In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the LORD said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.' – 2 Samuel 5:2

Today's Scripture Reading (July 2, 2025): 2 Samuel 5

For some reason, we aspire to be the boss. Maybe we dream of being able to set our own hours and the riches that must follow if we were the ones running the show. We often miss the endless hours spent working when we are the ones in charge of everything. We also tend to overlook the increased stress that arises from even the slightest of problems. And, often, being the boss doesn't bring us endless riches, but debt and the ulcers that come with figuring out how to make payroll or pay other necessary business expenses. One of the complaints I hear from those who are bosses is that they dream of the ability to leave the office and let the problems remain there, just to enjoy life away from work. But bosses seldom get that chance. Regardless of where they are or what they are doing, the boss is constantly on the job, and all the problems are theirs to solve.

The people come to David to ask him to be their King. It must have been a phenomenal act of encouragement for Israel's leader. They remind him that even in the days of Saul, he was the true military leader. And the people seemed to know that God had promised David that he would be the shepherd of the people. However, that is also part of David's problem. Back when he was the shepherd of the sheep, God had called David to be the Shepherd of Israel. But a shepherd was never the boss.

In ancient times, shepherds were often the youngest family members or employees. David had been a shepherd in his father's family, but he was in no way the leader of the family. He was simply the youngest and least significant of Jesse's sons. David went out to the sheep because he had been told to do so. He didn't have a choice. David was a shepherd.

And David was now God's shepherd. And everything would be okay as long as he remembered that he was not the one in charge. He answered to God. The problems didn't belong to him, and neither did the successes. All of that was simply in the hands of his God. The God of Israel was in charge, and David was merely his shepherd, his employee.

There would be times when David would forget that. When David sinned with Bathsheba, he forgot that he was supposed to be the shepherd of Israel and started to believe that he was the king. David's sin was a mistake that would haunt David for the rest of his life. If he had just remembered that God and the people had called him to be a shepherd, that sin might have never happened.

A shepherd remains the image we have of church leaders. We are not the bosses but the servants of those within our circles of influence. And we are always answerable to God, who is our true King even today, just as God was the true King of David's Israel.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 11

See Also 1 Chronicles 11:2

They put his armor in the temple of their gods and hung up his head in the temple of Dagon. – 1 Chronicles 10:10

Today's Scripture Reading (July 1, 2025): 1 Chronicles 10

Benito Mussolini was the Prime Minister of Italy at the start of World War II. But, as the war progressed, he became "Il Duce" or "The Leader," the unquestioned fascist dictator of Italy. Mussolini ruled Italy with an iron hand, often killing any who opposed him. So, it maybe shouldn't be much of a surprise that those who defeated him, ending his reign, treated him the same way he had treated others. On April 28, 1945, with the Allied forces closing in, Mussolini and most of his comrades, including his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by firing squad. But that was not the end of the story of Benito Mussolini. The body of Benito Mussolini, along with the bodies of some of his comrades, was trucked to Milan and dumped in what had been renamed "Fifteen Martyrs' Square" in honor of fifteen Italian partisans who had been executed there by the German army on August 10, 1944. The bodies were then spat on and kicked by those who had gathered at the square. Then, these bodies were strung up upside down from an Esso gas station sign, the same place where the bodies of the fifteen executed Italians had been displayed just over nine months earlier.

For Mussolini and his comrades, death was not the end of dishonor. It is an ancient tradition. Often, dead enemy soldiers were simply left on the battlefield rather than being buried. And dead leaders were displayed to dishonor their memory further.

This display of a leader's dead body was precisely what happened to Saul. His head was removed and taken on a tour of the cities of Philistia. Eventually, his head was displayed at Dagon's Temple. But that was not enough. According to 1 Samuel 31, the Philistines took the decapitated bodies of Saul and his sons to the Israelite village of Beth Shan. Beth Shan was a small town in the territory of the Tribe of Issachar. However, the Canaanites had not been entirely driven out of the area. The proof of that failure was this displaying of the bodies of Saul and his sons on the walls of Beth Shan. That act meant that the people of Beth Shan were allies of the Philistines despite being located in northern Israel. The displaying of Saul's body was meant to dishonor further the former King of Israel, something that a loyal city of Israel would have never allowed.

