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Welcome to Paran, Israel and the Negev Desert !!!
Paran, Israel
1 Samuel 25:23-42
23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. 25 Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. 26 Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. 27 And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.
28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. 29 If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, 31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
32 And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! 33 Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand! 34 For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” 35 Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”
36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. 37 In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 And about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.”
Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.”
1 And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42 And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.
David has just arrived in Paran, Israel part of the Negev 'wilderness'. Where David is working out how God wants David to be King of Israel. Welcome to the Negev. David has, in the last chapter, been hunted by Saul and let Saul keep his life. And been insulted by Nabal who called David an escaped indentured servant and David's father meaningless. Nabal has discarded the fact David is a celebrated war hero.
Why? Why would David want to be King? Why would David consider himself Anointed by God when his champion, Samuel, has just died?
Apparently, David is finding to be King, you are polite to Authority even when hunting human beings - namely David. Compassionate to fools. Forgiving.
David can't be claimed to be Romantic. He is newly divorced forcibly by Saul from Saul's daughter, who has re-married. Abigail is going to leave her home where she has brought
18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19 And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.”
Abigail gets to move with David to Ziklag to this particular hole in the earth the Bible identifies as a ditch.
Abigail is living her own Exodus with five women servants. Fortunately, God provides Abigail with a son named Daniel.
Now why does David want to be King in Israel when Israel is not yet a Land of Milk and Honey? Yes, it's good to be King, but Priests are slaughtered. There is war. And there is war on David by King Saul. Why would David want to do this?
David is faithful to the Lord.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14
1 And it shall come to pass, if you shall listen diligently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that the LORD your God will set you on high above all nations of the earth:
2 And all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you, if you shall listen to the voice of the LORD your God.
3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your cows, and the flocks of your sheep.
5 Blessed shall be your basket and your store.
6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 The LORD shall cause your enemies that rise up against you to be smitten before your face: they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways.
8 The LORD shall command the blessing on you in your storehouses, and in all that you set your hand to; and he shall bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
9 The LORD shall establish you a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and walk in his ways.
10 And all people of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD and they shall be afraid of you.
11 And the LORD shall make you plenteous in goods, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
12 The LORD shall open to you his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain to your land in his season, and to bless all the work of your hand: and you shall lend to many nations, and you shall not borrow.
13 And the LORD shall make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath; if that you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day, to observe and to do them: 14 And you shall not go aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
David knew of God's Mercy.
Matthew 22:37
7 Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment."
Why would Israel have trouble? When traveling the Middle East, deserts and poverty are plentiful. A lot of buildings are the color of the sand. A lot of very dusty sand. Living is hard. Opportunity is scarce. When reaching Israel, since the Bronze Age when the rest of the world was dying at age 20, leaving small children behind - Israel lived. Israel lives being Kosher and King David was close to 60 years old. Having seen his children grow up and grandchildren. Israel is a Nation with Family. Family helping support education, careers, learning, help in times of danger, education in life and giving Love. Israel is a community devoted to families who love the Lord.
Why would Israel have trouble? The buildings are white and pristine. Surrounded by agriculture. Israel owns more personal computers per person than the rest of the world and holds more patents (pa-tents) per person times 3.
In Israel, the desert is blooming.
Why would Abigail make haste to be David's wife?
2 Samuel 7
7 After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”
3 Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”
4 But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:
5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’
8 “Now then, tell my servant, David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. 10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.
“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
17 Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.
18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:
“Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human!
20 “What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign Lord. 21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.
22 “How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. 23 And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? 24 You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, Lord, have become their God.
25 “And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, 26 so that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, ‘The Lord Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant David will be established in your sight.
27 “Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your servant has found the courage to pray this prayer to you. 28 Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Sovereign Lord, have spoken, and with your blessing, the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”
David is a Blessing Maker. David is grateful. David remembers to Love the Lord and has Gratitude. David is a Peace Maker. David is Forgiving. David is honest. David makes Justice.
David has made the best of all of the complex and difficult aspects of Life. David expects to be Blessed, makes Blessings for others, and makes his faith a refuge.
David fully is pleased with God's ability to have more Mercy.
1 Chronicles 21
13 “I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great."
David is going to bring Jerusalem, for the first time to his Tribe of Judah.
And then David and Solomon are going to bring Jerusalem Terraces for easy irrigation by manageable ownership. There is so much awe and wonder in the Acts of God. Nebuchadnezzar II would come into Jerusalem and, later, be famous for his hanging gardens in a totally flat topography on the earth - for famous Gardens. Floor by floor by floor. I would imagine David's style influenced Nebuchadnezzar II. By the Power of the Holy Spirit. David followed Phonetician architecture - borrowing servants and supplies, we could believe Nebuchadnezzar II was influenced by the Jews as he provided human rights to the slaves and the puppet king he placed in Judah.
Abba,
You are our Blessings Maker. Our Blessings Bestower. Our Blessings Revealer.
You Light mankind yesterday, today and tomorrow with Your Presence. You are the Light of Your Path and our Hope and Future.
We ask You for more Heaven on earth. For ourselves and our cares. Jesus and Your Holy Spirit living and moving with those we Love. Comforting the people You give us. Raising up a Nation Trusting in You.
You bring forth Goodness interweaving all for your Purpose and for Goodness. Your Glory.
Bless our friend to be healed from cancer.
You have given us Jesus making the Blessing of asking You for more Heaven on earth. Comfort us and Guide us. Keep us Encouraged on Your Path. Protect us from what is evil. Guide us in all Goodness. Let this earth reflect Your Glory and the fullness of Your Love.
We thank You with all our heart for Your Love.
Amen in Jesus.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †
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