John 7-9 Grace and Truth Come Through Christ

Psalm 119:161-168 Peace When Persecuted

Ps 119:161 SCHIN “Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart fears Your words. 162 I rejoice at Your word, as one who finds great spoil. 163 I hate and abhor falsehood. I love Your law. 164 Seven times a day, I praise You, because of Your righteous ordinances.

165 Those who love Your law have great peace. Nothing causes them to stumble. 166 I have hoped for Your salvation, Yahweh. I have done Your commandments. 167 My soul has observed Your testimonies. I love them exceedingly. 168 I have obeyed Your precepts and Your testimonies, for all my ways are before You."

Observations: 119:161-168 When princes persecute unjustly, the psalmist doesn't panic, but has great peace, because he knows God saves the righteous. He doesn't fear men, because he fears God (and His word). Proof of his perspective of God's word is his rejoicing in it, his love of it (and hatred of falsehood), and praising God for it throughout the day (which means he's looking at it; probably had a post-it with a verse he was memorizing or meditating on attached to his tablet). His immersion in God's word made him immune to intimidation by enemies. Because he knew all his ways were before God, he had fully obeyed, and therefore had confident hope in God's salvation/deliverance, regardless of how powerful his enemies were.

Application: If we fear God, we don't need to fear people, and can have great peace in peril.

Prayer: My Good Shepherd, I thank You for Your word and the promises it contains that give me peace and hope; I will fear only displeasing You. Amen.

Proverbs 29:12-14 Lessons for Rulers

Pr 29:12 “If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials become wicked. 13 The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: Yahweh gives sight to the eyes of both. 14 The king who fairly judges the poor, his throne shall be established forever.“

Observations: 29:12-14 By listening to and accepting lies, in effect rewarding them, a ruler encourages all his officials to tell him what he wants to hear, making them hypocrites. Instead he should value those who speak the truth, as unpopular as it might be sometimes. The Lord gives life and light to all, establishing a basis for equity. The king has the responsibility to secure the rights of the poor and protect them from unjust oppressors. If he does that, God will establish his throne.

Application: Leaders must seek the truth and act in accord with it for peace and prosperity.

Prayer: Lord may I be a truth seeker all my days, and seek to bring justice to those around me. Amen.

John 7-9 In this section, Jesus proclaims Himself to be the Light of the world, and opens the eyes of a man born blind. One of the ways John arranges his material is around Jesus' participation of the Jewish feasts. This section covers the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:42), when the Jews would live in booths/tents to commemorate God's care of them in the wilderness after the Exodus. It coincided with the harvest. Each day of the feast water was drawn from a well and poured by the altar out while Isaiah 12:3 “Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” was sung. It not only recalled God's provision, but also looked forward to the day when water would flow from under the altar in the Millennial kingdom (Ezekiel 47:1). Huge vats of oil were lit at night, lighting up the city. During this festival Jesus declares Himself to be the light of the world, and source of water whose recipients would never thirst. Some believed and some rejected. John chapters 7 and 8 form a chiastic structure emphasizing that Jesus is the one from the Father, bringing grace and truth. The Jews use the Law of Moses to condemn and seek to kill Him. Jesus uses the law to extend grace to the woman taken in adultery in chapter 8.

The following structure needs work to more accurately reflect John's arguments, but might be useful for guiding you through the observations.

A Jesus goes to temple 7:1-10 14

B Jesus seeks the glory of God 7:11-24 .

 C Not know where Christ is from 7:25-31

  D Seek Jesus and not find Him 7:32-36 .

    E1 In Him was Life (light of men 1:4) 7:37-39

    E2 Who is this 7:40-44

      F Law of Moses misapplied; no Grace 7:45-52

       G Go to their homes 7:53

       g' Mt of Olives is Jesus' door 8:1

      f' Law applied; with Grace 8:2-11

    e1' Light of the world 8:12

    e2' Who this is 8:13-20

  d' Seek Jesus; or die in sin 8:21-36

 c' Not know where Christ goes 8:37-47

b' God seeks the glory of Jesus 8:48-58 .

a' Jesus goes from temple 8:59 .

John 7 The Law of Moses

7:1 After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn’t walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. 2 Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand. 3 His brothers therefore said to him, "Depart from here, and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do. 4 For no one does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world." 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him. 6 Jesus therefore said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled." 9 Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. 10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. 11 The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, "Where is he?" 12 There was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others said, "Not so, but he leads the multitude astray." 13 Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews.

14 But when it was now the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How does this man know letters, having never been educated?" 16 Jesus therefore answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19 Didn’t Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?" 20 The multitude answered, "You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?" 21 Jesus answered them, "I did one work, and you all marvel because of it. 22 Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. 23 If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? 24 Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

25 Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, "Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill? 26 Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Christ? 27 However we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from." 28 Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, "You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. 29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me." 30 They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 But of the multitude, many believed in him. They said, "When the Christ comes, he won’t do more signs than those which this man has done, will he?"