Saul's armor was taken to the Temple of their gods. Again, in 1 Samuel 31, we are told that the Temple was dedicated to the Ashtoreths. The armor had become part of the spoils of war and a reminder to the worshipping people of the power of Philistia and the general weakness of Israel and her God.

The men of Jabesh Gilead would be the ones to rescue the bodies of Saul and his sons from the walls of Beth Shan. And when they gained possession of the bodies, they burned them, not to further dishonor the bodies, but to make sure that no one could take the bodies back from them and dishonor the King again. And then they buried the bones and fasted for seven days, properly mourning the death of a King.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 5

See Also 1 Samuel 31:10

Personal Note: Happy Canada Day, Canada. Elbows Up!

 

The priests, who were heads of families, numbered 1,760. They were able men, responsible for ministering in the house of God. – 1 Chronicles 9:13

Today's Scripture Reading (June 30, 2025): 1 Chronicles 9

A colleague of mine passed away recently. He was an excellent pastor but spent a life fighting his various disabilities. And I am sure that there were people who looked down on him because of his limitations and the way he looked. I am also sure that there were people who looked at him and never gave him a chance. I think that these people who rejected him and refused to give him an opportunity robbed themselves of having a wonderful person in their lives; their prejudice made them less. In demeaning my friend, they ended up only demeaning themselves.

Having said that, it wasn't that long ago that someone with a visible disability, even if it was something as minor as having a lazy eye, was disqualified from being part of the clergy. In some places and sections of the church, women are still excluded from holding positions of leadership within the Christian Church. Part of the reason for this exclusion is the misguided belief that they aren't strong enough to do the job. Ministering God to the people was a job that required strength. It needed men who could minister with strength and authority. And we mistakenly began to believe that excluded some people.

I have long taught that we need to recognize the strength of the women who came before us. Regardless of our beliefs about strength and the need for able men, much of the progress that has been experienced in areas once called "the mission field" was possible because of the strength of women who entered these areas early in history and won the hearts of the people. Yes, being a pastor or a missionary requires a great deal of strength, but excluding people with a disability or because of their gender is a significant mistake.

As Chronicles begins to tell us about the early priests, the author refers to them as "able men." While accurate, the phrase is also somewhat unfortunate. Elsewhere, when we are not discussing priests, the exact phrase, translated as "able men" here, is rendered as "mighty men of valor." I'm not sure about you, but given the choice between being called "able" or a "mighty person of valor," I think I would like to be known as a mighty person of valor. It also describes several pastors and missionaries that I know, and it is a list that includes women and my recently deceased colleague. These people are not merely able; they are mighty people of valor because anyone who was any less would have never been able to complete the tasks that God had laid on their strong shoulders.   

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 10

 

These were the descendants of Ehud, who were heads of families of those living in Geba and were deported to Manahath: - 1 Chronicles 8:6

Today's Scripture Reading (June 29, 2025): 1 Chronicles 8

Israel. The name alone is enough to evoke conflicting views on the Middle East situation. Its people are fiercely independent and self-aware. In an ocean of Arab States, Israel seems to exist on its own little island, set apart and different from all their neighbors. The nation itself was reformed in 1948, following an almost 1,900-year absence from the world stage. (Israel ceased to exist in the early 70's C.E. as the Roman Empire decimated the nation and pulled down her walls and temple). However, the Second World War revealed that, as a planet, we had a problem. The Jews were a people without a homeland, and they were under attack. They needed a place to call home, and their ancestral land beckoned. Israel was not replanted easily. The opening moments of the new nation meant that she was immediately embroiled in a new war against neighbors who wished that she didn't exist. But for those first inhabitants of the land in 1948, any fight seemed worth the attempt to finally have a place where the Jews could once again call their own.

I am not sure that Israel has ever been a safe place. She has developed some positive ties with some of her neighboring countries, but there are still many in the area who wish that Israel would cease to exist. But for this moment in time, at least Israel's people have a place to stand and a place to claim as theirs. Israel is part of the area of the world that is known as The Levant, a term that has inserted itself into our culture with the growing presence of the rebel states, which also call this part of the world theirs. However, for now, Israel still has a place to exist, if not a place to be in relative safety.

