King David and the Lessons of Atonement

King David and the Lessons of Atonement

King David lived a righteous life for most of his life, however only one man lived a perfect life and that man was a decedent of David, not David himself. David had been home from the wars for over a year and one day while on the roof of his house sees a beautiful woman bathing in her own house. Asking after her he finds out that she is the wife of one of his soldiers. David has her brought to him and "lays with her".  There is no record of her attempting to refuse him, so we do not know how much responsibility  she bears in this. Bath-sheba becomes pregnant and David sends for her husband Uriah who after reporting to David won't even go home because the others are still in the field. David sends him back to battle and orders him sent to the fiercest fighting that he should be killed in battle, and he is. After the period of mourning he takes Bath-sheba as his wife. It is after this that the prophet Nathan comes to David, and brings him to his senses with the story of the rich man and the poor man.

When Nathan brought David to his senses, David confessed his wrong doings and admitted his sin, Nathan told him that the consequence would be the death of the child conceived in sin,  he prayed and fasted for 7 days that the child would be saved. After the death of the child he rose and bathed and comforted Bath-sheba and ate. The sin is past, no matter how it came to be he and Bath-sheba are married now and the sin is forgiven.
David followed a path that is no different than what we do in atonement today. 1) Have a godly sorrow for the sin - David was angry at the injustice and wanted the man punished
2) Abandon the sin completely - make restitution as far as possible - The Lord decreed the death of the child conceived before David and Bath-sheba were married would be the restitution. David pleaded for the child's life for 7 days but that was the restitution. A man's life cannot be restored.
3) Confess to the proper authority. - King David was the highest authority, the Lord already knew as did Nathan the prophet.
David spent 7 days in prayer and fasting becoming right with God and attempting to save the life of his child. When the Lord took the child he went to his wife and comforted her and they went on with life. The final step, when forgiveness is granted you go forward and do your best to stay on the correct path. David was given his son Solomon. 

Dance Before the Lord

Continuing Contemplation on King David

This week in my communication class we set aside our text book and concentrated on the topic of Spiritual Communication. As children of our Heavenly Father we have a relationship with Him and any relationship must be maintained with communication. Prayer is how we speak to our Father, the Scriptures are a written record of His word and the Spirit, the Priesthood and the Prophets are lines of communication that He has established back to us. 

King David, from what I understand, lived in a time of oral teaching. The commandments written in stone, carried in the Ark were the only writings of Gods word the rest were taught and prayer and prophets who carried His word were vitally important. The Holy Spirit was still a occasional gift, He was not the Comforter that came to all after Jesus left. David followed the Lord with less tools that we have at our disposal and did so building a nation and waging war to strengthen Israel.  What an immense task, what a strong relationship David had with the Lord. Strong enough that when David asked to build a Temple to honor the Lord and was refused he did not argue, he did not sulk, he praised the Lord for His blessings upon his line and continued.

King David was not perfect but his relationship with the Lord and how he treated Saul and his family are wonderful examples, his relationship with the Lord is even a better one. The Lord was his Master and being in the presence of his Master made him so happy that he danced. Let us all be joyful and dance before the Lord.

King David

King David

What do you think about when you think about Kind David? Goliath? Bathsheba? Those are two things about him for sure. CNN is airing a series of specials called Jesus: Faith, Fact Forgery examining the historical trails of Jesus life and this week they talked about Judas Iscariot, one of they points they brought up was that when you paint a mans life with one or two strokes you are not seeing him as the Savior did. Jesus saw much more in Judas or he would not have been an Apostle. Many of the historians believe he might have been one of the first Apostles chosen and he was the treasurer for the Apostles. 

King David is no different. Yes he slew Goliath, yes there is Bathsheba - that fall is in not in our reading this week.  Lets look at what else King David did.

After the death of Saul, David was anointed King over the house of Judah, Gilead, Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel, but he wasn't the only king. Saul son  Ishbosheth was also proclaimed king. It was the Game of Thrones. After several years of both of them ruling Ishbosheth was assassinated and David went to great lengths to show he was not involved in an attack on Saul's family. He continued to rule and during his 40 year reign defeated the Philistines, brought the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David, strengthened the boarders of Israel, by bringing Syria, Moab and Euphrates into line, found Jonathon's son Mephibosheth and gave him control over the land that his grandfather Saul had controlled as well as inviting him to always dine from his table. King David spent 40 years securing the peace and safety of Israel by defeating their enemies through war and he did it in an honorable manner following the Lord. Israel under David's rule was at the height of its power and the only thing denied to David was building the Temple.

David asked the Lord if he could build Him a Temple and the Lords answer is that his (Davids) line would be blessed, that they would be remembered, but that David had seen too much war and bloodshed to build the Temple and David accepted the answer and obeyed. Even blessing the Lord for His blessing on his line.