32 The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33 Then Jesus said, "I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me. 34 You will seek me, and won’t find me; and where I am, you can’t come." 35 The Jews therefore said among themselves, "Where will this man go that we won’t find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What is this word that he said, ’You will seek me, and won’t find me; and where I am, you can’t come’?"

37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water." 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.

40 Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, "This is truly the prophet." 41 Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "What, does the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?" 43 So there arose a division in the multitude because of him. 44 Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him.

45 The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, "Why didn’t you bring him?" 46 The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!" 47 The Pharisees therefore answered them, "You aren’t also led astray, are you? 48 Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees? 49 But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is accursed." 50 Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 "Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?" 52 They answered him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee." 53 Everyone went to his own house.

Observations: 7:1-13 To Temple - Jesus' brothers did not believe in Him (note these are Mary's and Joseph's sons, since His disciples did believe Him). Jesus previews the coming attractions by indicating that His time is not yet come, and the establishment hates and wants to kill Him because he shines light on their evil.

7:14-24 Glory - Jesus' teaching astounds, because it comes from the Father and is truth. Verse 17 is key to knowing God's will. If you are committed to doing God's will, He will make it clear to you. If you want to pick and choose what part of God's will you will do, you will remain in the dark. The person who has themselves as their authority, seeks their own glory, and winds up being unrighteous. The one who seeks the glory of God, having Him as their authority, winds up being true and righteous. The Jews ignore the law and seek to kill Jesus because He healed on the Sabbath, yet they perform circumcision on the Sabbath which is work, for a lesser goal.

7:25-31 Don't Know; Kill – The people have questions and misconceptions about Jesus and the Messiah; some try to kill him, some believe, but His time had not yet come.

7:32-36 Seek – The Pharisees seek to arrest Jesus, who says He will go to Him who sent Him, and they won't be able to find Him. He meant it on the spiritual plane, they misunderstand it on the physical level.

7:37-39 Water/Life – In the last day of the feast Jesus offers Himself as the source of living water to those who believe in Him. The reference is to the Holy Spirit whom Jesus would send after He was glorified (given all power to distribute).

7:40-44 Who – the questions and misunderstanding of the people continue, corresponding to the identity questions above. Some confess Him as the Messiah, and some don't. Again the establishment tries to arrest Him.

7:45-51 Law misapplied – The Pharisees upbraid the officers who failed to arrest Him, accusing them of believing His teaching. They wrongly affirm that no expert in the law believes in Him. Nicodemus, the secret disciple, tries to use the law to protect Jesus.

7:52 Home base – This last verse is insignificant at first glance, and a number of manuscripts drop it out. However, contrasted with the first verse of the next chapter, it serves as the chiastic center of the section.

Application: If you want to know what God wants you to do, be committed to doing whatever He reveals and has revealed. If He gives no new guidance, then focus on the revelation you are sure of.

Prayer: God, Your will is good, acceptable and perfect; help me know and do it every day. Amen.

John 8 Grace and Truth

8:1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down, and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the midst, 4 they told him, "Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such. What then do you say about her?" 6 They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger. 7 But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her." 8 Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. 9 They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle. 10 Jesus, standing up, saw her and said, "Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more."

12 Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life."

13 The Pharisees therefore said to him, "You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid." 14 Jesus answered them, "Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. 16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. 17 It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid. 18 I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me." 19 They said therefore to him, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also." 20 Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

21 Jesus said therefore again to them, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come." 22 The Jews therefore said, "Will he kill himself, that he says, ’Where I am going, you can’t come?’" 23 He said to them, "You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. 24 I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins." 25 They said therefore to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world." 27 They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father. 28 Jesus therefore said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things. 29 He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him." 30 As he spoke these things, many believed in him.

31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, "If you remain/continue/abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." 33 They answered him, "We are Abraham’s seed, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, ’You will be made free?’" 34 Jesus answered them, "Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin. 35 A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever. 36 If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s seed, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.

38 I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father." 39 They answered him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this. 41 You do the works of your father." They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God." 42 Therefore Jesus said to them, "If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word. 44 You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father. 45 But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.

46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God." 48 Then the Jews answered him, "Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?" 49 Jesus answered, "I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.

51 Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death." 52 Then the Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, ’If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?" 54 Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God. 55 You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him, and keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it, and was glad." 57 The Jews therefore said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM." 59 Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple, having gone through their midst, and so passed by.

Observations: 8:1 Jesus left the temple to go to the Mount of Olives, a location rich in prophecy, where He also gave the Olivet Discourse, about His return. This is the place to which the glory departed in Ezekiel 11:23. It is the place from which the Lord Jesus would ascend to heaven after His resurrection (Lk 24:50 Bethany was on its south-eastern slope), and the place to which He will return in glory to set up His Millennial Kingdom (Zech 14:4). In the interaction with the Establishment, Jesus keeps saying that God is His Father, and thus heaven is His home. After the Feast of Booths, the people left the city to go to their homes. Here Jesus was leaving to go to the door (Mount of Olives) to His home, heaven. This links the two chapters which devote a number of verses to His identity and location.

