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2 Samuel 11:1-15
Proper 12B
Previously, in the Life of David… Before we proceed and in order that we can proceed well, it’s important to review where we’ve been in the life of David. When last we met our hero, he had wanted to build a temple for God’s dwelling place. Although it wasn’t the right move, we can easily…
2 Samuel 7:1-14
Proper 11B
Spoke Too Soon In last week’s Old Testament reading, we had a shocking example of how politicians and public figures can use the Name of the Lord in vain, using it to baptize their causes and leadership. This week’s text is far more subtle but, in a sense, the transgression against the 3rd commandment remains. …
Psalm 23
Proper 11B
Lately I have been in a phase of life where green pastures and still waters seem far away. And though dark-ish valleys have seemed all-too-real, the prospect of being exalted over my foes likewise seems a ways off just now. Maybe you as a preacher feel this way too. I have been out of the…
2 Samuel 6:1-19
Proper 10B
Comments, Observations and Questions: There is a lot going on in these not-quite-20 verses of King David’s story. The pieces feel disparate but if you sting them together in the right way, you may actually find a somewhat convincing tale of failure —> redemption or sin —> salvation. Why Now? In at least one commentary,…
Psalm 85:8-13
Proper 10B
It could be pretty easy, one supposes, to glide over the concluding verses of Psalm 85 and not take much notice of what they are actually conveying. This is just how the psalms go, we might think. The kind of language being employed at the end is nothing terribly unusual. This is poetry and poetry…
2 Samuel 5:1-10
Proper 9B
Whose Idea? Something that ties together the two mini-texts within our larger lectionary reading for this week is the idea of Divine-human cooperation. In the first case, we knew long ago (all the way back in 1 Samuel 16) that God had chosen David to serve as the next king of Israel. But Saul (the…
Psalm 123
Proper 9B
Recently I did a study tour through the American South with a focus on reckoning with the legacy of slavery in the U.S. Before the trip I had known, of course, about the reality and the tragedy of the slave culture of the South (and a few places more north too). But after eight full…
Psalm 30
Proper 8B
The superscriptions over various psalms are not considered canonical and may represent someone’s guess at some point as to when a certain psalm may have been composed by David (or someone else). Psalm 51 sounds like something David would have been thinking after being confronted by the prophet Nathan over his affair with Bathsheba and…
2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
Proper 8B
Renewed for a New Season In his commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel, John Goldingay observes the way that 1 Samuel ends with Saul’s death, as though the series has ended. However, it is renewed for a new season and so 2 Samuel picks up the story in the Fall. You can practically hear the…
Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32
Proper 7B
Ancient Israel was never know to be a seafaring people. By Jesus’s day being a fisherman was clearly a common occupation on the Sea of Galilee but Israel did not have much experience with sailing forth on mighty sea vessels out into the Mediterranean or some such. Yet the section of Psalm 107 that the…
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