You have to love the irony and justice found within the pages of our holy Scriptures.
Consider the following: In the account found in 2 Samuel, David has been forced to flee the city of Jerusalem because of the insurrection led by his son Absalom. The writer says,
Then King David reached Bahurim. There a man from Saul’s extended family named Shimei son of Gera came out, yelling curses as he approached. He threw stones at David and all of King David’s servants, as well as all the people and the soldiers who were on his right and on his left.
As he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Leave! Leave! You man of bloodshed, you wicked man! The Lord has punished you for all the spilled blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you rule. Now the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. Disaster has overtaken you, for you are a man of bloodshed!â€
Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!â€
But the king said, “What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? If he curses because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David!’, who can say to him, ‘Why have you done this?’†Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son, my very own flesh and blood, is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him. Perhaps the Lord will notice my affliction and this day grant me good in place of his curse.†– 2 Sam 16.5-12 (NET)
David’s sensitivity to God and his restraint in not presuming to know the purposes of God are a reflection of both his humility and his patience. It is too easy for many of us to react or respond inappropriately when we feel we have been attacked unjustly. Like David, we do not feel we have done anything wrong; perhaps, unlike David, we too often defend ourselves or rebuke the other person for their words or deeds.
Not so with David. He knew his limitations and did not jump to any conclusions about the work of God in his life. This was not easy for, as the text continues, the assault was on-going:
So David and his men went on their way. But Shimei kept going along the side of the hill opposite him, yelling curses as he threw stones and dirt at them. The king and all the people who were with him arrived exhausted at their destination, where David refreshed himself.” – 2 Sam 16.13-14
It is hard to miss David’s humility and patience.
It might, however, be easy to miss the conclusion to the matter. That comes years later when David is near death and is passing the scepter of the kingdom to his son, Solomon. In giving advice and instruction to his son, David says,
Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim. He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised him by the Lord, ‘I will not strike you down with the sword.’ But now don’t treat him as if he were innocent. You are a wise man and you know how to handle him; make sure he has a bloody death.â€
“Make sure he has a bloody death.” Forgive me, but I cannot help but smile at David’s words. There is a sweetness to the justice of God that is sometimes overlooked as we read the stories of the Old Testament. David was careful not to think he knew the mind of God in the matter of Shimei. Once he had seen God’s activity and recognized his vindication of his rule, however, David did not allow the sin to go unpunished.
David had an awareness of the special position he occupied in God’s purposes for Israel: he knew he, like Saul before him, was God’s anointed. As such, he was to be respected and treated with honor. His actions against Shimei were not those of a personal vendetta – if that were the case, he would have done something earlier when Abishai sought permission to separate Shimei’s head from his body. No, David’s action was because of Shimei’s offense towards God’s anointed leader of his people.
Personal insults should and must be overlooked, but would that we all had the passion and zeal of David for the institutions, words, and things of God.
2 Cor 1:13
Dr Albert Mohler has an interesting piece on Richard Dawkins and his defense of cultural Christianity. Dawkins says,
This [England] is historically a Christian country. I’m a cultural Christian in the same way many of my friends call themselves cultural Jews or cultural Muslims.
“So, yes, I like singing carols along with everybody else. I’m not one of those who wants to purge our society of our Christian history.
“If there’s any threat these sorts of things, I think you will find it comes from rival religions and not from atheists.”
Mohler’s article continues:
Dawkins expanded on those comments in an article published December 13, 2007 by The New Statesman. In this article Dawkins explains that Christmas is a part of his nation’s history and culture, and thus to be acknowledged, if not celebrated, by all.
He even threw some barbs toward the United States, suggesting that political correctness and a fear of offending anyone’s sensitivities was leading to a denial of the cultural significance of Christmas. All this is unnecessary, he insists:
For better or worse, ours is historically a Christian culture, and children who grow up ignorant of biblical literature are diminished, unable to take literary allusions, actually impoverished. I am no lover of Christianity, and I loathe the annual orgy of waste and reckless reciprocal spending, but I must say I’d rather wish you “Happy Christmas” than “Happy Holiday Season”.
It is a good post and it must be read in its entirety to be fully appreciate, so please go read it.
The reason for my own post stems from a comment Mohler makes. He says, “The thought of Richard Dawkins singing any carols with explicit Christian content is difficult to hold — unless the Oxford professor intends to sing of a faith he does not profess.”
My first thought was that Professor Dawkins ought to feel right at home in a lot of churches: he will be standing with many others who sing the words and, perhaps, speak the Christian jargon necessary for membership in evangelicalism. These tares in the pews are practical atheists and have more in common with Dawkins than Christ. As Jesus said, quoting Isaiah,
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.