8:2-11 Law graciously applied – The account of the woman taken in adultery is considered by many to not be supported by the oldest manuscripts (but the best school of textual criticism Byz-MT priority, includes it). It's easy to see why some would eliminate it because it could appear to condone adultery. However, the chiastic structure argues strongly for its inclusion, corresponding to the last section in chapter 7. Although Nicodemus tried to get the Establishment to use the law correctly, they twisted it to their own purposes. Here, Jesus is seen bringing grace into the equation. The law called for the death of adulterers (Lev 20:10 - the guy too) and they want to stone her. Jesus starts writing on the ground with his finger. The last time the finger of God wrote was the law, on stone tablets (Ex 31:18). The Spirit will write the law on people's hearts (New Covenant - Jer 31:31), but here, it looks like Jesus is scratching the law in the ground, because people are getting convicted and leaving as their sins are pointed out. There was no one without sin left to cast the first stone, all the accusers/witnesses had left. He tells her to go and sin no more, just like He told the paralytic in 5:14. Jesus didn't come to condemn folks, but to have them live the abundant, sin-free life (see 8:32).

8:12 Light – Jesus follows up His instruction of the woman to sin no more, with a pronouncement of Himself as the light of the world. In the Feast of Tabernacles, the night sky was lit with giant vats of oil, and people danced in the night by the light. Here Jesus states that those who follow Him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (equating light with life, or indicating that the light comes from life, as in glory).

8:13-20 Who – Jesus rebuts the Pharisees' challenge His self-testimony, by citing the double witness of Himself and the Father, via the miracles. He also reiterates they don't know where He is from, nor where He is going, meaning they don't know heaven. In typical response, they try to arrest Him. Silly Pharisees; haven't they learned anything? His time had not yet come.

8:21-37 Die - Jesus repeats the fact that they will seek and not find Him and adds that they will die in their sins unless they “believe that I am he.” He predicts that when He is lifted up (crucified) they will know that He is the Son of Man (of Daniel 7:14). Jesus told those who did believe in Him, that if they continued in His word (the Bread of chapter 6), they would truly be His disciples, and as such would know the truth (it is knowable), and it would set them free (from sin). This is one of the key verses for the victorious Christian life. Memorize and apply it, or stay in bondage to sin. The Jews, who are living under Roman rule and had been living under Babylonian rule, insisted they were never under anyone's bondage (like most self-deceived sinners). Jesus insisted that whoever commits sin is a slave to sin, and doesn't get rulership/dominion in the house as a son does (enduring rule/glory in the Kingdom).

8:38-47 Not know where - Jesus says they are not children of Abraham but of the devil since they lie and want to commit murder.

8:48-58 Glory of Jesus – Jesus promises that those who keep His word will never die (loss of dominion). Jesus will be glorified by the Father, whom they don't know, because He keeps His word.

8:59 Light goes from Temple

Application: You know who Jesus is, therefore you must know His word is truth; if you abide in it, you will know the truth and be set free from sin. If anyone is in bondage to sin, they don't know the truth. See Romans 6 and 12:1-2 and Sanctification: It Ain't Gonna Reign No More on Truthbase.net.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thanks that Your truth is knowable, and sets me free from sin; may I live every day in the freedom You offer me. Amen.

John 9 Responding to the Light

9:1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud, 7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means "Sent"). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

8 The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, "Isn’t this he who sat and begged?" 9 Others were saying, "It is he." Still others were saying, "He looks like him." He said, "I am he." 10 They therefore were asking him, "How were your eyes opened?" 11 He answered, "A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ’Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight." 12 Then they asked him, "Where is he?" He said, "I don’t know."

13 They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14 It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see." 16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was division among them. 17 Therefore they asked the blind man again, "What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." 18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight, 19 and asked them, "Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 20 His parents answered them, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself." 22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age. Ask him." 24 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner." 25 He therefore answered, "I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see." 26 They said to him again, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27 He answered them, "I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?" 28 They insulted him and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from." 30 The man answered them, "How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him. 32 Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 34 They answered him, "You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?" They threw him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" 36 He answered, "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?" 37 Jesus said to him, "You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you." 38 He said, "Lord, I believe!" and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind." 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

Observations: 9:1-12 This sixth sign, the account of the man born blind being healed, illustrates Jesus' claim to be the Light of the world in the previous chapter, and sets up eyes being opened to Jesus' claim to be God in the next chapter. It would correspond to the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda (another pool miracle) where Jesus appeared to be dealing with sin that caused the paralysis. Here the problem was from birth.

Not all infirmity is a result of sin, sometimes bad things happen for the glory of God to be displayed when He fixes the situation with His power. The reason for the mud and saliva being applied to the eyes and the washing in the pool aren't explained. The man was born blind, then perhaps the blindness was compounded by the defilement of dirt. As the man obeyed Jesus' word, his original handicap and additional “dirt/sin” were washed away. It's a nice picture of both original sin and sins of omission/commission being removed by accepting and obeying the word of Jesus, but there is nothing to substantiate such an interpretation in the passage.

