Bathsheba’s son Solomon’s birth name was Jedeiah, ‘beloved by Yahweh’. In some ways he was like his father David, and in other ways he was not like his father. David came from the bottom of society up, Solomon was born royalty. David fought many battles and even had to fend off attempts by his sons to usurp the throne. Solomon was not a warrior but more like a sage, a wise man collecting wise sayings and writing poetry. Of course, David wrote poetry too as he composed many of

God has excoriated the wise, the rich, and the powerful in Judean society with the words of the prophet that we read last week. What remains is God’s prediction/prophecy of what is going to happen. I said last week, “They will pay the price for ignorance and disobedience.”   Along the way in this text there are many voices with claims, objections, and questions, including the voices of Yahweh and Jeremiah. It is more difficult to read without attributions for the quotes, rath

This will conclude the sub-series about the many wives of David. Let’s back up for a bit of perspective on this darker side of David’s life, his relationship with his wives and children. David was not much of a family man, it turns out.  Let’s clarify the chronological order. I presented episodes according to the particular wife I was writing about. However, the stories do overlap as do the wives. So, what order did they come in and what difference did it make? Michal  was

God returns to poetry to express his passion; because the people that God loves have become so certain of their view of the world, about what it means to know God and what are appropriate ways to treat one’s neighbor that they no longer question their own behavior. One should always be self-critical, examining all one’s beliefs and perceptions. Does knowing God mean knowing about God or does it mean having an ongoing relationsjhip with God? Is knowing the Law the same and fu

As you no doubt have guessed, I have a reason for putting the word ‘merry’ in quotation marks for this subseries. So far, the wives of David have not always been merry, and David has not always been thoughtful and kind. Seems that David was always lusting, rarely loving.    The affair with Bathsheba, including the killing of her husband, Uriah, seems to have been the tipping point that exposed David’s weakness as a husband and as a father.    Last week we read that God’s prop

Last week we learned that according to God neither worship or rituals (songs or sacraments) nor sacrifices (sheep or tithes) come first. First comes obedience to God. God says that this was his first word to newly escaped Israelites: “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you” (Jeremiah 7:21-23).   There is proper worship with sacraments and offerings, but these will not stand al