Day 128: Mighty Men of Valor
1 Chronicles 10:1-19 The Syrians allied themselves with the Ammonites against Israel, but Joab’s army managed to defeat them on both fronts. David then defeated a rejuvenated Syrian force, causing Syria to seek peace with Israel.
1 Chronicles 13:1-14 The transport of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem was a profoundly religious event that established Jerusalem as the religious center of Israel. The story re-emphasizes the unity of all Israel under David.
Psalm 31 This psalm expresses great anguish yet at the same time expresses trust and hope for deliverance by God.
Into your hand I commit my spirit: Words similar to these were spoken by Christ on the Cross just before his Death (cf. Lk 23:46), indicating that his own Death was at hand as he continued to identify himself with his Father’s will. (CCC 2605)
(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)
What a gift today is, oh man 😁
We get another perspective into David’s KINDNESS and David’s GOODNESS
Here is the king of the Ammonites, who died
David, as a good king thinks to have diplomatic relations with the nations around Israel
David sends ambassadors to basically offer his condolences to the son of the deceased king
So what does Hanun, the new king of the Ammonites do?
He shaves off half their beards and cuts their garments through the middle
This is obviously meant to humiliate these ambassadors
Think about the ancient world, a beard would be a sign of maturity, honor, and age
Now think if half of your beard was shaved off and your garments were cut down the middle exposing your private parts for all the world to see
David does well with these men who were shamed and disgraced
What does David do?
He goes out to meet them and shows himself to be a noble person who knows how to interact with his people
He says to them, “Hey, listen just stay in Jericho for a while. Let your beards grow back so that you are not shamed publicly in front of the people.”
But then, David gets his MIGHTY MEN
We have already read about them in 1 Chronicles
But this is the first time we have met them in 2 Samuel
This is the introduction of the MIGHTY MEN that we have heard about
Joab is one of the chiefs of these MIGHTY MEN
Joab leads the MIGHTY MEN into battle against the Ammonites and Syrians
These MIGHTY MEN are men of BRAVERY
These MIGHTY MEN are men of VALOR
These MIGHTY MEN are men of EXCELLENCE
These MIGHTY MEN are men of WISDOM
These MIGHTY MEN are men of SINGLE MINDED PURPOSE
So Joab tells them to BE OF GOOD COURAGE
So Joab tells them to BE STRONG FOR OUR PEOPLE
So Joab tells them to BE STRONG FOR THE CITIES OF OUR GOD
MAY THE LORD DO WHAT IS GOOD IN HIS SIGHT
So they go into battle and they win, as one would expect 😁
1 Chronicles Ch 13 we see David is living in Jerusalem, the City of David
We see David decide to bring the Presence of God, the Ark of God to Jerusalem so they can worship in the Lord’s presence
So what do they do?
They put it on a NEW CART, which wasn’t specified whether the cart was new in 2 Samuel
The Ark of God was NEVER EVER meant to be transported ON AN OX CART
It was meant to be transported ONLY BY THE TRIBE OF LEVI
The Ark was NEVER MEANT TO BE TOUCHED
Uzzah touches the Ark and dies
So David gets upset and decides to leave the Ark at the house of Obededom the Gittite
Now, Obededom and all his house, servants, even livestock are blessed beyond belief due to the presence of the Ark
Soon, the Ark will be brought all the way into the City of David
That is one of the great gifts for all of us
We want to live in the PRESENCE OF GOD
A couple of days ago, we learned about Uzzah and that SIN is when we say to God, “Lord, I know what you want but I want to do what I want to do.”
That leads to SPIRITUAL DEATH
AND YET…
We are STILL CALLED to live in God’s presence
We are STILL CALLED to LEAP AND DANCE before the Lord
We are STILL CALLED to WAIT IN STILLNESS before the Lord
We are STILL CALLED to PRAY AND WORSHIP before the Lord
So we pray today:
“Lord, help me to live in your presence. Help me to have a mind that’s attentive to you, that recognizes where you are both in sacred spaces like churches, and sacred spaces like the Blessed Sacrament. But also in common spaces where you still exist. Lord God still dwells. You are still present in all places. Even right now.”
Wherever you are
Maybe you are listening in your car
Maybe you are brushing your teeth
Maybe you are typing out notes for the Bible in a Year 😉
Just take a moment and STOP RIGHT NOW
BE AWARE
Yes, ABSOLUTELY, God is PARTICULARLY PRESENT in the Ark of the Covenant
God is PARTICULARLY PRESENT in the SANCTUARY of the Church
God is PARTICULARLY PRESENT in the BLESSED SACRAMENT
God is PARTICULARLY PRESENT in HIS WORD
BUT ALSO…
God is PARTICULARLY PRESENT TO YOU RIGHT NOW
Whenever we call upon His name
Whenever we are AWARE that He is present
We realize that He has been there THE WHOLE TIME
God will be there long after we have gotten distracted
But right now, God is present to YOU and to ME
God is here and we say, “God, we love you!”
PRAY FOR EACH OTHER
PRAY FOR FR. MIKE
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and we thank you. We are reminded by your Word today to love you. As David said, ‘Love the Lord, all you His Saints.’ To love you, God, is our highest good. It’s our highest duty. It’s our highest call. It’s our highest honor, to be able not only to be loved by you, but to love you in return, which makes no sense whatsoever, God, that you would even care. Why would you even care that we love you? And yet, it matters. And yet, our tokens of affection, even our small gestures of love, our small gestures of faithfulness, our gestures of worship, even this podcast, Lord allowing us to hear your Word, you receive that. You receive that as a gift of love to you and we think, ‘Oh my gosh, Lord, you’re the one who is loving us by speaking your word into our minds and our hearts and to our ears and to our lives’. And yet, you see this and you receive it as our act of love to you, our act of thanksgiving, our act of worship to you to simply allow you to speak to us. So Lord, we just want to give you love in return for the love you have given us. So please, help us to love you this day. Love the Lord, all you his Saints. Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”