9:13-34 The bulk of the chapter, as the two previous ones, revolve around the identity of Jesus. The man serves as an irrefutable foil to the Pharisees' preconceptions. “Don't confuse me with facts or truth, my mind is made up.” Verse 25 is a classic line, to which all believers should be able to testify as a one day old believer. The tragedy is that that such a confession is also the testimony of people who have been “saved” for decades (but are still in bondage to their sins). The Pharisees inadvertently confess the truth that they refuse to see and accept.

9:35-38 Jesus seeks out the man to elicit his confession of faith. Note the receptivity of the man. As he responds to the light, Jesus gives him more light. May his tribe increase. Worship follows belief.

9:39-41 In contrast to the man born blind, the Pharisees, who say they see, but don't respond, are still in sin. Those who don't respond to the light, are still in darkness.

Application: Responding to the light we're given, opens the door to receiving more revelation.

Prayer: God, thanks for opening my eyes to the truth, may I walk in it, and proclaim it. Amen.

Digging Deeper:

God in a nutshell: God sent Jesus and authenticated Him so people could know His will and believe in Him.

Build-a-Jesus: Jesus is the Light of the World, giving light and life. He also gives grace and truth. He came from heaven to do the will of the Father, opening eyes to the truth, which sets them free from sin. He will return home, and send the Holy Spirit.

Us in a nutshell: We can know truth, and be set free from sin by it. Some believe and experience the benefits; others reject the light and walk in the darkness of the devil.

Where to Go for More:

Truthbase.net

John 7-9 (complete text)

John 7

7:1 After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn’t walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. 2 Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand. 3 His brothers therefore said to him, "Depart from here, and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do. 4 For no one does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world." 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him. 6 Jesus therefore said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled." 9 Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. 10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. 11 The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, "Where is he?" 12 There was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others said, "Not so, but he leads the multitude astray." 13 Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews.

14 But when it was now the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 The Jews therefore marvelled, saying, "How does this man know letters, having never been educated?" 16 Jesus therefore answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19 Didn’t Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?" 20 The multitude answered, "You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?" 21 Jesus answered them, "I did one work, and you all marvel because of it. 22 Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. 23 If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? 24 Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." 25 Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, "Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill? 26 Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Christ? 27 However we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from." 28 Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, "You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. 29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me." 30 They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 But of the multitude, many believed in him. They said, "When the Christ comes, he won’t do more signs than those which this man has done, will he?" 32 The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33 Then Jesus said, "I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me. 34 You will seek me, and won’t find me; and where I am, you can’t come." 35 The Jews therefore said among themselves, "Where will this man go that we won’t find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What is this word that he said, ’You will seek me, and won’t find me; and where I am, you can’t come’?"

37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water." 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified. 40 Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, "This is truly the prophet." 41 Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "What, does the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?" 43 So there arose a division in the multitude because of him. 44 Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him.

45 The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, "Why didn’t you bring him?" 46 The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!" 47 The Pharisees therefore answered them, "You aren’t also led astray, are you? 48 Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees? 49 But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is accursed." 50 Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 "Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?" 52 They answered him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee." 53 Everyone went to his own house,

John 8

8:1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down, and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the midst, 4 they told him, "Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such. What then do you say about her?" 6 They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger. 7 But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her." 8 Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. 9 They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle. 10 Jesus, standing up, saw her and said, "Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more."

12 Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life." 13 The Pharisees therefore said to him, "You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid." 14 Jesus answered them, "Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. 16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. 17 It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid. 18 I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me." 19 They said therefore to him, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also." 20 Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

21 Jesus said therefore again to them, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come." 22 The Jews therefore said, "Will he kill himself, that he says, ’Where I am going, you can’t come?’" 23 He said to them, "You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. 24 I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins." 25 They said therefore to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world." 27 They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father. 28 Jesus therefore said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things. 29 He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him." 30 As he spoke these things, many believed in him.

31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, "If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." 33 They answered him, "We are Abraham’s seed, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, ’You will be made free?’" 34 Jesus answered them, "Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin. 35 A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever. 36 If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s seed, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.

38 I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father." 39 They answered him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this. 41 You do the works of your father." They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God." 42 Therefore Jesus said to them, "If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word. 44 You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father. 45 But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.

46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God." 48 Then the Jews answered him, "Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?" 49 Jesus answered, "I don’t have a demon, but I honour my Father, and you dishonour me. 50 But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.

51 Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death." 52 Then the Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, ’If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?" 54 Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God. 55 You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him, and keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it, and was glad." 57 The Jews therefore said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM." 59 Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple, having gone through their midst, and so passed by.

John 9

9:1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud, 7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means "Sent"). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

8 The neighbours therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, "Isn’t this he who sat and begged?" 9 Others were saying, "It is he." Still others were saying, "He looks like him." He said, "I am he." 10 They therefore were asking him, "How were your eyes opened?" 11 He answered, "A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ’Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight." 12 Then they asked him, "Where is he?" He said, "I don’t know."

