Good reason why I keep on reading—1 week after reading that David breaks the revenge cycle, I read this:
“O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth.
You make your adversaries and the revengeful cease….
What is man that You regard him?
You made him a little lower than God,
You cause him to rule over all creation
You have put all things under his feet,“ (Psalm 8)
Why does God hate revenge? He values us—the ones He made. He counts us as his allies.
The Bible continually gives the whole picture, not just one side. In today’s Bible reading, King David publicly and emphatically acts three times to break the revenge cycle continued by fellow Israelis.
(1) He publicly mourns King Saul’s death in battle and executes Saul’s professed killer.
(2) He publicly mourns Saul’s general’s death and condemns those who took revenge on him.
(3) He mourns his rival king’s death and executes those who assassinated him (2 Samuel 1, 3 & 4). Sometimes leadership just has to act decisively. New beginnings are possible. Will I be that guy?
#Leadership #AncientWisdom #Daily Bible Reading #92
Giving priority to God and his Word in the decision-making process.
What does “God is the blessed controller of all things” have to do with you the leader facing a challenge? You can’t not make a choice. Wisdom from an ancient Israeli king 3,400 years ago: Saul felt pressured to act in the face of an immediate threat (think: cyber threat or the client will choose your competitor if you don’t make an offer today). Actually, he felt squeezed between that threat and Judge Samuel’s warning: “Don’t act until I get there.” Saul didn’t wait, and suffered tragic consequences. I don’t want to be like Saul (1 Samuel 13; quote by Joyce Landorf)
Who do I trust? The ‘good guy’ we know coerces a prominent influencer to do something that is contrary to God’s word right after a seemingly ‘bad guy’ acknowledges God and frees this influencer to do what he thinks best. A good lesson in discernment, the role of government, and ‘self-control.
StoryOne: Creation
When two people or groups seemingly have irreconcilable differences, political polarization, complete communication breakdown, is there anything that can be done? One approach is to find the good and enough common ground to achieve some kind of peace, tending mostly to consist of avoidance. Increasingly a more common approach is the belief that ‘might makes right’, either to force conformity or to get rid of those who won’t ‘agree’.
The Bible offers a ‘third’ way. A ‘covenant’ offers the only workable solution to such polarization, allowing opposing sides to be able to cooperate. A covenant refers to a friendship pact between two people or groups. It allows people who are not related and living in proximity (in the Ancient Near East that means ‘enemies’), and those with irreconcilable differences, to have an ongoing, dependable relationship.
Making a covenant consisted of stipulated terms / agreements and the swearing of oaths, and swapping outward symbols to remind both parties of the promises and consequences of breaking the covenant. The ‘Hittite’ variety of covenants were invariably between conqueror and conquered, but nonetheless respectfully treated both parties as independent entities able to give consent.
In the Bible, covenant refers to God’s unbreakable love-loyalty (hesed) relationship with his chosen people. Even though God is distinct from us, not the same kind of thing as we His creatures, He is always very near. The Bible also records several instances of humans entering into covenant with one another. The story from Genesis 31 is known for its rich detail.
Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, worked twenty years for his uncle Laban hundreds of miles from home up on today’s Turkey-Syria border. During that time he managed Laban’s flocks, and gained Laban’s daughters as wives, several children, and enough castoffs to have his own huge flocks.
He chalked it up to God’s blessing, but his nephews were envious and spread rumors that Jacob was defrauding Laban. Fearing Laban’s wrath, he fled in the night with all he now owned. A week later Laban and his men caught up with him for a big family confrontation. Tempers were hot and accusations flew.
Jacob’s ‘side’: I was alone, deceived by my own Uncle, used, arbitrarily had my contract changed 10x, and was afraid my family would be seized and I killed (31:31, 36-42).
Laban’s side: everything belongs to me, my daughters and flocks are mine by right. Jacob wouldn’t have anything without my hospitality and generosity (31:26-30; 43). You repay me by stealing away in the night.
Two further facts affect resolution: (1) both recognized they were at somewhat of a disadvantage and the only apparent human solution was force (31:31; 43). (2) both admitted God warned them against harming the other (31:29; 42).
Their workable resolution was to make a covenant. They piled up stones “placed between” the two sides as a sign or symbol (31:52). They promised: “I will not pass by this sign to harm you nor will you me” (31:52). They called on the Lord’s help: “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent from one another. . . . even if no human sees, God is witness between you and me” (31:49-50); He will judge / discern between us (31:53). Then, they concluded / sealed the deal with a fellowship party together, and parted ways.
Today, we see fragments of covenant in many ‘democratic’ voluntary activities, such as marriage, neighborhood covenants, and other voluntary associations. We also have legal and political forms of covenant such as alliances, treaties and federalism. There is a substantial body of literature on the largely unknown modern day uses of covenant (see Daniel Elazer https://www.jcpa.org/dje/booksbydje.htm).
Will you try it in your work or other situation? Can we work together to try it in political situations? Let me know your experience.
#Leadership #AncientWisdom
Is your leadership (work, home, neighborhood, other) known for ‘straight shooting’? Do your words match your actions? Or, are you known to cut corners, do whatever it takes?
Today we read the (true) Bible story of Jacob and Laban (Genesis 29, particularly :25). It is said that Laban “deceived” his nephew Jacob by promising one daughter to be Jacob’s wife and switching at the last moment. The word used reminded me of another word. Bear with me as I explain.
The earliest Hebrew speakers like Abraham and Jacob carried in their language two words from hunting: (1) yarah, to shoot (straight), and (2) ramah, to shoot or hurl (wildly / astray).
Yarah came to form the basis for one of their most important words, torah, to instruct (rightly, or ‘shoot straight’). Torah is the Hebrew word ‘commandment’ in English, as in the Ten Commandments / Instructions. In the Hebrew-covenantal understanding, torah is God’s instructions on right living within the context of the covenant-love relationship, for example, parents instructing their children.
Ramah on the other hand was shooting wildly. It later acquired the connotation of ‘shooting off at the mouth’, wild accusations and deceiving. In the ancient Hebrew understanding, one either shot straight (normal), or shot wildly (abnormal, since their survival depended on hitting something).
The connoted use of ramah, to shoot wildly or carelessly here in the story of Jacob and Laban was something like we might say today, “just throw it out there and see if anything sticks.” It was deception by design and/or in practice. Laban said one thing, but did another. We all do it.
Over a thousand years later Jesus points out that it is easier to see the splinter in someone else’s eye than the stick in our own. “Lord, enable me to ‘shoot straight’ and not cast wild aspersions or deceive.” The Lord’s 9th ‘Instruction’ / Commandment: “You shall not bear false witness [hurl wild accusations or otherwise practice deception] against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).
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