This passage in 1 Chronicles is a troublesome one, and there is a high probability that the passage has suffered from at least some kind of corruption. At the very least, we see the story of the deportation of some of the tribe of Benjamin from their native lands to Manasseh, a town within the tribe of Judah. Judah and Benjamin shared a border, but more than that, the two tribes shared a future. After the death of Solomon, Israel would be divided into two nations, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. While the northern nation would comprise the vast majority of the tribes of Israel, the southern nation would consist of only two tribes: Judah and Benjamin. The story we have in the books of Chronicles is aimed at those two tribes who chose to stand together. This story of the deportation of the descendants of Ehud forms one of the early interconnections between the two tribes.

What we don't know is why this portion of the tribe of Benjamin was deported into the territory of Judah. However, the likely result was that within Judah, this portion of the tribe of Benjamin found a haven to thrive and grow. They would help Judah tame the land, and in return, they would be kept safe from all who wished to cause them harm. It was the beginning of what would become a lasting friendship, culminating in the two major forces that would shape the Christian Church: Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of the tribe of Judah, and Paul the Apostle, a descendant of the tribe of Benjamin.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 9

Originally Published on February 28, 2016

The Shuppites and Huppites were the descendants of Ir, and the Hushites the descendants of Aher. – 1 Chronicles 7:12

Today's Scripture Reading (June 28, 2025): 1 Chronicles 7

Over the past year, I have had two friends lose their daughters way too early. In both cases, the deaths of these extraordinary young ladies were unexpected. It is another reminder that this life is a very fragile thing, and none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. If for this reason and no other, we need to ensure that our lives are right with God. I can't imagine life without my children and grandchildren. The horrible experiences of these friends make me want to hold on to my children and grandchildren just a little tighter.

One of the slogans we often use is the idea that the ones we have lost are "gone but not forgotten." There are many people in my life who fall into this category. They are gone; they have died, and I can no longer go to them for advice, help, or even friendship, but they are not forgotten; they live in my memories, and when I close my eyes, I can still see them. Maybe these are the two deaths that we suffer on this earth. The first is the loss of our physical lives, but the second death happens a little later when there is no one left to carry us in their memories. For now, I am committed to carrying the memories of the significant people in my life who are no longer with us. But eventually, most of us will suffer both kinds of deaths.

The name Aher in this passage presents us with a significant mystery. Aher is a word used to indicate "another." It is also used to describe something detestable. So pigs, which are seen as very detestable animals by the Jewish community, are often referred to as 'aher' or 'another thing." Aher, then, might mean something other than the name of a person.

So, what does Aher mean in this passage? Many find that the obvious answer is that it is a name used to indicate the Tribe of Dan. If Aher does not point toward the tribe of Dan, then Dan is completely missing from this list. And the reason why they would be called Aher instead of Dan is that through their idolatry, they made themselves unmentionable. But there is some other evidence that it is Dan that is mentioned here.

First, as has already been mentioned, unless this is Dan, then Dan is entirely omitted by the writer of Chronicles in this listing. Second, the following verse talks about the descendants or sons of Bilhah. There were two sons of Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali, although only Naphtali is mentioned in this passage. Third, Genesis tells us this: "The son of Dan: Hushim" (Genesis 46:23), which compares favorably with "the Hushites the descendants of Aher" (1 Chronicles 7:12).

Together, all of this supports the idea that Dan is the unnamed tribe that is intended here. Perhaps the hope of the nation and the author of Chronicles is that Dan would be both gone and forgotten.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 8

The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazer and Ithamar. – 1 Chronicles 6:3

Today's Scripture Reading (June 27, 2025): 1 Chronicles 6

In a preaching class during my seminary studies, I decided to tell a Pentecost story from the perspective of one of the witnesses. When I floated the idea with my professor, he asked me whose point of view I wanted to use. I told him, and his only response was, "Well, that should be interesting." The character I had chosen was a prophet named Agabus. When I preached the sermon, I heard one of my classmates mutter, "Is that even a real person?" The answer to my classmate's question is yes, but he is only mentioned twice in the Bible; both mentions are in the Acts of the Apostles. One of the reasons I chose him was to provide me some extra leeway in how I treated him and the story. But there is no doubt that much of my presentation would be a fictional account of a real event. (In the sermon, I also gave James the Lesser a new fictional nickname, Theodore.) I found it to be an exciting project

It is sometimes a fun exercise to examine some of the extrabiblical material about certain minor characters of the Bible, for which the Bible itself provides very little information. However, once again, these extrabiblical accounts are likely to be highly fictionalized. There might be a core truth hidden somewhere in the stories, but we have to be extremely careful in what we do with this information. Much of this literature aims to teach a lesson to God-fearing people through a fictional account of these individuals, much like my sermon from the point of view of Agabus. Agabus existed, but that is all we know about this early Christian prophet.