13 They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14 It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see." 16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was division among them. 17 Therefore they asked the blind man again, "What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." 18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight, 19 and asked them, "Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 20 His parents answered them, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself." 22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age. Ask him." 24 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner." 25 He therefore answered, "I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see." 26 They said to him again, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27 He answered them, "I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?" 28 They insulted him and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from." 30 The man answered them, "How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, he listens to him. 32 Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 34 They answered him, "You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?" They threw him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" 36 He answered, "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?" 37 Jesus said to him, "You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you." 38 He said, "Lord, I believe!" and he worshipped him.

39 Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind." 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

2 Samuel 21-24 David's Swan Song

2 Samuel 21-24 David's Swan Song

Psalm 49:1-15 Wealth Doesn't Redeem From Death, God Does

Ps 49:1 “Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world, 2 both low and high, rich and poor together. 3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart shall utter understanding. 4 I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will open my riddle on the harp. 5 Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels surrounds me? 6 Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches 7 none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him. 8 For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough, 9 that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption. 10 For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others. 11 Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves. 12 But man, despite his riches, doesn't endure. He is like the animals that perish. 13 This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. Selah.

14 They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in Sheol, far from their mansion. 15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me. Selah.

Observations: The Psalmist ponders the prosperity of the wicked, exposing their foolish attempts to live beyond the grave by means of their wealth. All die, and face decay, just like the animals. Only God can redeem or “buy back” from Sheol (the grave), and He does redeem/save the upright from the grave, and gives them dominion and life over the foolish rich. The introductory verse 5 serves as a summary: there is no need for the wise and upright to fear death, a future awaits them, rather than the fate of the foolish rich.

Application: Work on being wise and upright, and you'll have nothing to fear.

Prayer: My Redeemer and Shepherd, thanks that Your wisdom not only benefits us in this life, but also in the next, so I have nothing to fear. Amen.

Proverbs 13:14-15 Spring of Life or Snare of Death

Pr 13:14 “(13 Whoever despises instruction will be destroyed, but he who fears a command will be rewarded.) 14 The teaching of the wise is a spring of life, to turn from the snares of death. 15 Good understanding wins favor; but the way of the unfaithful is hard.“

Observations: 13:14-15 Having just established in verse 13 that despising God's instruction results in destruction while fearing (being really really concerned about doing what is right in His sight, i.e., obeying) results in reward, the author elaborates with a couple of metaphors. The teaching of the wise (folks who've mastered Proverbs and God's ways and thus choose the right objectives in life) gives life like a spring. Those who have a good understanding of God's word (and follow it) experience favor. Those who don't understand, don't obey it, are unfaithful, and experience difficulties.

Application: How has God's word turned you from sin?

Prayer: Lord, help me understand and faithfully follow Your wisdom and avoid the snares of death. Amen.

2Samuel 21-24 The final four chapters of the book contain a pair of punishments for disloyalty (first and last chapters), arranged around a pair of listings of David's loyal men, which sandwich a pair of psalms in the middle (chiastic structure). When an author uses this structure, he wants to emphasize the content in the middle, David's trust in the Lord, and God's exaltation of him in response to that trust.

2 Samuel 21 Covenantal Curse Removed

21:1 There was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, "It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites." 2 The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them: and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah); 3 and David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?" 4 The Gibeonites said to him, "It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul, or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel." He said, "Whatever you say, that will I do for you." 5 They said to the king, "The man who consumed us, and who devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel, 6 let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Yahweh." The king said, "I will give them." 7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Yahweh’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9 He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Yahweh, and all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.

10 Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured on them from the sky. She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night. 11 It was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12 David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa; 13 and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son: and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. After that God was entreated for the land.

15 The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. David grew faint; 16 and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being armed with a new sword, thought to have slain David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall go no more out with us to battle, that you don’t quench the lamp of Israel." 18 It came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was of the sons of the giant. 19 There was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite’s brother, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20 There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. 21 When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, killed him. 22 These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

Observations: 21:1-14 The Gibeonites had tricked Israel into making a treaty with them during the conquest under Joshua (Josh 9). Apparently Saul had violated it, although the Scriptures don't record the specific account. Sometime in David's reign a famine ensued as the curse for Saul breaking the covenant (lack of fertility). The author of 2Samuel sometimes records events topically rather than chronologically, so it's difficult to pinpoint when this event happened. Three years into the famine David asks God why, and finds out the cause. The Gibeonites gruesomely demand the death of seven of Saul's descendents. David complies, sparing Mephibosheth, out of hesed to Jonathan, and the curse ends with the blessing of rain. David notes the loyalty of Rizpah to her sons, and he takes care of the bones of Saul and Jonathan, demonstrating again his hesed to Jonathan.

21:15-22 This account of the death of four giants underscore the loyalty of David's “servants” in protecting the “lamp” of Israel.

Application: Disloyalty to covenant obligations results in cursing/death; loyalty to covenant obligations results in blessing/life.

Prayer: Lord, help me be loyal to my obligations to obey and serve You, so You can bless rather than discipline me. Amen.

