Sixth Advent Station - David's Promise to Bathsheba
"Your son shall reign after me"
So Bathsheba went to the king in his room (he was very old and Abishag of Shunem was in attendance on him). She knelt, prostrated herself before the king, and the king said, 'What do you want?' 'My lord,' she replied, 'you swore to your servant by Yahweh your God, "Your son Solomon is to be king after me; he is the one who is to sit on my throne." And now here is Adonijah king, and you, my lord king, knowing nothing about it!
Then the king swore this oath, 'As Yahweh lives, who has delivered me from all adversity,
just as I swore to you by Yahweh, God of Israel, that your son Solomon should be king after me and take my place on my throne, so I shall bring it about this very day.'
Bathsheba knelt down, prostrated herself on her face before the king and said, 'May my lord King David live for ever!'
To have another man's wife, David became party to deception, adultary, and murder. In David's sorrow for his misdeeds, the Lord God did not leave him in sinfulness nor does he allow us to be swept away in the flood of our sins. But even the son of David and Bathsheba, Solomon the Wise, could not offer the price for their redemption. The world still needed a "greater-than-Solomon."
It was not under angels that he put the world to come, about which we are speaking. Someone witnesses to this somewhere with the words: What are human beings that you spare a thought for them, a child of Adam that you care for him?
For a short while you have made him less than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honour, put all things under his feet. For in putting all things under him he made no exceptions.
At present, it is true, we are not able to see that all things are under him, but we do see Jesus, who was for a short while made less than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he submitted to death; so that by God's grace his experience of death should benefit all humanity.
Giver of all good gifts, you created this world to be a peace-able kingdom, but our greed and hatred have left the scars of war, the degradation of creation, and the legacy of death.
Help us to preserve and protect the gift of life in all of its stages. Free us from actions that only enslave and destory. May all your children learn to live in peace. May we acknowledge you alone, as the Lord of life and when our time on earth is ended, call us by name into your holy kingdom. We ask this through Christ our King and our Lord. Amen.
Old Testament Scripture (1 Kings 1: 15-18, 29-31)
So Bathsheba went to the king in his room (he was very old and Abishag of Shunem was in attendance on him). She knelt, prostrated herself before the king, and the king said, 'What do you want?' 'My lord,' she replied, 'you swore to your servant by Yahweh your God, "Your son Solomon is to be king after me; he is the one who is to sit on my throne." And now here is Adonijah king, and you, my lord king, knowing nothing about it!
Then the king swore this oath, 'As Yahweh lives, who has delivered me from all adversity,
just as I swore to you by Yahweh, God of Israel, that your son Solomon should be king after me and take my place on my throne, so I shall bring it about this very day.'
Bathsheba knelt down, prostrated herself on her face before the king and said, 'May my lord King David live for ever!'
Meditation
To have another man's wife, David became party to deception, adultary, and murder. In David's sorrow for his misdeeds, the Lord God did not leave him in sinfulness nor does he allow us to be swept away in the flood of our sins. But even the son of David and Bathsheba, Solomon the Wise, could not offer the price for their redemption. The world still needed a "greater-than-Solomon."
New Testament Scripture (Hebrews 2: 5-9)
It was not under angels that he put the world to come, about which we are speaking. Someone witnesses to this somewhere with the words: What are human beings that you spare a thought for them, a child of Adam that you care for him?
For a short while you have made him less than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honour, put all things under his feet. For in putting all things under him he made no exceptions.
At present, it is true, we are not able to see that all things are under him, but we do see Jesus, who was for a short while made less than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he submitted to death; so that by God's grace his experience of death should benefit all humanity.
Prayer
Giver of all good gifts, you created this world to be a peace-able kingdom, but our greed and hatred have left the scars of war, the degradation of creation, and the legacy of death.
Help us to preserve and protect the gift of life in all of its stages. Free us from actions that only enslave and destory. May all your children learn to live in peace. May we acknowledge you alone, as the Lord of life and when our time on earth is ended, call us by name into your holy kingdom. We ask this through Christ our King and our Lord. Amen.
O come, of all the nations King,
The world awaits thy ransoming;
Remove our hate and faithlessness,
Unite us who thy Name confess.
Rejoice, rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
posted by See Tho Zhang Jacob at
2:12 PM
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