Today’s Scripture Reading (January 7,
2013): 2 Samuel 6
Sometimes I
wonder if some of the regulations of the Hebrew Bible are really just God
giving structure to what we think he desires. I mean, the sacrifice of animals
to God actually starts long before the law is given to Moses. It is as if man
came up with the idea that God wanted a sacrifice. So, when the Law came to
Moses, God simply gave structure to what man had already decreed was necessary.
But that
does not work with everything. Sometimes God may give in to what we think that
he wants, but sometimes God desires something very different from us. Sometimes
what God desires does not make sense to us.
It was time
for the Ark to come home. It had been treated without respect, lost, and then finally
returned to Israel, but it had never been returned home to the tabernacle. Now
that David was trying to establish Jerusalem as both the political and
religious center of the nation, it was time for the Ark to be brought home. And what made sense was to build a new cart,
one that had never been used for any other purpose, to complete the task - because
God deserved something that was new, and just as he desired his people to be
dedicated to him, so should the things that were to be used on his behalf be
dedicated to him.
But that was
not what God had decreed. The Ark was not to be entrusted to a thing – it was
too special for that. The Ark was built to be with loops that a pole could pass
through so that it could be carried by the priests. It would not have been the
fastest way to move the Ark, but it was God’s way – and it was also a more
secure way of getting it home . And when God has a way, that is the way that we
need to go.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2
Samuel 7
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