“‘They worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.’”
Truth be told, I suspect I would enjoy talking and spending time with Dawkins far more than I would many of the pew-dwelling weeds on a typical Sunday at most churches. Certainly the professor’s heart is far from God but, unlike the practical atheists in the pews, he doesn’t worship in vain or cause trouble in the church by teaching his own perverted beliefs as though they were biblical.
On judgment day, when unbelievers appear before God before being sent to their final, torturous destination, I believe it will go much easy for the Richard Dawkinses of the world than for those who sought to lead the elect down the wrong path. God takes a dim view of those who endeavor to deceive His own.
2 Cor 1:13
Make no mistake about this: the death of Sean Taylor was a tragedy.
The circumstances surrounding the professional football player’s death are irrelevant. Whether he lived a wonderful life or a detestable one, Taylor’s death is shocking and tragic. From the reactions of his Washington Redskins teammates, he was a good friend, good teammate, and good football player.
His death was sad.
Not in spite of the aforementioned but rather because of it, I find myself troubled in the aftermath of Taylor’s death. Consider the following story from ESPN:
MIAMI — Thousands filled a university arena Monday for the funeral of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor, with a video screen behind his casket showing highlights from his career.
The funeral comes a week after Taylor was shot in his home and days after four men were charged with killing him during the robbery. A lawyer for one of the suspects confirmed there was a fifth suspect.
Taylor’s casket was surrounded by bouquets, while the video display showed Taylor from his days with the Redskins, Miami Hurricanes and high school.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said it had been a “sad week” for the NFL family.
“It’s times like this that all of us struggle to find meaning in life,” Goodell told the mourners. “The NFL was proud of Sean Taylor… He loved football and football loved him back. But more importantly, it was what he was as a man and what he was becoming as a man.”
(No offense to Roger Goodell, but if the death of a football player causes you to “struggle to find meaning in life,” your life was overdue for a careful, honest, critical evaluation.)
I watched SportsCenter this morning and listened as the story was told again how Taylor was killed in his home on Nov 27th, just a week ago. Teammates were interviewed after the Redskins’ 17-16 loss to Buffalo yesterday. The players talked about how they missed him and how difficult it was to pull it together and play the game in his honor, and how they wished they could have won the game “for Sean.”
I was disturbed as I watched and listened. It was not because of anything that was said or done, but rather because of another story not picked up by ESPN – or any other major media outlet, to my knowledge – that told the story of two other young men who were killed on Nov 27th, too.
In contrast to the thousands of words written about Sean Taylor, here is the story I read about Isaac Cortes and Benjamin Garrison:
DoD Identifies Army Casualties
The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died Nov. 27 in Amerli, Iraq, of wounds suffered when their vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.
Killed were:
Pvt. Isaac T. Cortes, 26, of Bronx, N.Y.
Spc. Benjamin J. Garrison, 25, of Houston, Texas.
That represents everything I know about these two United States soldiers who died on the same day as Sean Taylor. Nobody interviewed their comrades or asked them if it was hard to go back into battle – or to continue in the battle – after the IED had cut short their friends’ lives. I don’t know if there are elaborate memorials scheduled for their funerals or if their local newspapers will write something about their lives and deaths. Being from major metropolitan areas, I doubt it.
And I don’t know if some commissioner somewhere will “struggle to find meaning” as a result of their deaths. I, for one, won’t because the lives and deaths of Cortes and Garrison made sense. They lived and died for something worth living and dying for, and their deaths are noble rather than senseless.
Taylor died a millionaire. He made a lot of money playing a boy’s game for the entertainment of thousands and thousands of people. His name is recognizable – at least for now – and his picture has been everywhere in the media.
Cortes and Garrison, I suspect, were not millionaires when they died. They fought a man’s war for the safety of millions and millions of people. They labored and died in virtual obscurity, never having been famous enough to be forgotten.
When I consider the two stories and contrast the responses of our nation to the death of a semi-famous athlete and that of two unknown soldiers, I am troubled. I wonder what in the hell our nation has come to that the tragic death of an athlete can garner so much attention and the deaths of two soldiers result in so little.
The death of Sean Taylor, as I said, was a tragedy, but he was no hero. The deaths of Isaac Cortes and Benjamin Garrison were every bit as tragic and, along with thousands of others who have sacrificed their lives for us, they are heroes.
As Christians, especially, we must be absolutely certain and careful to keep our values and priorities right. All three deaths are tragedies, but the deaths of Cortes and Garrison are qualitatively different from that of Sean Taylor. We need to make note of that fact and honor all with the honor which they are due.
2 Cor 1:13
