2 Samuel 6 - Uzzah & the Disrespect

Now that David is in Jerusalem and getting ready to build a grand temple and continue the task of unifying and strengthening Israel, there remains just one more thing to be done: bringing the Ark home.  We haven't heard much about the Ark lately; not since the early chapters of First Samuel when we read about the Israelites getting the Ark back from the Philistines and placing it in Cariathiarim.  Since then all of the drama unfolded involving King Saul and the transition of power to David.  Now that political uncertainty has settled down, attention can once again be payed to this holiest object in the Israelites' possession.  The Ark ought to be placed in a prominent, central location, and that is just what David intends to do.  The problem, however, as we see in 2 Samuel 6, is that the Israelites, probably because of years being apart from the Ark or forgetting the proper injunctions surrounding it, do not handle it with due respect.  This is all illustrated quite powerfully through the figure of Uzzah.  Uzzah of course is the poor soul who is struck dead after placing his hand on the Ark, but the problems began before that fateful act.  The first mistake David and the Israelites made was to place the Holy Ark of the Covenant on an old wooden cart pulled by oxen.  God made clear the Ark was to be carried only by the Levites, the priestly tribe set aside by God for this and many other tasks.  This rule was broken (the same way David broke a rule by taking so many wives).  As was made clear throughout the law books of the Pentateuch, God desired a priestly tribe, one tribe set apart, reserved to be physically closest to Him in the Tabernacle and in handling the Ark.  This rule had been chipped away at slowly over the decades and centuries.  We saw Saul make the mistake of assuming certain priestly functions.  We've seen it with other Biblical figures.  And now we see it with Uzzah.  So after transferring the Ark using these lowly, undignified means, Uzzah puts his hand on the Ark to steady it, and is struck dead on the spot.  For David it is a wake-up call.  Clearly David realizes the mistake they made and immediately has the Ark taken to the home of the Levite Obed-edom.  Here God seems to be appeased.  Blessings come to Obed-edom for his respectful treatment of the Ark, and it is then allowed to continue its journey to Jerusalem.

The importance of the priests' role seems to be an important theme in this chapter.  It's stressed over and over in Scripture that God has strict instructions concerning His worship and He desires them to be followed, not casually shrugged off whenever we feel like it.  It's a mark of humility, a virtue much lauded by Our Lord, to submit to His injunctions, both then and now.  Today we have, for example, the casual handling of the Blessed Sacrament by means of "extraordinary ministers" of the Eucharist or Communion in the hand, and so on.  Clearly these are not the most reverent and respectful ways we could be handling Our Lord.  Let us learn from Uzzah and adhere to the strictest reverence when it comes to God's True Presence.

2 Samuel 3-5: David, King!

After a bumpy start, the beginning of David's kingship finally is able to flourish in these chapters.  Ish-bosheth, Saul's son and rival claimant to the throne, is killed in chapter 4.  In chapter 5 there are no more hurdles for David to clear; God's anointed one can finally assume his destined position as king of all of Israel.  And chapter 5 just feels different.  There is something grandiose about it.  It's the first time Solomon's name is mentioned; there is a prevalent theme of unity; the Philistines are soundly defeated over and over; Israel's power as a nation grows; and the Holy City of Jerusalem, after hundreds of years of being occupied, is finally taken away from the Jebusites.  This last event seems to be the most dramatic and significant.  When King David takes Jerusalem, he is quick to make it his capital.  He begins designs for a great temple atop Jerusalem's commanding hill.  In every sense, symbolically and actually, Israelite power is growing and consolidating throughout this chapter and I'd imagine in the many chapters to come.  In many ways it is the culmination of events started back in Joshua's days -- Israel's enemies, within and without, are being swept aside and God's promise that the land of Canaan will be theirs seems to finally be becoming a reality in the fullest sense.  Although, as a side note, there is a subtle notion in this chapter that all may not be well for long.  Moses had foreseen that God would one day permit a king to rule over His people, even though it wasn't what He ideally wanted, and he had written in Deuteronomy 17:17, "[the king] shall not have many wives, that may allure his mind, nor immense sums of silver and gold."  Yet, in 2 Samuel 5:13 it is written, "And David took more concubines and wives of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were born to David other sons also and daughters."  (One of those sons was of course Solomon, who infamously followed in his father's footsteps in this area.)  The point is that David wasn't perfect and this aspect of his kingship, which went against the Mosaic covenant, displeased God.  While David's reign may have been full of glory and triumph, it would not last forever.  Israel's golden years would be thus short-lived. 

