that God our Lord requires what man cannot accomplish.” He concludes with this: “There is no need to wear yourself out, but make a competent and sufficient effort, and leave the rest to him who can do all he pleases.”
https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/work-as-if-everything-depends-on-god/
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I have discussed before about David's actions and my thoughts on them, so I won't go into it here, but I would like to look at Achish's assumption. Achish assumed David was an outcast and would be his servant because he had no place else to go. This, of course, was not true. David's loyalty to Israel was just as strong as ever, but Achish couldn't see it. David was an obvious enemy of the Philistines, but Achish couldn't see it. This tells me that we should never assume someone else's motives. Yes, action can show intent, but the truth was Achish didn't see the actions, only words. For Christians, the person we can always assume is for us is God.
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God protected David when he snuck into Saul's camp. This protection also gave David a chance to show his worth and Saul another proof that David wasn't a threat to his life and power. However, I do see that even knowing that God protected him and would protect him, David didn't rejoin Saul. Saul requested that David come to him, and though Saul might not have tried to kill him then, David knew that Saul's attitude might change. David trusted God, but he also didn't purposely put himself in danger, and neither should we. Yes, there are times when God calls people to stand firm, though it may mean their life, and other times God expects us to use wisdom and not put ourselves in danger. As I heard it said, God may save you if the Devil pushes you off the top of a building, but if you jump on your own, God will let you try and fly on your own too.
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