Old Jerry

I think that Jacob’s character flaws most remind me of my own flaws. I have always been deceiving and have not been forthright. God has given me a family to help me with this and has also made me a worship leader.

I think the thing that happens when a child senses that you love one child more than another the one that feels that way will start to rebel or do things to get your attention and that is not always a good things. I don’t think that this discrimination happened to me when I was growing up. Our parents loved all of us children but we did have to be disciplined different because of our personalities. Loving our children equally but differently is a difficult task. But is one that must be accomplished if we want peace in the household.

I think that the reason that Isaac could not reverse the blessing once he discovers Jacob’s trickery is because it was a blessing from God. I think God was just using Isaac to fulfill His prophecy.

I find that the question of “To what extent does this excuse her plan to deceive her husband Isaac?” very interesting. I had not thought about it. But I was God’s plan to make Jacob over his brother and that was the way that it was chosen to do so. I think that Jacob had a full responsibility of Jacob’s deception. Jacob was even concerned that Isaac was going to find out.

I think that Rebekah was a spiritual woman because she believes the angels that told her that the first child would be subjected to the second child. I don’t think that Isaac was as spiritual as Rebekah was but he had to be spiritual because he knew that his father was going to sacrifice him but the Lord provided a ram for the sacrifice. I didn’t see any evidence of spirituality in Jacob or Esau. They were out for themselves and it didn’t matter how they got there.

I think that the New Testament condemn Esau for selling his birthright because God is in control and He therefore had Esau born first which would have given him the birthright. But since he sold it he sold what God had given to him. To me this says that Esau’s character and values are that I need instant gratification and it doesn’t matter what it cost to get it. As for Jacob’s character and values is that of do what it takes to get what you want.

I think that David has such a love for God that even though He refused to let him build the temple David was going to have everything ready for Solomon to build it. I think that maybe because he was living in such a great palace that he felt guilty about not having a place for the Lord and he wanted Solomon to build it quickly. David cooperated with the Holy Spirit in designing the temple and its worship area by drawing up the plans as directed by the Spirit. By David giving generously to the building of the temple set a good example for the others to give generously. Leaders are always able to motivate their followers by doing the things that they want their follower to do and this is what David did.

David chose the punishment of a plague on the people rather than his other choices because he knew that God was merciful and would relent. David insists on paying Araunah for the threshing floor because if it didn’t cost him anything then it wasn’t a sacrifice. He felt that it had to cost him something for it to be a true sacrifice. The same thing is true in our giving. It should be a true sacrifice and not just a pittance of our wealth.

David describes himself in verse one as one appointed by God to do the works that He wants him to. David is a prophet because at certain times he can get the word from God that God wants him to do. The main message in verses 3-7 is that it is God that can rule the universe justly. And if man would follow what God wants him to do he will be a righteous man. If our government officials and elected leaders in our day would follow this advice I think that we would have a complete different world.

The thing that I find most inspiring in the language of this psalm is that of the power of God. How he protects us and is always with us. Just knowing that God is with us is always encouraging.

This passage is teaching us that David still has his faith in God but his character probably needs a little work. It shows that he can compromise in order to succeed at what he wants but he still doesn’t discipline those who betray him. Joab’s character is that of one of do anything to get what you want. He knows that he is immune to all punishment. I think that Joab’s faith is on himself. I see no indication of his belief in God. This passage teaches us that we need to be diligent in picking our friends. I don’t think that Joab is really David’s friend but only uses David to get away with the things that he does.

I think that David commanded mercy for Absalom in the battle because it was his son. He still loved him and didn’t want to wish him any harm. Joab killed Absalom in the battle against David’s orders because he knew that even though Absalom lost the battle he would again try to take over the kingdom. This was removing one big problem for David. The way that David’s loud mourning threatened his kingdom was that the men thought they had done a great job and all David cared about was his son and not them. Since David doesn’t care for them then it is time to leave. His followers were loyal but they have got to have respect for the person that they are following. Again the faith of David can’t be broken but his weaknesses would have dethroned him if it hadn’t been for Joab.