2 Samuel 2 - The Divide

It seems David's path to the throne has hit another stumbling block.  After Saul's death, David is only initially able to secure the loyalty of the kingdom of Judah.  Saul's son Ish-bosheth (with the help of Saul's general Abner) becomes king of the rest of Israel.  Based on the narrative direction of the First Book of Samuel, this isn't the outcome I would've expected.  David's ascent has been steady, his only hurdle being Saul himself.  He seems as one revered by the people.  And his kingship was all but inevitable once Saul left the picture.  But where there is God's Will there will always be a force at work against It.  The forces, gathered from a place of darkness, do not want David to be king.  The Israelites are thus left divided for some time before things break into hostilities.  And this is the bulk of 2 Samuel 2.  The scenes are striking.  First, the clash of the 24 warriors.  12 of David's men, 12 of Ish-bosheth's, like gladiators fighting to the death.  They are all slain in the conflict and nothing is accomplished.  Then the generals Abner and Joab, fighting on behalf of their kings.  The death of Asahel escalates things.  Abner's men defeated, and his ignominious march back home.  By the end of the chapter it is clear David has the upper hand.  But the kingdoms aren't united.  The armies are bickering.  Joab's brother slain.  Animosities flaring up.  The transition from Saul to David appears to be anything but a smooth one.

2 Samuel 1 - David's Magnanimity

The Second Book of Samuel starts right away with David.  King David, as he ought to now be called, shows great magnanimity when met with the news of Saul's death.  Saul, the great persecutor of David; Saul, the man obsessed with eliminating David; Saul, the king who saw David as a threat and came close many times to killing him.  If anyone should be relieved and even happy to hear that Saul was dead, it would be David, who would no longer need to worry every moment about Saul conspiring to end his life.  But no, David reacts with sorrow over the news and immediately rends his garments and weeps and even fasts.  Of course, David's sorrow was also directed towards Jonathan, whom he loved dearly.  But all the same, David shows no malice, no vengeful joy, no satisfaction at the news.  In this moment, David shows himself to be very much a prefigure of Jesus, forgiving his enemies.  And Saul, sadly, plays the part of the Jews, in this way:  He was anointed first, by the holy Samuel, divinely chosen, much was expected of him, but he failed, was overcome with pride, and when God chose David as the new king, Saul would not accept him.

Saul also demonstrates for us that just because God chooses someone, even bestows graces on him, and elevates him to a prominent position with an important mission, that person can still fall.  Free will does not cease to be just because someone is granted a special position by God.  Saul, had he not chosen the path of pride, could have been a holy and exalted king.  Instead he prefigures Judas.