2 Samuel 22 Does God Delight in You?

22:1 David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: 2 and he said, "Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine; 3 God, my rock, in him I will take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My savior, you save me from violence. 4 I will call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from my enemies. 5 For the waves of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. 6 The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught me. 7 In my distress I called on Yahweh. Yes, I called to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry came into his ears. 8 Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. 14 Yahweh thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice. 15 He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and confused them. 16 Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of Yahweh, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils. 17 He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out of many waters. 18 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. 19 They came on me in the day of my calamity, but Yahweh was my support.

20 He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me. 21 Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands. 22 For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 23 For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I did not depart from them. 24 I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity. 25 Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight.

26 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect. 27 With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd. 28 You will save the afflicted people, But your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down.

29 For you are my lamp, Yahweh. Yahweh will light up my darkness. 30 For by you, I run against a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall. 31 As for God, his way is perfect. The word of Yahweh is tested. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. 32 For who is God, besides Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God? 33 God is my strong fortress. He makes my way perfect. 34 He makes his feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me on my high places. 35 He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass. 36 You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your gentle favor has made me great. 37 You have enlarged my steps under me. My feet have not slipped. 38 I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I didn’t turn again until they were consumed. 39 I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can’t arise. Yes, they have fallen under my feet. 40 For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. 41 You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me. 42 They looked, but there was none to save; even to Yahweh, but he didn’t answer them. 43 Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad. 44 You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people. You have kept me to be the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known will serve me. 45 The foreigners will submit themselves to me. As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me. 46 The foreigners will fade away, and will come trembling out of their close places. 47 Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation, 48 even the God who executes vengeance for me, who brings down peoples under me, 49 who brings me away from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man. 50 Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations. Will sing praises to your name. 51 He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows hesed/loyal love to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore."

Observations: 22:1-19 This is basically the same text as Psalm 18. It is the largest repeated text in the Bible (Deuteronomy being a summary of the law, not an exact repeat). It's probably worth ingraining its principles in our thinking. The salvation referred to is not the forgiveness of sins/justification (which is based upon believing in God's revelation about His gracious provision for our sins, which in the OT was belief/participation in the Day of Atonement, and in the NT, belief in Christ's atoning sacrifice on our behalf), but rather, the ongoing life of faith that trusts God for daily help and experiences His blessing/deliverance. David wrote it after being delivered from Saul and before Bathsheba, probably around the time of the Davidic Covenant (2Sam 7). David praises God because when he called, God answered, mightily.

22:20-25 The secret of how to get God to answer mightily and bless, is to have God delight in you.

Quick Question: Does God delight in you? (Why or why not?)

The reason why God would delight in one of His people is because of the personal experiential righteousness and faithfulness of the person. Contrast this with how God felt about Saul. This is an obvious point for those who read the Scriptures, but totally missed in the oral tradition of our day. As a result many people don't live to please God. God rewards us for the effort and work we've put into being righteous in His sight. If you don't totally buy that last sentence, study these six verses (and David's life) and see if they teach anything else.

22:26-28 The truth of these verses is almost as absent from the modern oral tradition as the section above, to which they are a corollary. God responds to people based upon their free-will choices, which would include decisions to believe, be faithful, obey, expend effort to do His will, do good works, etc. God changes how He responds, again based upon what we chose, to either repent or rebel, believe, or persist in unbelief. I don't like jumping ahead, but Romans 11 summarizes this concept neatly. If you want to stay in the OT, God blesses or curses based upon our actions (Dt 29-30). God has sovereignly attached the consequences to our possible choices; now we need to daily choose the right consequences.

22:29-51 These verses describe how God empowers and equips those who believe in Him so they can serve Him. They also combine human effort/responsibility in service and the life of faith. If you have time, go back over the verses and note what David does and what God does (and why each does what they do).

Application: If we want God to delight in us, deliver and bless us, then we need to do what is pleasing in His sight, there is no other option (22:20-25).

Prayer: God, I praise You because You make possible a life that is beyond the natural course of events and expectations; may I know, love, and serve You all of my days, as You desire. Amen.

2 Samuel 23 David's Swan Song

23:1 Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse says, the man who was raised on high says, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel: 2 "The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me. His word was on my tongue. 3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God, 4 shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.’ 5 “If my house were not right with God, surely he would not have made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part; surely he would not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire. (NIV) 6 But all of the ungodly shall be as thorns to be thrust away, because they can’t be taken with the hand, 7 But the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear. They shall be utterly burned with fire in their place."

8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb..against eight hundred slain at one time. 9 After him was Eleazar the son of Dodai, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. 10 He arose, and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand froze to the sword; and Yahweh worked a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to take spoil. 11 After him was Shammah. The Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and killed the Philistines; and Yahweh worked a great victory. 