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Ruth and Sampson: A Study in Contrasts

Ruth and Sampson: A Study in Contrast

My reflection this week is a study in contrasts. We have Ruth and Naomi who are a study in quiet strength. They did what needed to be done in grace and wisdom. We hear no whispers of complaint or murmuring despite trials, tribulations and hardships. They worked hard and people noticed. Then we have Samson whose birth was heralded by an Angel of the Lord and is blessed by the Lord. Yet he does nothing. He shows off his strength and is tempted and gives in to temptation. He does not increase his learning. He does not use his strength for good purposes, and if I understand the Law of Clean and Unclean properly he caused anyone who ate that honey to be unclean. We know that even prophets are not perfect. The only perfect man to ever live was Jesus. However, the lesson we can learn from Sampson is one of wasted potential. This man appears to have not applied himself to doing much of anything except amusing himself. Be more like Ruth and Naomi, strive and work hard, be less like Sampson.

Naomi and Ruth

Naomi and Ruth

The story of Naomi and Ruth is one we can learn much from.

Naomi was the wife of Elimelch, they lived in the land of Judah and were faced with a famine. Elimelch decided to move his wife and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion to Moab where he thought they would have a better chance to live. In Moab the two boys eventually married and then Elimelech died, and then Mahlon and Chilion died leaving Naomi alone with her two daughter in laws Orpah and Ruth.

Naomi was left with no way to earn money or food, she told the girls to go back to their family, Orpah did. Ruth chose to stay with Naomi.  From Ruth's perspective she is now a widow living with her also widowed mother in law and neither of them have a way to earn a living.

Choosing to stay with Naomi could have been a very hard choice. She was in land with no family and were they didn't know many people. By going home she could have expected an easier life. I think she stayed for two reasons, I think she loved Naomi and I think she had converted to belief in God. 

When Naomi and Ruth arrived back in Judah, in Bethlehem Ruth impressed Boaz with how hard she worked to take care of Naomi. Ruth took care of the house and followed the reapers to gather wheat for food. She didn't beg, she showed character and did not dishonor herself or Naomi.

Ruth is a wonderful example of how to face challenges. The best way to face challenges is with grace, with prayer, without complaining, and working to make your life and the life of those you love better. That may not always be easy. I will not always be fair, but challenges show who you are and what you believe.

I have not been called to make any truly great sacrifices. I have had challenges, I have had to work hard and I have been called to obedience. I gave up coffee without understanding anything truly about the Word of Wisdom other than that is what the Lord and the Prophets said. I gave up tea and that was actually harder than coffee.   I am now trying to learn financial obedience with tithing. I don't compare that act of obedience with challenges anyone else has faced. But I do know that as I have faced my challenges, financial, and work and others that I hope I met them as Ruth did. With grace, and without complaining.

The Walls of Jericho

The Walls of Jericho

I keep thinking about the soldiers who went to take Jericho. We understand that there are certain methods to warfare. In the Promised Land the Lord had added restrictions, the soldiers were not to cut down food bearing trees, they were not to loot and destroy places of residence. It was very civilized warfare. The Lord knew His people would be living here. When they got to Jericho then all normal rules of warfare went even further out the window. This was a siege situation. Did they scale the walls? No. Build a siege engine? No.The Lord told them to march around the city in full uniform with the Ark once a day for 6 days in total silence. Then on the 7th day to march 7 times blow trumpets and shout and the city 'would be theres'. This takes trust and faith because to a soldier this is not a battle plan. To a man of God it is leaving it all in His hands.

I believe this was  huge test for these men. I don't believe those walls were empty. I believe the men of Jericho were looking on and I don't believe they were silent.  I believe they taunted the Children of Israel, I think the admonition to be silent was the truest part of the test.To not respond to the words of your enemy would have been difficult.  

Joshua 6:10 "And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, "Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout."

They were not just quiet around the walls and blowing off steam in camp. They were silent for 6 entire days. That is a amazing test and one they passed. One the 7th day they marched around the walls 7 times, sounded the trumpets and shouted and the walls came down.

The obedience and faith of these men gained them a city entirely unharmed. The Lord has made promises to us of what obedience and faith can bring us also.

Who Do You Serve?

Who Do You Serve?

We are in the book of Judges and Joshua and I really wanted to analyze leadership choices and fought with that for several days before giving in to the realization that the Lord was not done having me address the issue of Who Do You Serve?

We start out looking at the issue of if the sun "really" stood still in the heavens to provide light while Joshua and his soldiers fought in Joshua 10:12-14.

Some people think that because its not part of science it can't be true. We have made a big deal of how most of the time the Lord follows His own rules of science. He really does - mostly. Not always.

The incident in Joshua is not the first nor the last time that the Lord has interfered with the natural order of things on Earth. He made it rain manna for the Children for 40 years. He brought water from stones, parted the Red Sea, when His son is born a star appears for the Wise Men to follow, when His Son dies there is darkness across the world for 3 days. There is the plague of locusts and turning the Nile to blood. Yes, most of the time He works within His established rules, but sometimes He doesn’t.