Concluding Thoughts on First Samuel

The fall of Saul looms so large over the First Book of Samuel that this section of the Bible can seem at first to be purely a tragic tale.  There is the hope of David, true, but most of what we get of David is how horribly he is persecuted by Saul.  The true bright spot in First Samuel must be Samuel himself.  The great prophet dies in 1 Samuel 25, so it can be easy to lose sight of him and get swept up in the drama of Saul and David.  But upon reflecting on the book as a whole, Samuel emerges as the key figure, and the true hope raised by God for His people.  From his miraculous origins early in 1 Samuel to his dealings with Heli to his acquiescence when the people demand a king, Samuel always acted with faith, humility, and righteousness.  The fact that he bridges the divide between the eras of judges and kings makes him a supremely significant figure, right up there with Moses and Joshua.  Samuel is a transitional prophet.  He is chosen and raised up by God to deliver the Israelites from the bondage of the Philistines and sin, much like other judges who came before him, e.g. Samson.  But then, in an unprecedented moment, he is directed divinely to switch course.  His anointing of Saul and instituting a new kingship in the Holy Land is a moment full of ambivalence for the reader, since we know God doesn't desire such a course for His people, yet He permits it, and it seems wants everyone to make the best of it.  Samuel humbly obeys God knowing he is setting off a precarious chain of events.  He tries his best to keep Saul on the path of righteousness, but that becomes a more difficult task as the book goes on.  Samuel's final act is to anoint David, but Samuel dies before David can become the fully realized king he is meant to be.  God's prophets (and later His saints) are always placed in their time and place to steer events a certain way, to provide light and hope especially during confusing times.  The time covered in 1 Samuel was a rocky and tumultuous time, and the good prophet Samuel provided much needed stability and comfort to keep God's ship afloat.  But now that Samuel is gone and the Second Book of Samuel begins, who will be that divinely placed sign of hope?  Will it be King David himself?  Another prophet?  Saul is gone as well, but that doesn't mean evil has gone with him.  Someone the likes of Samuel will be needed; and is still needed now.

1 Samuel 31 - The Death of Saul

The First Book of Samuel concludes with the ignominious death of King Saul.  I started this book a little over a year ago.  I knew very little about Saul prior to reading this book of the Bible and so it was a fruitful journey to see and learn from Saul's rise and fall.  The structure of the First Book of Samuel is one of divergent story lines -- Saul on the one hand and David on the other.  (Clearly the Second Book of Samuel will be devoted to David's continued ascent.)  In so many ways, Saul turned away from the Lord.  And that is his tragedy.  He was given so much, chosen divinely to be Israel's first king, but he stumbled when met with challenges, specifically challenges to his inflated pride.  Saul is in many ways an archetype of the proud king whose pride ends up being the death of him.  The fact that he dies by suicide only confirms this defect in him.  Saul couldn't bear to be humiliated, whether by the boy David or by the Philistines that were about to capture him.  But a little humiliation could have been his salvation, if he would have welcomed it.  This is a short write-up since Chapter 31 is pretty brief and straightforward.  But I'm looking forward to moving on to a new book and diving deeper into David's kingship and seeing what kind of archetype he establishes.  After all, King David was the model that medieval kings looked to.  David's kingdom is also seen as the ideal Jewish kingdom on earth, one that Jews anticipate coming again in some form or another.  The Saul experiment ended badly, but now it's time to see how David can salvage the wreckage. 

1 Samuel 29-30: A Campaign of Justice and Mercy

We see David solidify his position among the Israelites in these chapters.  After being dismissed by Aphec from the Philistine army, David returns to his land only to find it has been plundered and destroyed by the Amalekites.  His campaign to recover what had been taken and to slaughter the offending Amalekites comprises Chapter 30.  And here we see the commendable justice and mercy of the future King David.  He acts with justice in going after the Amalekites (having first consulted with God and the priests), and then, afterwards, his act of mercy towards the Israelites who did not go into battle with him is quite striking.  Of the 600 men who went after the Amalekites, 200 eventually stayed behind because of exhaustion or perhaps even a lack of courage.  Whatever the reason, when the 400 who did go and face the enemy returned, they didn't want to share the spoils of war with those who stayed behind.  Most of us would probably be like those 400 men; it's our human nature to not want to share with those we feel don't deserve it.  But these greedy men are described as "wicked and unjust" (1 Samuel 30:22).  David, with great magnanimity, responds: "You shall not do so, my brethren... equal shall be the portion of him that went down to battle, and of him that abode at the baggage, and they shall divide alike" (1 Samuel 30:23-24).  This account almost sounds like a forerunner of Christ's Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.  David exhibits both justice and mercy almost in one fell swoop.  He is as a good king should be.  Chapter 30 ends with David sharing the spoils of war with the cities of Israel, setting the stage for his ascent to the throne and the unification of the Promised Land, shoring up support among the people, and ultimately making his kingship inevitable -- once Saul is removed from the picture, of course.