Nathan Condemns David

February 6, 2022 Background Scripture: 2 Samuel 12 Lesson Passage: 2 Samuel 12:1 9, 13 - 15 The topic of this lesson is a little misleading. Nathan, as the prophet of God, was the messenger of God. The condemnation was not from Nathan but from God. Also, this was a condemnation of David's actions rather than a condemnation of David. In other words, if David would have been condemned by God, then David would have died because of the condemnation. The fact that God spared David's life is a demonstration of the mercy of God towards His own. David's actions led to adultery and the murder of an innocent man. David devised the plan and had Joab, the commander of the military, execute it. Using another person in such a devious scheme made it even more contemptible. Because of this, Joab became a co-conspirator in the murder. Prior to the murder scheme, David attempted to deceive Uriah, the murder victim, to cover up the adultery. Uriah showed unwavering loyalty to David as his king. Uriah wanted to be in battle defending King David and the kingdom. Since Uriah would not fall for David's deceptive scheme, David sent the murder plan to Joab by the hand of Uriah - yet another act of contempt. Uriah's wife mourned for him after his death. After a period of mourning, David brought her to his house to be his wife. Earlier in David's life, he was described as a man after God's own heart. David loved the Lord and David was loyal to King Saul. David loved the people of God and put his life on the line to defend their honor against the Philistine. This is a total contrast of character between David's earlier life and his latter. There are many questions to consider concerning this. Let's take a brief look at David's life before and after. David grew up in a modest setting. He was the youngest of his father's sons. While his older brothers went to war for the kingdom, David was a keeper of his father's "few sheep", as his brothers referred to them. David was a skilled musician with the harp. David had complete confidence in God's love and protection of Israel. David was spiritually sensitive to the will of God. Later, God elevated David to be king of Israel. God gave David victory against all his enemies. David was loved and highly acclaimed by Israel. The sweet psalmist of Israel was now king of God's people. He was successful and had a very life. During a season of warfare between the nations, it was customary for kings to lead their militaries into battle. However, King David sent the military to do battle, but he stayed at home. It was then that David was tempted. He saw an attractive woman bathing. Beware of worldly success! I have never met anyone who indicated in my presence that they did not desire to be successful. But how many of us are truly prepared to be successful? Success can be intoxicating. If someone with David's pedigree can fall victim, then we should all be cautious. When God saw David as a man after His own heart, it was with the foreknowledge of how David would err later. God knows our frame. God sees the frailties of humanity, but He does not excuse our actions because of it. God commands us to be holy even as He is holy. This is not something we can achieve on our own. We need the strength and resolve that can only come from God. We must seek God in prayer for it. Sometimes we are convinced that we can handle things on our own because of our success. This is part of the delusion the word of God warns us about. A child of God will never be condemned by God, However, our unholy actions are condemned by God, and God will certainly punish us for actions that He condemn. Robert C. Hudson January 8, 2022

Justice and the Marginalized

January 30, 2022 Background Scripture: Deuteronomy 24:10 - 21 Lesson Passage: Deuteronomy 24:10 - 21 "Don't forget where you came from." That's the warning that is repeated along with the instructions given in our Lesson's text. One way to assess the moral decency of a society is to see how the least among them is treated. This should be important to each of us because our circumstances do change throughout our lifetime. Perhaps nothing shows one's character as much as how we treat individuals who we believe we will never need in this life. It is worth noting that any of us could eventually become the least in our society. To be the least is to be marginalized or pushed to the side and ignored. There are many ways to be classified as marginalized by a society: financial wellbeing, family structure, marital status, gender, age, nationality, culture, physical size, physical limitations, mental acuity, and so many more. The longer we live, the more likely we will move from one such group to another. "Equal Rights for All" is a good political rallying point, but it is rarely achieved through the efforts of human beings, God did not overlook the marginalized that would be part of Israel's society. God gave Israel specific instructions on how to take care of the marginalized within their society. They were to make provisions for the marginalized without taking away their right to maintain self-esteem by working for themselves. God did not establish Israel as a welfare state; nor did He suggest that Israel should become a welfare state. God's instructions told Israel how to create opportunities for the marginalized to work for what they needed without them being overburdened because of their social status. God warned Israel to not allow people to increase their status in life by taking advantage of the marginalized. This could plague a society that values wealth over people. God included a warning as to the outcome of mistreating one who was the least in their society. If they cry out to God because of the mistreatment, then the action of the perpetrator would be seen as sin by God. Then the perpetrators would answer to God for their actions and not to those they mistreated nor to the leaders of their society. They might not be punished by the civic leaders for their many harsh actions because of their political status or wealth. However, God sees all things and He holds perpetrators accountable for their actions towards the least among them. God commanded Israel to extend a hand up to the poor, or socially neglected. God did not instruct them to give handouts. This is not to suggest that they didn't need to be charitable towards the poor. Charity is an individual's response to the needy and/or disabled. However, a civilized society should make provisions for every citizen to obtain the necessities of life. Farms, orchards, and vineyards were perfect opportunities for making provisions for others during the time of harvest. If the owners harvested their crops, they would have plenty without having to return later to glean the leftovers. There would be leftovers because everything does not ripen at the same time. The harvest takes place when most of the crop has ripen. The leftovers would ripen later. God's provision for the marginalized was to allow them to harvest the leftovers. Please note: It would not be harvested and given to an able-bodied person. Although they could not afford to own property, they could work to harvest the leftovers for themselves. These opportunities allowed the marginalized to be treated justly in God's eyes, and God would see the benefactor's actions as righteousness. Robert C. Hudson December 20, 2021

