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The Dangers of Simplistic Religion - Reflections on 1 Kings 8 for Proper 16, Year B
Lectionary Reflections, Proper 16, Year B
The Lively Lectionary Old Testament is a blog that reflects on the Old Testament text from the Revised Common Lectionary each week.
Long Live the King! - Reflections on 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 for Proper 15, Year B
Reflections on 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 for Proper 15, Year B
A Complex King - Reflections on 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
The figure of David is among the finest literary portrayals in the ancient world, as I have tried to prove in the preceding weeks of our too brief look at the man. Today is no exception, as our fabulous narrator offers to us a David rather more complex than we may have imagined him to be.
The Payment Comes Due - Reflections on 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
What happens in this passage today demonstrates one of the Bible’s crucial truths: human power and will have decided limitations in the face of the power of YHWH.
The Beginning of the End - Reflections on 2 Samuel 11:1-15
The brilliant narrator of the long story of Samuel, Saul, and David has given to us the very pinnacle of story art in this fabulous tale of David and his dalliance with Bathsheba and his calloused murder of her husband, Uriah. There is no better example of the genius of the Hebrew Bible narrative than this one.
A Rather Different David? - Reflections on 2 Samuel 7:1-14a
It strikes me that after reading and evaluating the picture of David we have seen from his introduction to us in 1 Sam.16 that he is in need of a more straightforwardly traditionally pious portrait, and such is given to us in 2 Sam.7.
That Slippery Old Ark - Reflections on 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
I suggest that this tale in 2 Sam.6 indicates that any sacred object, connected to God, is not some plaything for any king to employ as he desires or thinks he needs. There remains something mysterious and uncontrollable about our God, and we, who tend too often to want to bring God into our way of thinking or doing, to sanctify in the name of God, what we already wish to do, need never to forget that strangeness in our God.
What About the Blind and the Lame? - Reflections on 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
It is occasionally necessary to look closely at the omissions that appear in the lectionary collector’s choice of texts. In this Sunday’s text, there is a small series of verses that have been left out: 2 Sam.5:6-8. To be sure, they are certainly odd and troubling lines, difficult to translate and understand. And yet, there is something about those omitted verses that are intriguing and potentially important. Hence, I will focus my attention there in the essay and see why they may be worth a second look.
A New King? - Reflections on 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
The story about the astonishing choice of David—8th son of 8 sons of the shepherd, Jesse—is rightly focused on here, since David will become Israel’s undisputed greatest king, despite his wanton and cruel behaviors later in his life.
No King for You! - Reflections on 1 Samuel 8:4-20
Strangely, I am thinking of that classic “Seinfeld” episode about the “Soup Nazi,” who only sells soup to those who follow the strictest of protocols. Of course, Elaine does not do so, and he bellows at her, “No soup for you!” In a similar fashion, Samuel, the chief priest and prophet of Israel is confronted by a restive people who demand a king for them.
The Harshness of a Prophetic Call - Reflections on 1 Samuel 3:1-10, 11-20
From June through August, the enterprising and imaginative pulpiteer has the chance to give to her congregation a careful look into a truly great writer’s insights into the dangers of power, the zeal and trouble of single-minded religion, and the dark and dismal actions of politics as they are played out against the backdrop of an emerging Israel, moving to a full nationhood out of a scattering of hill country tribes.
Holy, Holy, Holy - Reflection on Isaiah 6:1-13
Because for Isaiah, contemplating and experiencing the awesome YHWH, as well as witnessing those terrifying seraphim flying about and screaming “holy,” the encounter with YHWH is no intellectual event, but an event that alters his understanding of his role as YHWH’s prophet, a role that appears to him to be one of enormous difficulty, not to mention one rife with scary implications.
