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Welcome to Livin’ Light’s Bible-In-A-Year challenge of discovering God’s love for us and His purpose for our lives. Here is the format for this great adventure: The daily reading assignment is posted at 5 a.m. After each day’s reading, Leigh An Coplin, the blog host, shares observations and poses questions about difficult passages to Rob Fields, who studied Christian Education at Asbury Seminary and currently teaches Biology in the Orlando area. To start from the beginning, click on 365 Bible Readings and scroll down to Day 1. The reading schedule is taken from The One Year Chronological Bible NLT.
Today’s Reading
— 2 Samuel 12:26-14
— 1 Chronicles 20:2-3
(990-980 BC) Click here for a timeline of the entire Bible.
Questions & Observations
Q. (2 Samuel 12:27-28): This sounds like Joab is threatening David. He is the army commander, but can we say here that he thinks David is not doing his job? Also, back to Joab having leprosy. I don’t see how he can stay in battle given he has such a debilitating disease.
A. You could see this as a threat, but also as a general, humbly asking his king to not deny himself credit for a victory. I leave it to you. As I mentioned, when we addressed “leprosy” in Leviticus, the word in Hebrew covers a variety of skin ailments, which may have been much less debilitating as the leprosy we know today. Also, if I recall correctly, the curse applied to his family, not merely Joab himself. He may never have suffered the skin disease personally.
Q. (12:30): How could anyone where a crown weighing 75 pounds?
A. A crown of that weight would mostly have been for display, and would only have been worn in “crowning” ceremonies like the one described in the story which most likely lasted only seconds. The easiest way for the crown to be “worn:” having your servants hold it in place on your heat.
Q. (14:33): Joab must personally feel the rift between Absalom, Amnon, and David since Joab killed Abner in revenge for murdering his brother. Absalom held this vengeance in his heart for two years, so it must have festered into a huge hatred of his brother Amnon. And, David must feel some sin from all sides — having committed adultery, having his soldier and wife of Bathsheba killed, losing a great friend Jonathan who was like a brother, being on the run from Saul like Absalom is from him. He practically had to have his son thrown in front of him to give in to his love for him. I guess this just goes to show that even the most devout can fall from God. But, he is there to take us back into the fold. But, I think we are about to see a black sheep?
A. You bet we see a black sheep. Don’t forget this was as predicted: David’s family has now begun to fall apart. And one member of his family has already died “by the sword” as predicted. It will get much worse.
For further reading: Does the punishment for one person’s sin really go to the next several generations? https://bibleproject.com/articles/the-sins-of-our-fathers/
Shop: Christian shirts get noticed. Check out these conversation starters: https://livinlight.org/shop/
Tomorrow’s reading: 2 Samuel 15-17:14
