David, in conclusion

 

Sun Sep 14^th 2025

David, a bolt of lightning....

The story of David is like a bolt of lightning in the sky of the Old Testament narrative - in its attempted jump from the person of Psalm 23 to the being of Psalm Eight. It is not an easy jump and has not been given credence for the longest time. Yet it has always been there. Perhaps no more than all the good news Jesus brings to us, the meaning of which the tradition of the Church has somehow missed – the jump from dependence through independence into interdependence: always in community, and always with God. It is not too difficult to see that the step in the middle – independence – has been the difficult corner to get around. Both church and community leaders, priests and politicians, have denied this to the ordinary person. But God has not.

The dominant way of life in Old Testament times was that of the middle eastern kingdoms, and David paid the price for buying into that. It blinded him from developing his relationship with the God who is. This is not a matter of ‘Christianity vs culture’ for example. It is never a one vs the other; it has always been the way of the good versus the way of the harmful, and that is the same in every culture: what hurts others, and what helps them. We just shade things in ways that are favorable to those in control. God has never accepted that.

David did exceptionally well in the initial stages of dependence moving into independence, enough for Brueggemann, deep in his study of Wisdom, to discover the biblical links that surface in David’s life and actions,  and then cry ‘Aha!’ at that discovery! But Wisdom has stayed hidden for centuries as poetry and prose, like the lost Ark. It may be read as such, but its wisdom carries an inherent link to how the creator Spirit works in our lives..

Our opportunity here is to see David’s life for what it was – a genuine shot at a spirit-based interdependent life here and even beyond, in the presence of God, given the assurances he was given. He took his best shot and got so far, and no further. By the time of Bathsheba’s arrival his mindset is not that of a new creation tapped by God for greater things, but that of a King like unto the nations, and he now thinks he no longer needs God because he has power. He can deal with his enemies as he needs to. They are still there, but he feels that they are no menace to him. He is safe in Jerusalem, comfortable with the wealth and power of being the first true King of Israel. Saul was too much of a county sheriff to count as King of Israel. But David’s misunderstanding of his reality leads to his spiritual growth beginning to grind to a halt.

 It is not a fall from grace, nor a judgement from God. It is his inability or his unwillingness to grow in his relationship with God. Can’t say which, the choices were his. The Psalms give us enough clues about this – his dominant concerns have always been about power struggles and the injustice that he has had to deal with. Very personal, very individual, very self-concerned. All about struggles with enemies! God has brought him through, time after time, and blessed him. Instead of turning wholeheartedly to God he seems to misunderstand interdependence, failing to realize that independence is not the final goal, but just the stage before. Has the Christian church been any different in its interpretive traditions?  Once again, Dostoyevsky’s reminder of the unwelcome Christ!!

But review the stages briefly. First, the dependence of Psalm 23, where we are sheep, totally reliant on the good shepherd. Children, with a long way to go. Then we encounter Psalm 8, in which we are suddenly, lo and behold, a little less than the angels. And how do we get there? Ps 23 is where David is at in his beginning, and Ps 8 is where he could get to. It’s the in between that is tricky – how to navigate the maze that constitutes independence and then get beyond that into interdependence, beginning to be a co-worker with God? God does not shout in your ear. Ever. Ministry is not an independent mission, but a co-worker enterprise shared with God. No one will disagree with that statement, but our actions haven’t exactly carried it out that way. We do our own thing, and then say ’God said so’ but the outcome never matches the promise! So, it is not surprising that whenever the cry of ‘God wills it’ has inspired an imperative to ‘mission’ whatever that might be taken to mean, there has almost always been an ulterior motive of gaining an advantage over some other!  

Remember that the Israelite monarchy failed in its entirety. From Saul the county sheriff, to Solomon the wise, who displayed much wisdom, but then ended up with many wives and their Gods, all in the name of the acquisition of earthly wealth. Not exactly the Godly King.  Nor was godly kingship to be seen in the divided Kingdom with its litany of good and bad kings, hugely oversimplified. In all this, Brueggemann identifies the incidents where David evidences a differentness, but it soon begins to fade.