Justice, Judges, and Priests

January 23, 2022 Background Scripture: Deuteronomy 16:18 - 20; 17:8 - 13; 19:15 - 21 Lesson Passage: Deuteronomy 16:18 - 20; 17:8 - 13 Deuteronomy, or the second giving of the Law, was the last account written by Moses. In it, Moses reminded the Jews how they were to set up a just and God-fearing society. At the time of the writing, Israel had not entered Canaan to occupy and settle in it. God did everything decently and in order—as should be expected. God was not going to allow Israel to move into Canaan and live like they were in some "wild West" setting where everything goes. God was going to establish that generation of Jews as a sovereign society for the first time ever. God gave them a foundation that would guarantee success even with human frailties and moral shortcomings present. Their success would be based on the integrity of the judges and the faithfulness of the priests. Every settlement of Jews was expected to be a "gated community." Put another way, for their protection, their cities were expected to be surrounded by a wall with a main gate for ingress and egress. They were to appoint judges to sit at the gate. There they could monitor who came in or went out of the city. They would also serve as civil magistrates, or arbitrators, to settle matters between parties. The refusal to accept bribes was paramount to the expected integrity of the judge, A bribed judge would pervert justice. Having a just society is not possible with perverted justice. Today, we make perverted justice seem palatable by calling it politics. God was not going to have any part of that in the society He was setting up. A second concern relative to resolving civil matters involved the testimony of witnesses. A single witness would not be permitted to testify against another individual. Two or three witnesses were required to establish the facts that were relevant to a case. If upon questioning, a witness was found guilty of lying, then that person would be sentenced to the fate that would have been given to the defendant. This would cause others to carefully consider the consequences of providing a false testimony against another person. This system of justice would provide a just society even when executed by imperfect people. If this were the total system of justice in that society, then there would have been a tremendous burden on the shoulders of the judges. But there was relief for the judges. If the judges could not reach a clear decision after careful and thorough examination of witnesses, then they had an appeal process. The unresolved matter was to be referred to the priests, the Levites, and the "regional" judge. These were all positions filled by God's decree, or ecclesiastical calling. In other words, the ones in these positions were all accountable directly to God for their work. They depended on God for directions and decisions. Therefore, their decisions were final. It was this highest level of justice in Israel's society that defined it as a theocracy. They were going to have a God-centered government. Their society was not intended to be ruled by family secession like a monarchy. Neither were they to be governed by the majority opinion of the people, or a democratic process. They were truly established to be a peculiar people among all nations of the world. Their society was to be founded on justice and truth. To maintain justice within their society, God ordained two unique positions: judges and priests. This is what a just society looks like in the absence of politicians. Robert C. Hudson December 20, 2021