Stories exist about Amram outside of the Bible, but little is known about this patriarch of an essential Israelite family, and some of the information is contradictory. The Bible tells us that Amram married his aunt, Jochebed. Amram and Jochebed had three children: Aaron, Miriam, and Moses. But that is really the extent of our biblical knowledge of the man.

Outside of the Bible, we seem to have contradictory stories about the father of Aaron and Moses. One story insists that Amram lived a sinless life and that because of his godly life, his body was protected from decay. But another story tells a very different tale. This story insists that when Jochebed was three months pregnant with Moses, Amram divorced his wife, declaring that he had no desire to bring babies into the world if they were only going to die. According to this tale, it was his daughter Miriam who shamed Amram into remarrying Jochebed. (Why do I hear someone singing "Daddy don't You Walk So Fast").

I called these tales contradictory. However, some scholars don't see the contradiction and hold that both these stories could be true. Or neither. The choice of what we choose to believe really does lay with the reader. But maybe Amram deserves our grace, living in a difficult time for all of Israel, as the nation waited for the one that would lead the country out of slavery and into a home of their own.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 7

Personal Note: Happy 66^th Anniversary to my parents, Duane and Shirley

And many others fell slain, because the battle was God's. And they occupied the land until the exile. – 1 Chronicles 5:22

Today's Scripture Reading (June 26, 2025): 1 Chronicles 5

We often use shorthand when we speak to each other. The problem is that this shorthand assumes we understand the frame of reference. In the United States, often due to media and other fictional stories, we are familiar with the shorthand that the country uses for some of its military and spy services. NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) may be a somewhat obscure military organization, and it often plays up that fact in the fictional television series. Still, most of us know, or at least think we know, what the real NCIS stands for and does. The same goes for organizations like the FBI and CIA, although it sometimes seems that our fictional universe sometimes confuses the two. Even regional variants, such as the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation), have made appearances in our fictional novels (consider Karin Slaughter's "Will Trent" character).

Because of “Bond, James Bond,” we know all about MI6, Britain's spy agency, although we shouldn't tell them that, as they might not appreciate that terminology. But do you know what MI5 does? The primary difference between MI5 and MI6 is that MI5 focuses on domestic threats within the United Kingdom, while MI6 is a foreign intelligence-gathering service. MI5 is roughly the British equivalent of the American FBI, while MI6 is the British equivalent of the CIA. But all of this is nothing more than a shorthanded.

Have you ever heard of the CSIS? Probably not. I don't know of any hit television series that takes place in the CSIS, although there are a couple who have advertised the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). CSIS is the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Before we write them off as insignificant, the truth is that the lower-profile CSIS can often obtain information where the more well-known spy services fail to do so. It is one of the reasons why all allied foreign intelligence agencies need to communicate with each other, ensuring that everyone has the necessary information to maintain a safe world.

The reason for this trip through some of our alphabet groups is that a bit of shorthand is used here, and it was a shorthand that, on first read, I misinterpreted. I had to stop and think about what this passage said and connect it with the rest of the passage before I understood the message. The shorthand is at the end of this verse. "And they occupied the land until the exile" (1 Chronicles 5:22). The words, likely written by Ezra as the nation returned to Israel and Jerusalem from their Babylonian captivity, would seem to reflect the Babylonian experience. But that doesn't make sense.

Ezra didn't say it, but the reality is that the exile indicated here in a kind of shorthand was not the Babylonian experience from which Israel was just beginning to return but the Assyrian Exile from which the Northern Tribes never returned. It was that exile of which Ezra writes. And even as the Babylonian Exile came to an end, it was the Assyrian event that laid heavy on the heart of a Second Temple Priest named Ezra.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 6