READING FOR MAY 23, 2025: 2 SAMUEL 11, MARK 7, PSALM 45:10-17 2 SAMUEL 11 The opening of this chapter finds Joab leading Israel in a siege of Rabbah, a city of Ammon on the east side of the Jordan but not too far from Jerusalem. Verse one tells us that David did not participate in the battle, unlike the normal practice of kings at that time. As he was walking on the roof of his house (instead leading his men), he saw the beautiful Bathsheba bathing. Upon asking, he learned that her husband was Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s mighty men (2 Sam. 23:8, 39). Realizing he had opportunity to satisfy his lust while her husband was away at war, he had Bathsheba brought to his house and had sex with her. Some have suggested that seeds of this disgusting sin were planted years earlier when he started acquiring multiple wives. In fact, we will see in this brief chapter how one sin so quickly leads to others. The English Puritan theologian John Owen famously wrote, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” This is from Owen’s commentary on Romans 8:13: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
After the deed, David, perhaps thinking he had escaped notice, encountered his first compli- cation: Bathsheba is pregnant. Now he begins the coverup. He sends for Uriah, pretending to be interested in a report from the battlefield. After the report, David sends Uriah to his house for the night. David’s thinking was Uriah would have relations with Bathsheba so that every- one will think the baby is Uriah’s. David hadn’t considered that Uriah’s ethical standard would be so much higher than his. Uriah slept in his doorway rather than enjoy his comfortable home while his fellow soldiers were engaged in dangerous warfare. Foiled again, David drugs Uriah with alcohol and sends his home, but the result is the same: Uriah maintains his standards.
Finally, David sinks to the lowest imaginable deceit. He sends Uriah to the front with a note for Joab, which basically tells him to murder Uriah by placing him in exposed danger. To do this, Joab also had to lose other soldiers as part of this ploy. When David learned of this, he did not express any sadness but chalked it up to the hazards of war. After allowing Bathsheba the customary period of mourning for her dead husband, David added her to his collection of wives. Perhaps he thought all was well, but the last sentence of the chapter is the most devastating reality: “But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.” There is no such thing as getting away with sin or a successful coverup. God is omniscient.
MARK 7 The story of the disciples eating without ceremonially washing their hands and utensils was discussed on February 21, 2025 when we read Matthew 15. As we saw, Jesus observed how these human traditions were often followed rigorously even as, as Isaiah wrote, the people’s hearts were far away from God. There is nothing wrong with washing our hands before eating. In fact, we should do so; it’s good hygiene. The problem is thinking this tradition, good as it is, is a measure of our spiritual condition before God.
READING FOR MAY 23, 2025 CONTINUED: MARK 7, PSALM 45:10-17 This kind of legalism was and is often a danger with the Fundamentalist approach that began in the twentieth century. It leads to judging others on false measures of spirituality and, as Jesus states, neglecting the true condition of the heart, which could still harbor coveting, envy, and pride. According to Jesus, the worst form of this is when a human tradition replaces a command of God. In Mark 7, it was the setting aside money that could have been used to help parents, thus violating the fifth commandment. What practices exist today that displace God’s will? Of course, traditional and progressive Christians no doubt also practice human traditions that might be replacing important biblical principles or commands. It can be hard to discern such errors because we emotionally connect these traditions with years of sincere worship over many generations. There would be value in looking at our practices against the rubric of the Bible to see if we are following human tradition or commands of God in the following areas: Church Governance—Titus 1-2, 1 Tim. 3; Church Meetings—1 Cor. 14, 1 Tim. 2; Church Discipline—Matt. 18, 1 Cor.5, 2 Cor.2; False Teaching—Jude, Col.2, 1 John 4-5, Gal. 1; Family Structure—Eph. 5-6, 1 Pet. 3, 1 Cor.7.
The encounter between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman was also considered with our study of Matthew 15. It is noteworthy that this Gentile girl had an unclean spirit, showing that demons were active beyond Israel in the New Testament. How about today? Consider this statement from the 2007 book Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture: “The Vodou religion is omnipresent, pervasive, strong, and performs key functions in all aspects of Haiti’s social and political life.” Might this corelate with the challenges that Haiti currently faces and have long experienced? As we see in the Bible, Satan deceives and destroys, but God is stronger.
PSALM 45:10-17 This part of the marriage celebration focuses on the bride. So, if the king represents Jesus, who is the bride? Fortunately, the New Testament gives us the answer:
- Eph.5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
- 2 Cor. 11:2 “for I betrothed you [church]to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.”
- Rev. 19:8 “The marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself.”
This Psalm expresses the uniqueness of this marriage with the groom as both husband and king, an aspect of Jesus and His church. In verse 10 the bride is told to forget her people, anticipating Jesus’s command in Luke 14:26 to commit to Jesus over one’s family. The reference in verse 13 to the bride as all glorious within relates to Eph. 5:17 that the church will be holy and blameless through Christ’s cleansing. The statement about making sons princes in all the nations (vs. 16) equates to the command to make disciples in all nations (Matt 28:19). And certainly, the one who is praised forever and ever (vs.19) could only refer to Jesus. As part of this bride of Christ, we join in this celebration by praising God and making disciples.
