A place for my people ...

God tells David not to build a temple. Yet then, lest we think that God is angry at David, hear the words by which God honors David:

“Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.

“And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies.

“Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.”

In accordance with all these words and with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
2 Samuel 7:8-17 – NRSV

Previous episodes in the life of David reveal his intent to honor God. David must obey the will of God. David must respect the symbols of God’s presence. David must worship the person of God. In David’s view, the life of Israel is not about David, but is instead, all about God.

We wouldn’t want to view this as an exchange, because the things that God has given to David are immeasurably superior to that which David has been able to offer God. Yet God has seen the ways that David has honored him, and wants David to understand how his God has honored him in the past, and will honor him in the future. God has taken David from shepherd to prince, from pauper to king. God has walked with David, and protected David. As David has lifted up the name of God, God has lifted up the reputation of this unlikely king. Unlikely except for the purpose and power of God.

Yet God does not lift David up merely for David’s sake; God does this for the sake of his people. Having made David king, God says, “I will now appoint a place for my people and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place …” From the very beginning, God has known that place is important for human beings, because he made them that way. He made a safe place for Adam and Eve to begin, and he has maintained a place of providence for the people who followed them. Now God appoints a place where an entire people can know his care.

We all need space: room to move, to grow, to play. God gives us freedom of movement, room to play so that, in our play, we may find new ways to use our gifts, new ways to serve him, new ways to please him. The kind of room to play that David had dancing in front of the ark. Yet human beings don’t always allow others to have space. Michal, for instance, didn’t give David that kind of room, because the only way was her way. Because she couldn’t give him room to maneuver, she couldn’t keep a place in his heart. Yet God not only gives David room to work, he makes room for an entire nation of people to discover what it means to be the people of God.

Does that mean that David and his people will be perfect? Hardly. As a matter of fact, it looks like God is setting himself up for a world of hurt. God promises, though, that he will see to it that the actions of his people in this universe will find their natural consequences. A faithful house of David will keep its throne; yet if they misstep, God will correct David’s offspring as if they were his own children. Yet despite whatever future iniquity David and his people might commit, God promises that they can count on one truth: his steadfast love will never cease.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."
Lamentations 3:22-23 – NRSV

May God help us,in the space that he gives us, imaginatively create a place something like the kingdom of God, however imperfect. May that place have enough room for everyone in our house to stretch, to grow, to run, and maybe even hide in the shelter of his love, even if for just a little while.

Grace and peace,

Ron

Unsettled in the house ...

Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent."

Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you."

But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: “Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’”
2 Samuel 7:1-7

The writers of Samuel were both skilled and inspired. They tell their story concisely and powerfully. At times they even tell it playfully. Here they play with the word, “house.” Through this chapter, they use the word house three different ways.

First, “the king was settled in his house.” It may be that this only means the palace, but does it? Isn’t David settling down into his role as the patriarch of his family? After settling his issues with Michal, doesn’t the domestic life of David reach a new and peaceful plateau? No more hiding from Saul. No more intrigue among the Philistines. Not so many running battles with powerful enemies. No more conflict with God. There is this moment in time where there is peace in the house of David.

Now David has time to think instead of react. As he looks out from the roof of his majestic “house of cedar” (second use of house), what does he see? He sees the tabernacle, the dwelling place of the ark, the symbol of the presence of Yahweh. Can you imagine what the tabernacle looks like by now? I’m sure that the Levites maintained it as best they could, but still, that tent has seen a lot of sand, and wind, and sun.

What David sees is unsettling; he can’t live with the inconsistency. I don’t think that we could either. Imagine looking out your window on a rainy night and seeing Jesus sleeping in your front yard in a WWII surplus pup tent, without even a stone for a pillow. It’s easy to understand the move toward action, isn’t it?

So David tells Nathan. Nathan is a courageous prophet, but he doesn’t even see the need to bother God. He phones this one in. "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you."

David’s project concerns God. God is not content to be silent. God doesn’t recall Nathan as a prophet; he redirects Nathan to undo his acceptance speech. “Have I ever asked you, David, or anyone else, to build a house for me?” (The idea of a house for God, a temple, is the third use of house.) God asks David to rethink. God’s answer is obviously, “No.”

So why would God say no to such a noble and honorable request? There are a lot of good possibilities.

Perhaps, as Solomon later says, David was still busy taking care of the enemies of his people (1 Kings 5:3-4). This is possible, but doesn’t appear to completely explain God’s answer.

Perhaps David’s hands are too bloody for this holy purpose (1 Chron 22:7-8; 28;2-3). This is what David tells Solomon and the people. Could it be, though, that David didn’t ever understand God’s “no”, and this business about the blood is David’s attempt to make sense out of a decision that he never understood? Yet God doesn’t say anything about blood here.

Could it be about the people? After obedience to God, the first duty of a king is to care for his people. Instead of taxing his people to finance a temple, and instead of using their labor to build an edifice of limited utility, shouldn’t the people be allowed to build their own houses, and farms, and herds? Shouldn’t the king help the poor, care for the sick, find shelter for the orphan, give the widow security, make safe the alien, and bring justice among his own people? Isn’t that task large enough for anyone who governs? Especially after so many years of war?

I think that God’s reasons are even deeper. God’s answer hints that he is a God who is not tied down to one place. He has power in Eden. He has power in Canaan. He has power in Egypt, in the wilderness, in Jericho; even in Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. God is a God who goes where he desires to go. He can go to Jerusalem or Bethlehem; it doesn’t matter if there is any room at the inn or not.

God does not need for us to make a place for him; He is the Maker of Place.

God does not need a building so that we can find him; if we seek God, we will find him among his people.

God does not desire stone temples; he seeks living ones.

God doesn’t want to be sent to his room. He wants, oddly enough, scarily enough, to live with us.

Are we open to God’s presence in our lives?

Ron