Rock of Separation

Day 55: 1 Samuel 20–23; Jeremiah 7–12; 2 Corinthians 10–11

David remains in hiding to save his life from the wrath of King Saul.  Jonathan who loves David as he loves himself encourages Saul and Saul promises not to kill David.  Later when he hears of attempts on David's life he is not completely sure his father, Saul, wants David dead.  He So David and Jonathan devise a plan.  David will miss a new moon feast at which he is to dine at the table of the king.  If Saul inquires about David mission, Jonathan will tell Saul that David asked permission to go to Bethlehem to celebrate.  If Saul is at peace, then he doesn't want David dead, but if he is enraged, Saul wants him dead.

Saul wants his rival dead.  He is fighting against God's will to keep his grip on Israel.  It will mean his death and the death of many others. So intense is his jealous rage he curses his own son, Jonathan and tries to kill him with a spear.  Jonathan goes to meet David at the rock called EZEL and tells him to flee.  It is a touching scene where both men are overcome with grief over the terrible rift in the kingdom because of Saul's jealousy and madness.

David takes refuge in Nob with a the high priest Ahimelech ("my brother is the king" or "brother of Molech"), a descendant of Ithamar through Eli.  David is needing supplies for his fighting men who are on the run with him. The priest gives him consecrated bread that only priests are to eat (1 Sam. 21:6).  He does so in service of King Saul because David claims to be on a secret mission.  But David is suspect. He has no weapon either, so Ahimelech gives him the sword of Goliath.  Apparently Saul had the tabernacle moved from Shiloh to Nob which is two miles south of Gibeah, his home town.  The sword of Goliath laid there before the ark as tribute to the enemy slain by David.  The priest shows his loyalty to Saul and perhaps David by breaking religious custom (covenantal law).  Jesus would later point to this action as justification for plucking wheat on the Sabbath to satisfy the hunger of his disciples as they walked along.  Jesus said, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath (Mk. 2:22)."

David flees to the Philistine king Achish of Gath, but has to pretend he is crazy in order to keep them from killing him out of suspicion or revenge for all the Philistines he had killed.  He flees again moving from one place to another until Saul nearly catches him at The Rock of Separation in the Wilderness of Maon.  Saul had been tipped off by Ziphites who lived in the region that David and his men were in hiding there.  But God delivered David.  The Philistines attacked Israel while Saul was chasing after David.  Saul had to break off the pursuit.

The Rock of Separation is my theme for today's readings.  To separate is also to be holy.  It is to separate from all uncleanness and unrighteousness and live according to the law of Moses.  This makes Israel holy by keeping God's commands.  Saul was not careful to keep the law. He was careless and paid more allegiance to his men to keep them loyal.  He was not loyal to God.

David on the other hand will prove to be a great king leading the people in faithfulness to God.  The great rock between Saul and David is God.  Which side of the rock of separation will I stand on... the side of holiness and strict adherence to God's ways or the side of carelessness and loyalty to what suits me?

Jeremiah writes to warn Jerusalem and Judah of God's coming wrath because they have not chosen to be faithful to Yahweh.  They have built an altar of sacrifice, a furnace for burning children alive in the gaping mouth of Topheth (Chemosh/Molech) in the Valley of Hinnom (more hell imagery).  They have defiled the temple with a variety of pagan idols.  They keep on worshipping Yahweh, but as one god among many gods.  To Yahweh, their sacrifices, offerings and prayers are meaningless.  They are unfaithful and just going through the motions.  They have not chosen holiness and adherence to the covenant of the true God, living God and eternal King (Jer. 10:10).  As a result God will destroy them through an invading army, but not completely.  Survivors have the opportunity to come back to Jerusalem, rebuild and start over in faithfulness to Yahweh.

Hear the lament of Jeremiah when he realizes they people will not turn from their idolatry.  He longs to separate from them. 

If only I had a traveler's lodging place
    in the wilderness,
    I would abandon my people
    and depart from them,
    for they are all adulterers,
    a solemn assembly of treacherous people.
They bent their tongues [like] their bows;
    lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land,
    for they proceed from one evil to another... (Jer. 9:2-3)

And God pronounces His terrible judgement. The Rock of Israel separates from them.

I have abandoned My house;
    I have deserted My inheritance.
    I have given the love of My life
    into the hand of her enemies. (Jer. 12:7)

Paul continues his second letter to the Corinthians defend his ministry and apostolic authority among them. There are those who consider themselves "super-apostles" and superior to Paul and his ministry who have confused the Corinthian church.  And within the church Paul has critics who say, "His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak, and his public speaking is despicable (2 Cor. 10:10)."  Paul warns them he will be weighty and powerful in the Spirit of God when he comes to them in person.  So they had better decide where they stand. 

They do not commend themselves as their competition does.  The Lord commends them by the signs and miracles in their ministry.  Remember in his first letter he stated that he came to them at Corinth "not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that your faith might not be based on men's wisdom but on God's power (1 Cor. 2:4).

But because Paul feels compelled to defend his authority among them he begins a lengthy discourse on his ministry.  What separates him from the competition is the amount of persevering work for the gospel he has done in the face of fierce opposition.  He endures it all by the mighty grace of God.  Paul knows he is foolish for boasting as he does, but he feels he is only following the foolishness of the Corinthians who listen to fools (2 Cor. 11:19).

The Corinthians needs to decide to whom they will listen and be loyal.  Will they adhere to the gospel as given them by Paul, or will they listen to the others and their teachings who come to them in the name of Christ as His "super-apostles?"  The rock of separation stands before them.  They must choose who is righteous and who is false.  Or do they listen to false teachers because they hear from them what they want to hear? 

The gospel is offensive.  It separates fathers and sons, mother-in-laws from daughter-in-laws.  But the eternal reward is for those who will separate from the many ideas around us and their promises to the One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.