Deride Clinton and Trump, or pray?

Although we are not citizens of the United States or live there, the Trump/Clinton election battle is intriguing.  Let’s compare the candidates and the country with the history of Saul and David.

#  Israel no longer wanted God to be their King.

The people of Israel told the prophet, Samuel, that they wanted a king like all the other nations.  Samuel felt that they rejected God as their King.  It can be compared to the USA where there are many organisations and groups that fight to get rid of God.  The general impression is that the people of America don’t want God as their King.  God’s faithful followers resist it, but because the devil is the ruler of the world, he controls most of the media.  Thus we are aware of the efforts to banish God from public life.

#  Israel got what they wanted.

God told Samuel to give the people what they wanted, a king.¹  Saul was ‘an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites – a head taller then any of the others.’ ²  Both Trump and Clinton, though not young, have impressive accomplishments.

#  Saul could not stand firm against social pressure.

Initially Saul defended the Israelites against their enemies.  Then God commanded Saul to punish the Amalekites because they attacked His nation (read Church).  Saul did not obey God, but submitted to the people’s desire to save the best possessions of the Amalekites.  Will the president elect take a stand against God’s enemies (abortion, gender issues, same sex marriage, opposition to to marriage, et cetera), or capitulate to the wishes of the masses?

#  Saul wanted to look good in front of the people.

Saul was not interested to obey God, but to look good before the people.  He asked Samuel, ‘Please honour me before the elders of my people and before Israel….’ ³  Both candidates promise everything to everybody.  Fine, but what about the Church?  Will the chosen president honour God through obedience to God’s commands, or capitulate to what the general media wants?  Saul persecuted David so intensely that he in a sense lost his mind and killed all the priests of Nob.⁴

#  Saul focussed on the minor instead of the major.

What was Saul’s end?  Because he was so intent to destroy David, he neglected the duties of kingship.  The nation was overrun by its enemies.  That might happen in the USA, but not necessarily by the invasion of a foreign nation, but invasion of foreign doctrines that are detrimental to the nation.  The family is under siege through confusion about the roles of men and women, et cetera.  Biblical values like love for the Lord, are devalued.

#  David’s reaction to persecution.

How did David, whom we take in this blog as a type of the Church, react?  David constantly went to God through prayer. ⁵  David found his strength in God. ⁶

Conclusion

David’s love for the Lord caused him to always ask God’s direction and help in prayer.  Eventually that is the only recourse for a Church under siege.  God never fails to answer prayer, but it needs committed people like David, who loved the Lord and trusted Him.

References

1. 1 Samuel 8:4-22
2. 1 Samuel 9:2
3. 1 Samuel 15:30
4. 1 Samuel 22:6-23
5. 1 Samuel 23:9-12;  22:5;  17:45
6. 1 Samuel 23:16;  30:6

Trump or Clinton?

In the presidential race between Trump and Clinton voters are increasingly skeptic of the honesty and integrity of the candidates.  The election reminds one of God’s lament in Hosea 8:5, ‘They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval.’  It is still true that a leader makes or breaks a country by his or her love for, or rejection of, the Lord.  Let us look at two Biblical examples.

#  Saul, the first king of Israel

The Israelites wanted a king like all the other nations.   They rejected the leadership of God.  So God consented and gave them Saul as their king.  He was a strapping young man, taller than most. ¹

• Saul proved to be quite an able soldier.  Initially he lead his people to defeat their enemies.
• The only problem was that he just couldn’t follow God wholeheartedly.
• He also fell into the jealousy trap of the devil.  He spent valuable years persecuting the future king, David, and logically neglected the country.
• So the Philistines were eventually victorious at the battle on Mount Gilboa and Saul and his 2 sons died there. ²

#  David the second king of Israel

• He was an ordinary man, but had a lion’s heart.  He defeated the giant, Goliath, and was victorious against the enemies of Israel. ³
• Unfortunately he lost the battle against temptation.  He sinned with Bathsheba.  It cost him their baby and his sons Amon, Absalom and Adoniah.  It caused a lot of turmoil in his family that affected the kingdom.
• Despite that, David thoroughly repented.  He never deviated from his loyalty and love for God.  God helped him to defeat Israel’s enemies.  He also devoted his later years to organise the temple worship and prepared much of the material to build it.  The temple would be God’s dwelling that He would fill with His glory. ⁴   That is why we believe God said of David, ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ ⁵

Conclusion

We learn from Saul and David that a leader can make quite serious personal mistakes, but if a leader loves the Lord, the country prospers.

References

1. 1 Samuel 8:4-9; 9:2; 10:1
2. 1 Samuel 31:1-10
3. 1 Samuel 17-18
4. 2 Chronicles 7:1-2
5. Acts 13:22

Was King David a homosexual?

There is a belief among some in the LGBT community that King David had a homosexual relationship with his friend, Jonathan, the brother of David’s first wife, Michal. ¹

The alleged relationship between David and Jonathan is based on 2 Samuel 1:26, ‘I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me.  Your love was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women.’  David wrote this after Jonathan, his father Saul, and his two brothers died in battle on Mount Gilboa. ² Let us look at some aspects:

Jonathan

• He interceded for David when his father, King Saul, viciously persecuted David. ³
• Later Jonathan again pleaded on David’s behalf. ⁴  When Jonathan saw there was no hope that his father would leave David alive, he said in parting to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants for ever.”’ ⁵
• Jonathan visited David again while he fled from Saul’s vicious campaign against him,  ‘And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him to find strength in God.’ ⁶  

Jonathan and David made a covenant of friendship with each other.  Besides that, they were both married men, and David had many more wives later in his life.  Isn’t that strange for homosexuals?

David’s wives

• Michal, Saul’s daughter.  Though Saul later gave her to another man (probably out of spite), David demanded her back when he became king of Israel. ⁷
• While a fugitive, he had two wives,  Abigail and Ahinoam. ⁸
• While king in Hebron he took five more wives. ⁹
• Scripture mentions his 10 concubines. ¹⁰

Thus we see David loved women, even though he was constantly surrounded by young soldiers and followers.  His wives were not just for the show, because he had many children by them.

Jonathan’s love ‘more wonderful than that of women’

Their friendship, more wonderful than the love of women, was on a different level.  It was a relationship of loyalty, support and protection.  Jonathan was never jealous of David, even though he knew that David would be the next king, and not he, Jonathan. ¹¹

Conclusion

David later sinned with the wife of his loyal soldier Uriah. ¹²  He repented of his sin, ¹³ but there is no evidence that he ever repented of a ‘homosexual relationship’ with Jonathan.  One would expect David, who had such a wonderful relationship with God, to have repented of it (he wrote many psalms which describe events in his life).  It is because there was no homosexual relationship.

References

1. 1 Samuel 18:27
2. 1 Samuel 31
3. 1 Samuel 19:1-7
4. 1 Samuel 20
5. 1 Samuel 20:42
6. 1 Samuel 23:16
7. 2 Samuel 3:13
8. 1 Samuel 25
9. 2 Samuel 3:2-5
10. 2 Samuel 20:3
11. 1 Samuel 23:17
12. 2 Samuel 11-12
13. Psalm 32:1-5; 51:1-17