Sunday Homily 12-21-08, 4th Advent
Readings: 2 Samuel 7, 1-16; Psalm 89; Romans 16, 25-27; Luke 1, 26-38.
2 Samuel:
Date compiled: 650-600 BCE, probably in Jerusalem. David lived ca. 1000 BCE
2 Samuel is part of a 4 book assembly: 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings.
Subject matter: a) Samuel as Judge
b) Saul as King
c) David as King
Sources: a) The court history of David written by Gad
b) Samuel wrote chapters 1-24 of 1 Samuel
c) Anti-monarchy source
d) Pro-monarchy source
e) Redaction & editing by Nathan
King David, Jesus' Ancestor
In the spirit of anticipating Christmas, I would like to tell you an Old Testament story this morning, a story about one of my most favorite O.T. characters, King David. We Catholics do not have a tradition like Protestants do of hearing over & over the stories of the great ancestors of our religion and culture. Today we can rectify this a bit.
To get the scene you have to go back 1,000 years BCE. David and two other great leaders are all living at the same time. Samuel is the first of the three and he is the last ruler of Israel who is a judge. Saul is the second person. He follows Samuel as leader and is the first king of Israel.
What is happening is that Saul is doing a bad job of being king. If you know any psychology you will detect that he is bipolar or manic depressive. He has big mood swings. Yawheh has tired of him and has whispered to Samuel that Samuel needs to go find a new king. Yehweh deconsecrates Saul as king. He directs Samuel to go visit a man named Jesse with 8 sons in a special little town. Name that town. Bethlehem. This is significant to N.T. writers like Luke and you will hear it mentioned in the Christmas readings.
As each son is brought before Samuel Yahweh whispers in his ear, "No, not this one," even though Samuel thinks each one would make a good choice. After the seventh son is rejected, Samuel prepares to leave, but asks Jesse if he has any other sons. Jesse says that, as a matter of fact, he does have another son, his youngest, who is out in the fields tending the livestock. When David comes before Samuel, Yahweh whispers, "This is The Man." Samuel consecrates David then and there the future king of Israel.
With that David moves into King Saul's palace as a page and becomes a favorite to Saul. David can interpret dreams and he can play a soothing guitar that calms Saul when he has some of his dark moods. David pleases Saul so much that eventually David marries his daughter Micah.
Life goes on peacefully this way until one day the Philistines come to attack. The Hebrews are terrified, in fact doubly terrified because of one giant guy who is killing everyone and challenging any & all Jews to come out and fight him. Guess who this guy is. The Famous Goliath. Guess who volunteers to come out and fight. David.
This part of the story we all know. David dings Goliath with a stone from his sling shot, then whacks off his head with Goliath's own sword. David becomes very popular with the people. David becomes unpopular with Saul who begins to feel the poison seed of jealousy. The jealousy expands so much that eventually Saul dedicates all his efforts to killing David. David hides in the desert and ultimately Saul dies.
At this point David becomes the king and is successful in all he does. At one point, in fact, after a successful military campaign against their enemies, David comes dancing joyfully into the city of Jerusalem leading the military parade. From a nearby window his wife Micah is watching and as the Bible says, she is disgusted. When David returns home and is greeted with the derision of Micah, he defends himself and declares that he will continue to dance his joy before the Lord. Yahweh is not impressed with Micah' criticism and she never has any children.
Not all the time does David join his armies in the field. On one occasion he is strolling on the roof of his house in the afternoon. He looks over to a neighboring roof and discovers a woman bathing. David is bitten. He sends his servants to invite her to dinner at the king's palace. A month or so later, guess what. The lady sends word that she is pregnant. Guess who this lady is. The famous Bathsheba.
David decides that he can't let it be known that he is the father. He sends for Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, who is one of his best soldiers. He invites him for dinner, gets him drunk, then tells him to go home and sleep well. Uriah, however, is a man loyal to his comrades and decides that he will not go into his house to sleep when his fellows are sleeping in the fields.
So the next morning David sends him back to the field with a note to the commander. The note instructs the commander to put Uriah in the front of the fight and when they are all engaged to pull everybody back but Uriah. Uriah gets killed.
Shortly after this David is visited by a local prophet who has received a message from Yahweh. Nathan tells David a story about a rich man who took a poor man's sole beloved sheep and slaughters it. Nathan asks David what should happen to that rich man and David says he should be severely punished. Nathan says, "You are that rich man." So David acknowledges his failure and does penance.
Meanwhile Bathsheba has a son. The Great Solomon. He who built the Jerusalem temple which the Jewish people are still lamenting since its destruction by the Romans.
You will see Luke make a big deal out of the lineage of Jesus, that he is of the house & family of David. Solomon, the son of David & Bathsheba is his great, great grandfather.
There are so many lessons in this story. I have just two observations.
1. Jesus comes out of a lineage with a unique event.
2. God forgives even some big sinners. We can take consolation from this & know that we are accepted.
What about David do you like the best?
AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-12-21.mp3
Picture 1: Our Father
Picture 2: Maggie McGrath & Tom (dad)
Picture 3: Cliff Wright