Next we look at Joshua's final address to his people before his death.  Now this has been a remarkable campaign in the Holy Land.  A string of successes: the defeat of Ai, building an alter and reading the word of the law to all the people, making the Gibeonites servants, defeating the Amorites, conquering the whole land. 33 Kings were defeated by Israel.  Only one failure, it took two tries to defeat Ai because of Achan.  A remarkable victory.  Yet Joshua knows all to well Israels pattern after victories, to fall away from the Lord. 

The Children of Israel have a history to this point of backsliding. They make promises to the Lord and then forget Him and the promises. At this point now after 40 years with Moses (2 generations) and then years of war taking the promised land Joshua does not want to see them forget again in the promised land and takes heed to warn them. They have a new home, they have a written law, everything is laid out before them and they can prosper here but if they forget the Lord here they will lose everything and he is letting them know it is up to them.

Many of the times we are no differnet if often exactly backward from the Children in this regard. We turn to the Lord in times of trial, in times of need, and fall away in plenty. If we are to serve the Lord in our whole heart it must be in all times and in all ways. 

Laws, Logic, and Blessings

Laws, Logic, and Blessings

Just as we as parents make rules for our children to teach them and keep them safe, our Heavenly Father does the same for us. The rules that we make for our children are not random or abitrary. They are made out of reason. Some rules are forever because the conditions around them never change other rules evolve as our children grow older and are able to make better decisions. As we are better able to comprehend the world, the laws and as we mature we gain understanding of His ways we also earn the blessings that were promised with the laws. One of the most remarkable promises I have read in the Bible was that if we follow His commandments we shall be known as a wise and compassionate people. What an amazing promise and blessing that is, what parent does not want that for their children? If we don't see the logic behind a command that means we haven't gotten there yet, but line upon line, precept upon precept we can and we will.

The Book of Deuteronomy: Keeping the Commandments & Not Worshiping False Gods

The Lord Expands on the Commandments

The Book of Deuteronomy is the last book in the Old Testament written by Moses and in it the Prophet reviews instructions for the Children of Israel from the Lord. He talks about statutes and judgements and then gives promises if they are kept. He states first and foremost "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish it" the reason for this is simple so that "ye may keep the commandments". How can you keep the commandments if they change? He follows that with "Fear the Lord and keep His Commandments" so that your days may be prolonged. The logic of these two together is inescapable, but He follows with reasons, its not just 'do this because I said so as some would have you think'. By following these statutes and commandments He promises "that you may live, and go in and posses the land which the the Lord God of your fathers giveth you", "by cleaving to the statutes you will be known as a wise and understanding people". So following the commandment helps us not only to retain the promised land, but to be wise and understanding. That is a worthy goal.

One of the goals that we have is to let other people know of the truth, however one thing that happens sometimes is people end up falling in love and marrying people who don't share their beliefs. The Lord warns about this. Marrying outside of the covenant can bring conversion to other gods however as we are either enticed by the faith of our spouse or not given support in our own faith by our spouse. The Lord did more than warn against marriage outside the covenant for the Children of Israel, he prohibited it and gave the reason why at the same time. In Deuteronomy 7: 3-4 “ Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.” When you marry outside your religion it is harder to stay faithful to your beliefs, it is not impossible, but it is harder because depending on your position you have anywhere from less support to outright opposition. What you don’t have is your  partner working with you to help you grow and understand and walk the path, something each and every child of God deserves. We must be joined in a covenant marriage to enter the Celestial Kingdom, a marriage must be bound in the Temple to last for eternity. If Satan can make us forget this then we think that marriage in the Temple and making our marriage work is not important.

When that marriage produces children we have even further responsibilities. "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" We have a responsibility to teach our children the word of God. The more we can teach them and not by rote, but teach them to love the Lord and love His word the better we are doing our job.

The Lord knew that to teach children the parents had to love the Word also. Its the same as if you want to raise a child who loves to read - they should see you reading. So what did He tell the Children? "And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." The Children of Israel ended up taking this command literally creating phylacteries and mezuzah. The phylacteries are tiny pieces of parchment with scripture written on them that are folded and put into leather boxes about 1 ½ inch square that are tied to the head or over the bicep. The mezuzah (Hebrew for doorpost) is similar except the scripture is inserted into a tiny, cylindrical box and attached to the door frame. They came into use when the children of Israel took the word of the Lord literally. Not taken literally you would take the word of the Lord into your mind and into your home, keeping in the front of your mind & keeping your house for the Lord.

After giving instructions to parents  Moses goes on the relay the instructions about worship. Heavenly Father warns in clear and with no uncertain terms that we are not to worship anything or anyone but him. He goes even further to say that if anyone tries to entice us into doing so we are not to take pity on them and “neither shall you spare them” no matter if it be brother, sister, son, daughter or friend. Romans 1:25 elaborates on the foolishness of those who worship the things He created rather than the Creator changing the truth of God into a lie.

By reading His Word for ourselves we find out that the Lord has reasons for His rules - Keep the Commandments and grow wise, study the word and learn to love it that you may teach your children. There are reasons and promises for them all.