How God uses failures – King David

People often make terrible mistakes. For example, King David committed adultery with Bathsheba. When she was pregnant, he tried to cover it up. When that didn’t work, he had her husband, his close loyal soldier, murdered.¹ God was not impressed with David. The baby died and three of his other sons at various stages lost their lives (according to David’s own judgement of four lambs for the one, 2 Samuel 12:5-6). David confessed his sins and turned his heart towards God.²

Later, the Lord was angry with Israel and incited David to take a census of the fighting men. The punishment was that seventy-thousand people died.³ Did David give up, lie down, or disappear in a fog of self reproach and self denunciation? No, good came from the bad. He repented of his sin, and the angel of the Lord told him to sacrifice on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.⁴ The plague stopped and he proclaimed, ‘The house of the Lord God is to be here [the temple], and also the altar of burnt offering.’ ⁵  That was the site where the temple of God would be built by Solomon.

As Ruler of the universe, God has the ability to use bad things we do to accomplish His greater purpose. Listen to what He said about David, ‘I have found in David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ ⁶  Why did God give David such a glowing testimony?

David did not reject God, slink away and sit in deep depression. He accepted forgiveness and retained his confidence in God. From then on he made all the preparations that were necessary for his young son Solomon to build the temple.

David:

• Testified, All this I have in writing from the hand of the Lord upon me, and He gave me understanding in all the details of the plan’ (28:19).
• That included the plans for the division of priests and Levites, for their work in the temple, all the articles for their duties (28:13), and the plan for the cherubim of gold that sheltered the ark of the covenant of the Lord (28:18)
• Thus he gathered the priests and Levites and organised the priestly duties, the singers, and the gatekeepers for the temple (24:20; 25:1; 26:1 following).
• To accomplish it all, he provided large amounts of gold, silver, bronze and iron (1 Chronicles 22:14).
• He also motivated the people by ordering them to help Solomon (22:17) and be devoted to God (22:19).
• He did not neglect to pray for his son on whose shoulders rested the immense responsibility of building the temple (29:19).

Due to forgiveness of his sin, David continued in his relationship with the Lord.⁷  God is willing to forgive if we are willing to confess. As with David, He will lead us to achieve the goals He wants us to fulfil (to glorify Him). That is the miracle of God: there is always hope.

References

1. 2 Samuel 11:1-21
2. Psalm 51
3. 2 Samuel 24:1-25
4. 1 Chronicles 21:18
5. 1 Chronicles 22:1
6. Acts 13:22b
7. 1 Chronicles 29:10-13

Is the history of the Bible mythology?

With one stroke of a pen atheists often delete the historical background of the Bible. For example, ‘No, the bible is not the history of people who lived in Israel. It’s mythology.’

Babylonian archers in Berlin Museum

 

Does that mean the account of the Jews and their neighbours in the Bible is mythology? Are the artefacts of those civilisations in the major museums in Italy and France, the British Museum and the one in Israel, myths? Are they fabrications and legends to support God’s plan to establish an eternal Kingdom of peace?

 

For example, God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to live in the land Canaan. After a short sojourn in Egypt, he returned to Canaan, where the Hittites were a well known nation. Later his descendants went to live in Egypt for 400 years. After the exodus, they  conquered the land Canaan. During the time of king David the Philistines were a menace, as well as the Moabites.

The peoples of the Northern Kingdom (10 tribes of Israel) were exiled in 722 BC by the Assyrians. The Southern Kingdom (2 tribes of Israel) was exiled in three deportations, 606, 597 and 586 BC by the Babylonians. After 70 years of captivity, many went back and rebuilt the temple.

 

That was the temple that was extensively renewed by Herod the Great, who ruled over Israel by the grace of the Roman empire.  The apostle Paul benefited from the Roman empire’s excellent roads and extensive legal system.  Later the disciple John was exiled to the island Patmos by the Romans.

 

The history of the Jews, as written in the Bible, did not take place in isolation. They had interaction with other nations and the world empires of those times. The Assyrians, Babylonians, Medo-Persians, Greeks and Romans all impacted on Israel. Other individual nations like the Moabites, Philistines, and cities like Tyre and Sidon are mentioned.

 

So how do we answer the claim that the history of the Bible is myth, that its historical data was fabricated? Does it mean that there was no Roman empire, no Greek invasion led by Alexander, no Babylonian empire or whatever else? Does it mean that the descendants of Abraham, the Jews, who live in Israel at present, are mythological?

 

Should we agree that all these historical facts are nonsense, that atheists have declared them null and void, and thus it will be? Not at all. We want to know how one deletes evidence that different civilisations existed? If atheists, who believe the Bible is myth, can provide a way to ‘trash’ history, we would be glad to hear about it.