Today’s
Scripture Reading (March 12, 2019): 1 Samuel 22
What
does it mean when you say that you “know” something? We actually use the word “know” in a variety of situations. Sometimes
we actually “know the information.” If I asked you to figure out the product of
two times two, most would not have to figure very long; you “know” the answer
is four. After all, math is math, right? Nothing is more obvious than dealing with numbers.
Numbers are concrete. Are you ready for a math lesson? Even when dealing with a
simple math question, there are some
assumptions that we are making. When I asked you what the product of two times
two was, you assumed I was using a base ten numbering system. For centuries,
that has been the primary numerical language of our civilization, a system that
is based on the numbers zero through
nine. But I could have been asking you the product of two times two in a quaternary
base (base 4) system, a system that only contains the numbers zero through
three. In that case, two times two equals ten. The number four doesn’t exist.
In a ternary system (base 3), in which only the numbers zero through two exist,
then two times two equals eleven. Isn’t math fun?
In
the binary language of computers, the question doesn’t make sense. The number
two doesn’t even exist; the binary world is made up of only zeros and ones. So,
what do two times two equal? Maybe there
are more questions that we need to ask even to
try to answer the question.
Silly,
maybe. But the reality is that when we say we know something, we may not actually know. There are a set of assumptions
that we are making. Frequently in my life,
I have been asked to play the role of the referee between two people that knew something but disagreed over what the answer to the proposed problem might be.
Still,
we are taught to speak forcefully about what we “know.” One mentor even taught
me that when I speak about spiritual things, to speak of what I “know” rather
than what I “believe.” Don’t say that you “believe” that God loves us. Instead,
say that you “know” that God loves with you. And there are times, like when I
am speaking about God’s love, that I use the word “know” because I am very
sure. And yet, the sum of what I really
know is actually quite small. Often I use
the word “know” to indicate what is the sum of my assumptions.
David
says that he knew when he saw Doeg the Edomite at Nob that he would go and tell
Saul. And that could be true. He knew that Doeg was a friend or supplicant as
well as a spy for the king. He knew that the spy would go and tell the king
where David had been seen so that the
king could focus his efforts in and around the area of Nob.
But
there was also some assumptions David was
making about his reality and the witness of Doeg. There was a wealth of
knowledge that David didn’t know. He knew that Doeg would go and tell Saul, and
even here it might be better to say that David suspected the Doeg would go and tell the king, but he had no idea how the king
would react. David didn’t know that Saul would dare to respond in force against the priests of Nob. If David even slightly
suspected that Saul would massacre the priests, he would have likely run the
other direction instead of asking the priests for food. Was David responsible
for the death of priests and the family of Abiathar?
It would be more precise to say that David felt he was responsible. David was
not responsible for the actions of Saul. Saul was responsible for his own actions. But that did not help David shake
off his overwhelming feelings of guilt.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Psalm 57
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