15 David longed, and said, "Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!" 16 The three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Yahweh. 17 He said, "Be it far from me, Yahweh, that I should do this! Isn’t it the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?" Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things. 18 Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. He lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name among the three. 19 Wasn’t he most honorable of the three? therefore he was made their captain: however he didn’t attain to the three. 20 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada...who had done mighty deeds, he killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab: he went down also and killed a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. 21 He killed an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. 23 He was more honorable than the thirty, but he didn’t attain to the three. David set him over his guard. 24 Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; 26 Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite 29 Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin 39 Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

Observations: 23:1-8 David's swan song reflects on how God had raised him up and blessed him beyond his dreams, even revealing His words and will through David. When one rules righteously in the fear of God, life is good. Otherwise it's bad (See Let's Play Civilization in the sidebar).

23:5 This verse is correctly translated in harmony with the immediately preceding and following context, as well as chapter 22, and the record of David's life and his psalms by the NIV, NASB, ESV, HCSB, NET, etc. The WEB, following the KJV and NKJV totally misses the point and translates it in direct contradiction to the main point David is making. It is because of David's righteousness that God has blessed him, and made the Davidic Covenant with him, ensuring an permanent legacy (which was a big deal in OT times). The grammar could go either way, so the translation needs to be made according to the flow of thought in the context (a skill which is sadly lacking in some translators).

23: The listing of David's mighty men and their exploits is also recorded in 1Chronicles 11. The interesting feature is how the individual exploits are recorded, and God gets the credit. It is He who energizes the sword they swing. Noteworthy is that Joab is not mentioned, although his brothers are.

23:15-18 The loyalty of the mighty men to David, God's anointed, is shown by risking their lives to get him a drink from the well at Bethlehem. David pours it out as an offering to God.

23:19-39 The diverse group that came together to accomplish God's purposes in preserving and promoting David is a good illustration of the principle that unity is found, not in the lowest common denominator, but in all striving for the greatest good, irrespective of personal background, practices, and preferences. This is applicable to marriages, corporations and churches.

Application: God will exalt and fulfill the desires of those who fear Him and are rightly related to Him.

Prayer: God, You are clearly the one who raises up and puts down people based upon how they obey You. May I value obedience more than any deceptive passing pleasure. Amen.

2 Samuel 24 Pick Your Plague

24:1 Again the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah." 2 The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, "Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the sum of the people." 3 Joab said to the king, "Now may Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?" 4 Notwithstanding, the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. 8 So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. 10 David’s heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."

11 When David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 "Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh," I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you."’" 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me." 14 David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into the hand of man."

15 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough. Now stay your hand." The angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, "Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father’s house."

18 Gad came that day to David, and said to him, "Go up, build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." 19 David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded. 20 Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. Then Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people." 22 Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood: 23 all this, king, does Araunah give to the king." Araunah said to the king, "May Yahweh your God accept you." 24 The king said to Araunah, "No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

Observations: 24:1-10 God's anger against Israel's sin results in Him prompting David to number the people over the objections of Joab and the captains. When a leader doesn't listen to wise counsel everyone suffers. Numbering the people was usually a prelude to military action, possibly due to an external threat. It looks like David was trusting in his military might rather than the Lord in the numbering. 1Chronicles 21 state that Satan (which can also be translated “adversary”) provoked David to number the people. So perhaps the chain of events is that Israel's sin, results in God's desire to discipline them, using Satan's scheming (or an adversary) and David's desire for power or security to bring about the calamity. David's heart tells him he sinned, and he asks God to put away/forgive his iniquity.

24:11-17 Nevertheless, God sends a prophet, Gad, with three options for punishment: famine, fleeing, or pestilence, and tells him to choose one. David reasons that falling into the hand of a merciful God is a less painful option than being chased by enemies. So God sends a plague. After 70,000 were killed (approximately three times those who died in Absalom's rebellion), God stops the destroying angel at Jerusalem. David repents again and asks that the punishment be upon him and his house.

24:18-25 God sends Gad again, with a message to build an altar and offer a sacrifice where the plague stopped. David hastens to obey, and refuses Araunah's offer of the animal and wood, saying that he would not offer God something which cost him nothing. The very nature of sacrifice is that it should cost us.

Application: Both sin, and service are costly, but God is worth everything we could possibly give Him.

Prayer: God, thanks that you forgive and relent when we repent; spare me from the folly of relying on my own strength or choosing foolish objectives for my life. Amen.

Digging Deeper:

God in a nutshell: God takes covenants seriously, both those made with Him, and those made in His presence. He punishes covenant breakers with curses, deprivation and death. He blesses those who keep covenantal promises of loyalty (hesed), with fruitfulness and fulfillment of their heart's desire (the better choice). He gives people freedom to choose to be loyal or not, and sovereignly attaches consequences to their choices. He forgives and pardons, but doesn't immediately relent from punishment when we repent. He moves forces in both heaven and earth, as well as angels and men, to fulfill what He has promised. He raises up individuals to accomplish His purposes in blessing those loyal to Him.

As David said in 22:21 “Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands. 26 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect. 27 With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd. 28 You will save the afflicted people, But your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down. 29 For you are my lamp, Yahweh. Yahweh will light up my darkness.”

