Thinking Like Moses

Synopsis     2Sam 4:5-5:2     11/21/2018 

Ishbaal was the king of Israel after his father Saul. Among his many workers, there were two whose names were Rechab and Baanah. Their heritage descended from the city of Beeroth. The people of this city seem to have been assimilated into the tribe of Benjamin.  

Rechab and Baanah killed Ishbaal while he slept in his own house. Expecting a reward, they then took his head and travelled to David in Hebron. When they presented Ishbaal’s head to David, he mourned Ishbaal’s death and executed Rechab and Baanah for the murder they had committed. And then David buried Ishbaal’s remains in Abner’s grave.  

After this, the leaders of all Israel came to David in Hebron. They reminded him that when Saul was king, David was the one who led the armies of Israel to many great victories. And they acknowledged the open secret that David had been anointed king by Samuel. 

David Thought Like Moses 

Rechab and Baanah came to David with King Ishbaal’s head thinking that David would be pleased. And they probably thought they were in line for a great reward. 

But David feared God. And David trusted God. His response to the men who came to him was, “As the Lord lives, who rescued me from every distress…” David was telling them that he didn’t need this kind of help. He didn’t intend to take the throne through unlawful, evil acts committed against innocent people. And so, he had them executed in order to purge this kind of evil from the community of Israel.  

David’s inclination was to think like Moses. He was concerned about the purity of the people because the continued presence of God depended on the people remaining pure. 

Thinking Like Moses 

For Moses, relationship with God was everything. And anything that threatened to offend God and injure the relationship he avoided.  

I have these ideas – what God intends for my life. I imagine how things will play out for me. That’s not bad. I’d even go so far as to say it’s good and right. But the danger is in thinking that anything that advances my earthly purposes is good and right.  

This is how I imperil my relationship with God.  

So, let the days come as they are given. If they advance what I understand to be my “purpose in life”, so be it. That’s great. But if the advances for some earthly goal come at the expense of another person, then it’s not worth it. My guilt and shame will invariably ruin my interest in making myself present before the Lord. The relationship will break.

The command is to love. The refining process I experience here is to purify my capacity to love. This is relationship with the God of Love. Nothing else that I might ever accomplish matters as much as holding dear my relationship with Jesus.  

“Because zeal for your house has consumed me, I am scorned by those who scorn you.” Psalm 69:10