Justice and Fairness

January 16, 2022 Background Scripture: Exodus 23 Lesson Passage: Exodus 23:1 -12 Israel had many things to learn in the wilderness before they were to become a sovereign nation in Canaan. One of the most important things would be how to live as a civilized society that reflected God's guidance. Simply put, Israel needed laws to govern their daily lives in their new society. And since they were going to reflect God's guidance of the nation, the laws needed to reflect the character of God. Justice and fairness should be expected in such laws. How we view and evaluate "justice and fairness" is influenced by the society in which we live. How do we look at justice and fairness m a society today? The answer is often found in that nation's anthems and flag ceremonies. Those words should reflect the ideal state for what the nation aspires to become. For example, "With Liberty and Justice for All" is how the pledge to the American flag ends. For many centuries, there was no liberty for all. We have come a long way as a nation. However, today, it is that "Justice for All" part where we tend to fall woefully short. Many of us have lived during the time when justice in this nation was purposely skewed. For many years it was heavily skewed against people of color. Much of that has been corrected. However, it seems to have always been heavily skewed in favor of wealthy men. From a practical standpoint, "money still talks" in America. In the early years of this nation's history, landowners had more rights than nonlandowners. Today, it's not about land as much as it is about wealth. Wealthy people, especially those with political connections, do find a way to live above the law of the land. Over the course of time, we tend to expect this to be the case because we have become accustomed to it. In fact, we are often in shock when we learn that some rich person has been arrested or indicted for a crime. It is for this reason that verse 3 of our lesson arrested my attention: "You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute." God says do not allow poverty to be used as an excuse to pervert justice. Being poor is not an excuse to steal. Being poor is not an excuse to murder someone. Being poor is not an excuse to be a false witness. Just as the wealthy are expected to live by the law of the land, so too are the poor. Justice is too important to the general welfare of a civilized society to allow it to be abused, or perverted, by any person, whether they are rich or poor. The remainder of the lesson is easily summarized by "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". The pity felt for the poor could easily distort even this simple summary. On the surface, a poor person who steals to feed his family seems to warrant showing leniency as if no crime occurred. A poor person who snaps and kills a rich snob after being ignored, or denigrated, by the same can seem strangely justified in our eyes. But God says no! God demands justice of everyone. Then and only then will we value people as being in God's image and after His likeness rather than by their material net worth. Is there no wonder that many begin to behave differently in a moral sense after they believe they have become successful? It is common in this country to value things more than the people who possess them. So, we jokingly say, "All men are created equal, but some are more equal than others." That describes a society that is unjust and far from being fair. For people of God, a Godfearing society should always embrace justice and fairness for all! Robert C, Hudson December 18, 2021

Injustice and Hope

January 9, 2022 Background Scripture: Genesis 21:8 - 21 Lesson Passage: Genesis 21 :8 - 20 We go through many ups and downs in life. Sometimes, the downs are the result of decisions we made-or failed to make. Whatever the cause, no one should have to live in a rut. In other words, no one should have to live for an extended period with bad circumstances that will not improve. Those are very dark days. How could days such as those be any worse? Those days are much more difficult when they are the result of decisions made by others without our input. Demanding situations caused by the decisions of others without our input is how we think of injustice. Injustice places us at the mercy of others. If they refuse to extend mercy, or later withdraw mercy from us, then hopelessness sets in. This is the situation that Hagar found herself in—due to no fault of her own. Hagar was Sarah's slave. Sarah was barren, so she made Hagar have a baby by Abraham so she could claim the baby as a surrogate mother. Things went okay for fourteen years until God allowed Sarah to give birth to a son for Abraham. On the day Sarah's son was weaned, Sarah told Abraham to cast Hagar and her son, Ishmael, out and send them away. Sarah insisted that the full inheritance of Abraham should go to her son, Isaac, and Ishmael should not be allowed to share in it. As expected, Abraham was frustrated and disappointed because Ishmael was his son—his firstborn son at that! God told Abraham to not be disappointed because of Ishmael; God promised to take care of Ishmael. God instructed Abraham to listen to Sarah's directions. Abraham arose in the morning and packed food and a skin of water and placed it on Hagar's shoulder and sent her and Ishmael away. Hagar and Ishmael wandered in the wilderness until the water was gone. Then, Hagar placed Ishmael, now about fifteen years old, under a bush and she separated from him. Hagar did not want to see her son die of dehydration. Hagar cried out aloud. While she was weeping, God called out to her. Ishmael had either spoken something or cried as well, Whatever the case, God responded to Ishmael's voice. God told Hagar not to be afraid but rather to go to Ishmael and hold him; for God was going to make a great nation out of Ishmael. Then God opened Hagar's eyes and she saw a well of water. She filled the skin with water and gave Ishmael water. Hagar was going through a very dark time in her life and had given up hope. She was in a bad situation that she did not deserve to be in. Sarah had called all the shots. Sarah was the reason Hagar was pregnant with Ishmael by Abraham. Sarah was the reason Ishmael was Abraham's son. And Sarah was the reason Hagar and Ishmael were sent away from the only home Ishmael had ever known. They were sent away from the family with scant resources to survive on. Hagar and Ishmael were victims of injustice, and their situation became hopeless. This is not a story about revenge, karma, or the underdog winning. This is a st01Y about where to find hope when injustice leads to hopelessness. Abraham was called the friend of God. God made a promise to Abraham concerning Ishmael. When God heard Ishmael's voice, God responded to their hopeless situation. Finding hope in a hopeless situation is rooted in a relationship with God, A relationship with God will not prevent an injustice from occurring. But a relationship with God will always assure hope is available. Why is that so? Because one must have faith to please God, and faith is the substance of things hoped for. Injustices will come in life, but with faith in God, there is always hope. Robert C. Hudson December 18, 2021