David doesn’t silence Shimei from cursing him because is concerned that it might be God who has sent him. If that were true then he would have been going against God by having him silenced. This was a spiritual decision because politically he would have had him silenced. Again this tells us that David has great faith in what God’s plan is with his life.

David fled Jerusalem rather than stay to fight because he knew in the end he would probably lose that battle. He would have to be fighting against his own people and his own son. He was not prepared to do that. David’s emotions during this retreat are that of repentance. He is weeping all the way and had dresses is cloths that indicate that he is submitting to God. David didn’t take the ark into exile because he wanted the people that were in the city to have it. Another reason that he didn’t take it was because he didn’t have time to have the right people carry it and they hadn’t been consecrated. I think that this all shows faith. David knew that God was merciful and that he would probably bring him back into power. This tells me that my faith is pretty weak compared to David’s.

The negative spiritual lessons I find is that one should act as soon as the incident occurs because letting it go it will only get bigger. You should always discipline the ones that you love when they are not doing what is right.

The elements of Absalom’s public relations campaign to win over the people to his side are to undermine the king. One way that he is doing this is by telling them that they are not getting justice for their problem. The other way is by showing people how compassionate he is. This was a pretty effective campaign because the people starting liking him over his father. David should have corrected the things that Absalom was doing and maybe even banish him again. But Absalom knew David’s weakness of not disciplining his family.

I think that maybe the reason that Joab conspires to get David to bring Absalom home is for some alterative motive. Joab is a cunning person and he sees the advantage of bringing Absalom back home. I think that the reason that David does not immediately show Absalom his favor is that he is still mad at him. He may love him but Absalom must be punished and by not immediately showing is favor that was his punishment.

I think that the reason that David doesn’t discipline his son Amnon for his sexual assault on his half-sister is because he was guilty of that kind of sin and it is hard to tell somebody else not to do something that you have done yourself. The consequences of David’s inaction are that things are going to get worst. If you don’t correct the problem when it happens then it keeps getting worse.

The punishment that David deserved was death because he killed somebody else. But instead he got life but he is going to be punished for his miss deeds. The punishment relates to the provisions of the Davidic Covenant in that it says that man will inflict the punishment on him. That is what happened when his son tried to take over the kingdom and he slept with his concubines. David’s sin hurt God’s glory because the people knew that he was a worshiper of God but now that he sinned it would indicate that maybe this was a teaching of God. The same is true with us. When people know that we are a follower if Jesus Christ and we sin it looks like we are no better than those that don’t follow Jesus.

The reason that it might be dangerous for Nathan to confront the king is that the king has control over everything and he could have had Nathan removed. He would not even have to listen to him. The device that Nathan employed to get the king to listen to him was to tell him a story about a different situation and let him judge that story. When David condemned the rich man’s greed and Nathan told him that it was a story about him then David realized that Nathan was talking about him.

I think that even a “man after God’s own heart” could do such a thing as this is because he is a man. He thinks like a man and he knows that he has the power to do anything that he wants. He let his **** get the best of him. So in order not to get caught he has her husband killed to cover up the ****. This teaches us that the human condition is not what it looks like all the time. We have to stay true to our morels. Our problem as humans is that when we have power over other people we want to exercise that power. David can recover his integrity by asking for forgiveness from God.

David honors Mephibosheth because he made a promise to Jonathan that he would not cut off his kindness to his family. This teaches us that David’s character was that of honor. He honored his commitments no matter when he made them and under the circumstance that they were made.

God fulfilled his promises in the Davidic Covenant when He let Jesus come down here to earth. Jesus was born from a woman whose ancestry came from the line of David.

God disciplined David and his descendants by putting conflict in their lives. And then he split their kingdoms and the final thing was to put them into exile.

I think that the reason that Nathan was so quick to give David approval to build the temple is because he thought that David had been in communication with God and that God had already approved of such a plan. Buy Nathan should have gone to God himself and communicated with him and not give David a blank check. The danger of leaders and followers too quickly giving approval to major spiritual directions without really waiting on the Lord because like David we think we know what the Lord wants. But instead it is usually want to put our own desires into place and not following God. The part of David’s heart that was right is the part of wanting to please God.