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

“ Thou art the man! ”   “Everyone keep cool; nothing going on here, no deception. We’re just the people of God sitting around talking, right?”  “ Thou art the man!”  “Who keeps saying that? And why is he speaking King James English? Maybe we will wake up; it’s a nightmare, right?”  Yes, David and Bathsheba, it is a nightmare, but you are not asleep. Instead, Nathan the prophet is here in the king’s court, and he has been telling a story. Wind it back a little. Listen again to