Today's Scripture Reading (July 22, 2025): 1 Chronicles 19
In the divided history of the United States, one of the most
serious divisions was the divide between the Slave States, mainly
in the south, and the Free States, primarily in the north and the extreme west.
It is a division that still plays itself out in contemporary American
culture. But what has sometimes been forgotten is that being an African
American living in one of the Free States might have been better off than being
an African American existing in one of the slave states, but it
definitely wasn't safe; living while Black was dangerous then, just as it is
now. And one of the daily realities for an African American living in the Free
States was that someone could grab them on the street and take them to one of
the Slave States for no other crime than living with a particular skin
color. It is a sad part of the history of North
America and a part of the history of the continent for which we have
still not recovered.
In ancient Israel, slavery was also a very real reality,
but it was not necessarily racially based. Even Hebrew people could enter into
a master-slave relationship with other Hebrews. The distinction between a free male
Hebrew and an enslaved man was the presence of a beard. Free Hebrew men
proudly displayed their beards, while an enslaved person was required to
be clean-shaven. For a free man to have his face shaved by an enemy, or even
just half of it, as is indicated in the companion reading of this story in 2
Samuel 10:4, was intended to send a somber message. Soon, all of
Israel would live as slaves.
Hanun had seized David's ambassadors and had their beards removed
to send a message to David. What was done to the King's ambassadors was the
same as if it had been done to the King himself. But Hanun did not stop there.
He also cut the lower half of the garments off of the men. The author of Samuel
tells us that this exposed the buttocks of the ambassadors. But that was not
the real problem. It also would have exposed the genitals of the ambassadors,
exposing the fact that they were circumcised, as all Jews were.
Hanun wanted to reveal what he saw as Israel's shame. To
the Gentile people who surrounded Israel, circumcision was proof of the
inferior nature of the Jews. The circumcised ambassadors were deeply humiliated
by both actions, and because they were humiliated, so was David.
Jesus made a similar comparison on his last night with his
disciples. Just before his arrest, he told them that;
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated
me first. If you belonged
to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates
you. Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not
greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you
also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not
know the one who sent me (John 15:18-21).
We are ambassadors of our King. And
by persecuting us, the powers of this world believe that they are persecuting
Jesus. Jesus' message was never that we should avoid such persecution, but
rather that we should remember the actual target of our persecution, just as it
was for Jesus, is aimed at the God we serve.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 20
See also 2 Samuel 10:4
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