Today's Scripture Reading (September 12, 2022): 1 Chronicles 21
In the early 1990s, my boss
decided to give his staff a present. And so, he bought enough tickets so we could all go as a
group, bringing our wives, to a Kenny Rogers concert. My boss was a very generous man; I also had the privilege of accompanying him to a
stage production of "Jesus Christ, Superstar," featuring some of the original cast from the 1970s
movie.
I wasn't much of a Rogers fan, I have never really enjoyed
country music, but I took my wife and joined the group for the concert. I was
amazed at the seats my boss had purchased for us. There were three sections of seats on the auditorium floor: center, left, and right, and then all of the arena
seating. Our tickets were for the floor, the front row on the left side of the stage. And from these seats, we watched and
listened as Kenny Rogers sang and told us his stories.
One of Rogers' running jokes for the evening was that the guys present at the concert were forced to attend by our wives. And then he picked on one
guy in the front row of the center floor section and told him that if he raised
his hand every time Kenny sang one of his hits, he would give him ten dollars
per hit. Rogers has had a lot of hits, so the guy had a chance to
take home a bit of money. And the crowd murmured their encouragement to their new friend every time the
singer began to sing a song he had released as one of his hits.
I love music, but if it was up to me, and no one was there to help me or elbow me
whenever Rogers sang one of his hits, I am not sure I would have made much money.
Maybe twenty-bucks, give me ten for "Islands in the Stream," a song written by the Bee-Gees but made popular as a
duet between Kenny and Dolly Parton, and "The Gambler."
It is the chorus of the
latter song that comes to mind as I read this passage.
You
gotta know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em
Know
when to walk away, Know when to run
You
never count your money, when you're sittin at the table
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.
It is good advice, shared
before the gambler "broke even," a euphemism in the song indicating
the gambler's death
David has ordered a count of
the tribes of Israel. It was likely an effort to see how big an army David
could raise as he defended the nation from neighbors who believed that Israel
did not have a right to exist. But there might have been a secondary reason.
This event seems to have taken place late in the reign of David. And Joab appears to believe that the count was part of David's pride. They are all David's subjects. Why would he count them when that was something
that God had not asked them to do? Israel should have gone to war only
as a direct result of God's instructions; in that case, God's presence would
tilt the conflict, not the size of David's army. There was no reason for David
to count his soldiers. But the reality was that David wanted to know how much the
nation had grown under his leadership. He was counting his money while sitting at the table, which is
something every gambler should know that you just shouldn't do.
Today's Scripture Reading: 1
Chronicles 22
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