Us in a nutshell: We have the opportunity to give God grief or glory. Delighting Him requires loyal effort, but yields the best life we could desire. Disloyalty and covenant breaking results in pain and death. We cannot escape the consequences of our actions. Being rightly related to God and equipped by Him still requires dependent trust in His protection and empowerment. As David said in 22:22 “For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 23 For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I did not depart from them. 24 I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity. 25 Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight.”

Where to Go for More:

Truthbase.net

2Samuel complete text

2 Samuel 21

21:1 There was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, "It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites." 2 The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them: and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah); 3 and David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?" 4 The Gibeonites said to him, "It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul, or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel." He said, "Whatever you say, that will I do for you." 5 They said to the king, "The man who consumed us, and who devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel, 6 let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Yahweh." The king said, "I will give them." 7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Yahweh’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9 He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Yahweh, and all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.

10 Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured on them from the sky. She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night. 11 It was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12 David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa; 13 and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son: and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. After that God was entreated for the land.

15 The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. David grew faint; 16 and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being armed with a new sword, thought to have slain David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall go no more out with us to battle, that you don’t quench the lamp of Israel." 18 It came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was of the sons of the giant. 19 There was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite’s brother, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20 There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. 21 When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, killed him. 22 These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

2 Samuel 22

22:1 David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:

2 and he said, "Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine; 3 God, my rock, in him I will take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My saviour, you save me from violence. 4 I will call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from my enemies. 5 For the waves of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. 6 The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught me. 7 In my distress I called on Yahweh. Yes, I called to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry came into his ears. 8 Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. 9 Smoke went up out of his nostrils. Fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. 10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. 11 He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind. 12 He made darkness pavilions around himself: gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies. 13 At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled. 14 Yahweh thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice. 15 He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and confused them. 16 Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of Yahweh, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils. 17 He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out of many waters. 18 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. 19 They came on me in the day of my calamity, but Yahweh was my support. 20 He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me. 21 Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands. 22 For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 23 For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I did not depart from them. 24 I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity. 25 Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight. 26 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect. 27 With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd. 28 You will save the afflicted people, But your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down. 29 For you are my lamp, Yahweh. Yahweh will light up my darkness. 30 For by you, I run against a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall. 31 As for God, his way is perfect. The word of Yahweh is tested. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. 32 For who is God, besides Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God? 33 God is my strong fortress. He makes my way perfect. 34 He makes his feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me on my high places. 35 He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass. 36 You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your gentleness has made me great. 37 You have enlarged my steps under me. My feet have not slipped. 38 I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I didn’t turn again until they were consumed. 39 I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can’t arise. Yes, they have fallen under my feet. 40 For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. 41 You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me. 42 They looked, but there was none to save; even to Yahweh, but he didn’t answer them. 43 Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad. 44 You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people. You have kept me to be the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known will serve me. 45 The foreigners will submit themselves to me. As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me. 46 The foreigners will fade away, and will come trembling out of their close places. 47 Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation, 48 even the God who executes vengeance for me, who brings down peoples under me, 49 who brings me away from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man. 50 Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations. Will sing praises to your name. 51 He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore."

2 Samuel 23

23:1 Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse says, the man who was raised on high says, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel: 2 "The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me. His word was on my tongue. 3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God, 4 shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.’ 5 Most certainly my house is not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for it is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he doesn’t make it grow. 6 But all of the ungodly shall be as thorns to be thrust away, because they can’t be taken with the hand, 7 But the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear. They shall be utterly burned with fire in their place."

8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb Basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time. 9 After him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. 10 He arose, and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand froze to the sword; and Yahweh worked a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to take spoil. 11 After him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. The Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and killed the Philistines; and Yahweh worked a great victory. 13 Three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15 David longed, and said, "Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!" 16 The three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Yahweh. 17 He said, "Be it far from me, Yahweh, that I should do this! Isn’t it the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?" Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things. 18 Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. He lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name among the three. 19 Wasn’t he most honourable of the three? therefore he was made their captain: however he didn’t attain to the three. 20 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab: he went down also and killed a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. 21 He killed an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. 22 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did these things, and had a name among the three mighty men. 23 He was more honourable than the thirty, but he didn’t attain to the three. David set him over his guard. 24 Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25 Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, 26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, 27 Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, 29 Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash. 31 Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, 33 Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armour bearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

2 Samuel 24

24:1 Again the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah." 2 The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, "Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the sum of the people." 3 Joab said to the king, "Now may Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?" 4 Notwithstanding, the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. 5 They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer: 6 then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and around to Sidon, 7 and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

10 David’s heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly." 11 When David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 "Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh," I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you."’" 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me." 14 David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into the hand of man." 15 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough. Now stay your hand." The angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, "Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father’s house."

18 Gad came that day to David, and said to him, "Go up, build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." 19 David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded. 20 Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. Then Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people." 22 Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood: 23 all this, king, does Araunah give to the king." Araunah said to the king, "May Yahweh your God accept you." 24 The king said to Araunah, "No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.