After this David inquired of the Lord, "Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?"
The Lord said to him, "Go up."
David said, "To which shall I go up?"
He said, "To Hebron."
So David went up there, along with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David brought up the men who were with him, every one with his household; and they settled in the towns of Hebron. Then the people of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.
When they told David, "It was the people of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul," David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, "May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord, and buried him! Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you! And I too will reward you because you have done this thing. Therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."
2 Sa 2:1-7 - NRSV
When it came to the big moves in his life, David had learned not to completely trust his own judgment. He inquired of the Lord. So the priest would pull out the Urrim and Thummim, and he would do whatever it was that he did to obtain answers from the divine. Once David had the answer, he enacted it. You do what is right, with no other justification required. Action, without hesitation.
When David arrives in Hebron, he learns that the people of Jabesh-gilead have done a very brave and righteous thing. After the Philistines killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa, they returned to cut Saul’s head off, put his armor in their temple and mount his body, and his sons’ bodies, on the wall of Beth Shan. This was both shameful and horrible to the Israelites. When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard about this, they were convicted. As a community they decided to right this wrong.
So, in a courageous raid, the men of Jabesh-gilead marched all night to Beth Shan, stole the decomposing bodies from the wall and brought them back to Jabesh. They burned the bodies, gathered the bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh. Where is a respectful place? Where does the king sit as judge? Under the well-known tree in a community.
Many people would not risk the danger to rescue people who are still alive. The citizens of Jabesh knew this well. Years earlier, Nahash the Ammonite had besieged Jabesh offering them their choice of death, or making a treaty which required their right eye to be gouged out - most often the dominant eye of an archer or the one who carried the sling. Nobody would come to rescue them, even though they were alive, well, and willing to fight alongside their rescuers. No one, except Saul. Saul gathered up an army within seven days, raced across Israel, defeated Nahash, and freed Jabesh.
Saul didn’t do it because it seemed reasonable. You do what is right, with no other justification required.
The people of Jabesh didn’t need an excuse to go rescue the bodies of Saul and his sons. You do what is right, with no other justification required.
This last week, many of our neighbors in Oklahoma and Texas suffered from horrible range fires that swept across huge expanses of land at unbelievable speed. They lost grass, hay, fences, horses, cattle, barns, and houses, too. It is a gift from God that some of them were able to get themselves out of the fire alive. After the fire, they are now working hard to restore their farms and ranches to some form of normalcy. So to pray for them would be a good thing. But real righteousness is coupling action with prayer.
Independently, Burl and Doug came to me. Burl wanted to haul our excess clothing for children from our clothes closet to Sunset, TX to clothe children there who didn’t have any left. He took some groceries, too, to help tide their families over for a bit. Doug gathered up a semi-trailer load of hay and took it to Blanchard, OK, where horses and cattle were literally starving. The hay that he took will help tide them over until these ranchers’ hay can get up high enough to swath and bale. Neither one did this for the public to find out. And we’re not going to brag about it outside our community.
You do what is right, no justification required. Action coupled with prayer, without hesitation.
Blessings,
Ron
