Chip Shots

As the eighth son of Jesse, David's prospects were small.  When Samuel came in secret to anoint the next king of Israel from Jesse's family, David wasn’t even invited to meet the famous priest; he was left outdoors, tending to the sheep. Jesse's oldest son, Eliab, was brought before Samuel, who thought for sure he was the king God had chosen to lead Israel. After all, he was the first-born, nice looking, and tall of stature.  But God had other ideas. “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature," he said, "because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”  One by one the sons were brought to Samuel, but the Lord rejected them all. Asked if he had any additional sons, Jesse responded in tones which must have sounded like this: “Well, there’s the runt of the litter; he’s out doing chores.” Like Cinderella, he wasn’t invited to the party.  But David was God’s man to...

When last we saw the children of Israel (in the book of Judges), they were in grave danger of losing their identity as God’s people. Even their national heroes had little regard for the God who had called them, rescued them, and returned them to their homeland. It is a pretty pathetic picture.  In contrast to this, the lovely little book of Ruth reminds us that even in the midst of national chaos, individual families were serious about following God. Ruth’s beautiful family story is followed by another family who refused to cave in to the chaotic culture around them. We meet them in the opening chapters of 1 Samuel: Their names are Elkanah and Hannah.  Like Ruth and Boaz before them, they were neither judges nor one of the priestly families. There was nothing special about them. But they were devoted to one another, to the God of Israel, and like Ruth, they had a child who would bring deliverance to Israel. Neither of these parents had any clue that their children would play s...

I may as well admit it: Judges is my least favorite book in the Bible. The violence is depressing. The unfaithfulness of Israel is disheartening. The cycle of rebellion, slavery and rescue -- repeat -- is discouraging. Why is this book in the Bible? In part, it provides a chronological bridge between Joshua’s conquest and Israel's monarchy in 1 Samuel. In addition, it shows how desperately the people of God need the Ultimate Deliverer who will bring final salvation. But that doesn’t change the fact that Judges is a dark book. As much as we’d like to cheer for Left-handed Ehud, Daring Deborah, Mighty Gideon, or Strongman Samson, their victories do little to lighten the heart. In fact, many of the judges are scarcely better than the people they war against. We almost find ourselves longing for the days when they were wandering in hope of the Promised Land. The prescient warnings of Moses (in Deuteronomy) and Joshua (in Joshua 23-24) certainly hit their mark: Once safely in their inhe...

When we meet Caleb in today’s reading, he is eighty-five years old. Forty years have passed since he was one of only two spies who insisted that the children of Israel could – and should – storm the Promised Land. (The other was Joshua, his current Commander-in-Chief.) Together with ten other spies they’d done a reconnaissance mission in preparation for their invasion into Canaan. As the Lord had promised, they discovered the land to be bountiful and beautiful. “It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit,” they said, displaying clusters of grapes so large that they carried them on poles between them (Numbers 13:23-27). It was a good land indeed– everything God had promised and more. At last, they had reached the Promised Land! Yes, there were fortified cities there. Yes, there were powerful people there. Some even called them “giants.” But hadn’t the Lord brought them out of Egypt, down to Mount Sinai, and over to Canaan in order to give them their ancestral land? Was not this...

If you ask many Christians what the Bible says about the poor, there’s a good chance they will mention this text: "Jesus said, 'You always have the poor with you'" (Mark 14:7).  Unfortunately, this verse is often misinterpreted. People assume Jesus is saying it doesn’t really matter if we serve the poor or not, for there will always be plenty of them among us. This is definitely NOT what Jesus meant. The Bible is filled with admonitions regarding our responsibility for the poor, both personally and corporately.  However, many American Christians are oblivious to their God-given mandate to serve the poor. They fail to realize that Jesus' words quoted above are taken from Deuteronomy 15:11, which says, “For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’” Clearly, the presence of the poor among us is not meant to excuse us from serving them. In fact, ...