Day 122

The shortest reading so far. I listened to a commentary that brought this passage to life. I’ll summarise.

The significance of David becoming the 3rd king of Israel is that he wasn’t in the bloodline of Saul to become king. Saul despised David. David became one of the most significant rulers in Israel because the leaders and the entire tribes of Israel went to Hesbon and declared David their ruler. Imagine decisions made by one’s immediate family — it takes us a while to reach certain conclusions. So imagine the entire tribes of Israel agreeing that David should be king irrespective of the fact that he wasn’t in the bloodline of Saul, the first king. The second king was ish-Boseth, Saul’s fourth son. The Philistines also killed his first three sons. The guess is that they had been watching David — his leadership and integrity; they saw God working through him.

In yesterday’s reading, apart from making David king, ended with a celebration between David and his men. With one heart, they crown him king and celebrate after that. So today’s reading starts with behold, how blessed is it for brethren to live together in unity. What unifies us is a common reason to come together — a greater purpose, despite our differences. We are putting our differences aside to achieve that common goal. To be a unified front, we need to recognise our differences and say it is ok that we are different, but we are not letting that matter in our coming together for a greater purpose. Unity is not sameness. We should be able to look at our difference and still love and respect one another and not sabotage the person’s character because of their differences.

What an insightful perspective.