Why didn’t the Spirit come mightily upon David as he gazed upon Bathsheba and lead him to some other fawn? Nope. That is the true requirement of interdependence ie you choose, and choose rightly! But David by this time had developed a different mindset. Gone were the lament psalms that focused on his enemies around him. He was King of Jerusalem, the first true King - and he felt it. But his feelings deceived him. Could it be that in his view, God was no longer needed? The King could resolve the issues of the day, and the King would have that which he desired. It is not the singular act of coveting and its result that brings him down, as much as it is the decision to turn away from God, who is no longed needed?  We ask most sincerely when we are in greatest need. When we are good and everything is great, we make merry - and forget God. Hence our lack of spiritual growth. Like our preoccupation with the physical body. Today our notion of spirituality is still giving alms, attending worship, doing kind deeds, and mostly, feeling that we have a relationship with God. But that one is not about feeling! It is response-ability to all God sees we can do in our lives! And it goes far beyond physical comfort and material wealth. It just achieves them by different means. The foreshadowing of the prototokos in Ps 8 remains hidden.

Those who focus on the King’s ‘Bathsheba’ incident wonder might how come the results were so devastating. But the King had set the stage. And the weeds he had allowed to grow bore fruit of their own kind. Most devastating perhaps is when a daughter gets raped by a half-brother, and the King says nothing. It ends in blood.

Thus, the David story ends, with a review of David’s great warriors, a song of victory from early days when Saul persecuted him, and a Psalm of his last words, here described as an oracle. But these entries parallel the stories of David before the Bathsheba-Uriah time and its consequences.  They seem to gloss over the final stages of David’s life, which is nothing but a tragic sword history.

It falls to us to realize that the call of wisdom remains, and that it must be reintegrated into the ministry we profess of Jesus, of which we have precious little on record, if any, having lost some two decades of where he was and what he was about. Hence the importance of working in and with the Holy Spirit in the here and now, as Jesus taught. As Jesus demonstrated and practiced. And the few words of Jesus we have can lead us.

Wisdom sees things very differently. Reread some of the early stuff on wisdom when we began to look at David. We know, intuitively, what needs to be done to make things good and right. We just don’t do it. We fail to grasp and utilize the strength of God given human will. The more you use God’s will the better you get at it! But we ascribe our failure to our ‘sinfulness’.  As I said, our low anthropological self-opinion, as a bunch of miserable sinners! And we prescribe Christ as the remedy. And that does not work since it just attempts to pass the buck! Hence, the Church has struggled with improving the world it purports to serve. It lacks the spiritual capability to do so. I don’t mean to be harsh, but what good does not marrying serve if it ends up with desire being expressed in different ways upon unwilling persons and even youth? Very sad, but the true reality of failed spirituality. Of purporting to but not working with God. And it’s everywhere, not just in one section or denomination or division.  We must look within our own God given selves first, find the godly notion, and choose it. Then we must decide to will it into being, via spirit, mind, and body. Then only, does the power of God begin to surge in us. Only then will our self-understanding begin to mature into self-realization and grow into God-realization.

This, dear friends, is the good news of the David experience. It is the true gospel, the glad tidings of good news! God says ’I will not take my ‘khesedh’ (grace) from him. Read the entire section in 2 Sam 7:8-12; 14-16, esp. 15-16! It is a very radical statement, meaning that ‘you are my creation, and I trust you to do the right thing. Go do it.’ If you fail, there will be consequences, and you must deal with them. That’s it. This to me is what it means to be human. You do the best you can. If you fail, never mind, you carry on. You fix it and move forward, the missing piece of forgiveness in much talk about it. Mistakes are fine. But fix them. You will succeed. Never mind whatever life throws at you. You will overcome. Just don’t give up. Ever. Realize that you never walk alone. Live in that grace. It finalizes in all that Jesus says to us. Believe. Have faith. Sure. But act on it. And in the acting of it, you will discover just how God walks with you, always. And that you are the one who decides your own fences, your own limits, your own capability. Be at peace in difficult times and walk forward in strength.  Every blessing in Jesus, G.