Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.
All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel.” And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” And the people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.” (1 Samuel 17:19-27, ESV)
David is not a paradigm of virtue, is he? I am not surprised he married an idolater.
I don't mean to act holier than thou but when I think of David I don't necessarily thing of an example to emulate.
For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
Who of us is "a paradigm of virtue"? We may see a meager handful in the Scripture, such as Samuel and Daniel, but the vast majority are rank sinners saved by sheer grace. Why do you suppose David was called by God, "a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will" (Acts 13:22; cf. 1 Sam 13:14)? And Abraham, or Jacob; or Peter, or Paul – why are such men thought of as "after God's own heart"?
David is an archetype of the man of God, and a type of the God-Man that was to come. We may say, If David was loved and accepted despite his outrageous sins and faults (they were covered, after all, by the precious blood), and what was counted of David were his love of God and his faith in Him in the face of many dire oppositions – even so may we take courage to run the gauntlet of this demonic world with the high praises of God in our mouths and a twoedged sword in our hands.
And we may see in David what is true for us all (for we ourselves have also sinned grievously),
He hath not dealt with us after our sins;
nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth,
so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Like as a father pitieth his children,
so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. (Ps 103:10-13)
David is not a paradigm of virtue, is he? I am not surprised he married an idolater.
I don't mean to act holier than thou but when I think of David I don't necessarily thing of an example to emulate.
Surely any graven image is in breach of the prohibition on graven images?
The trouble with a jaundiced view of David is 1) in God's eyes he is clean and his sins have been removed from him "As far as the east is from the west" (Ps 103:12); 2) he was given by the Holy Spirit to write,
"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no guile." (Ps 32:1,2)
This is a holy and blessed man, a prophet and a poet used by the LORD to write some of the choicest Scripture. If we look askance upon the character of the inspired penman, it may well detract from our receiving what he wrote, to our immense detriment. 3) What God has covered by the blood of the Lamb, we ought not uncover and hold against any person; many of God's saints would be undone were this allowed. The way we overcome the accusations of Satan is as such: "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." (Rev 12:11)
There are worse sins in the camp of the saints than murder and adultery.
"There are worse sins in the camp of the saints than murder and adultery. "
What are they?
Murder and adultery, being death penalty crimes both, rank pretty high.
"There are worse sins in the camp of the saints than murder and adultery. "
What are they?
Murder and adultery, being death penalty crimes both, rank pretty high.
Perhaps pride, the mother of both sins?
As Heidi pointed out, sometimes we don't know, have no real concept of, how great our pride until we fall hard out of our self-righteousness into contrition and humility.
Pride is worse? Yet it is not a death penalty sin.
A plain example of simple artisan-work were the cherubim figures found in the Holy of Holies. No one questions that these shapes were perfectly legitimate, expressly authorized by God. Nor were they objects of worship, though they stood wholly within the most sacred shrine of the Israelite service. They were not crafted for the purpose of distracting devotion, or even for enhancing it. And there was profusion of such artisanship all around the Temple (including the huge Sea on the backs of bulls).