Bridge Street United Church

II Samuel, chapters 11-12 is an artfully told story. Indeed, it is, arguably, one of Scripture’s most finely crafted stories from a literary perspective. It shows remarkable insight into human psychology, power and power dynamics, and the risks and possibility of corruption that always accompanies a situation where one individual holds significant power over the lives of others. It is a remarkably candid story concerning events in the royal court during the time of King David. This two chapter section, and most especially chapter 11, which will be the focus of the sermon on Sunday, contains ugly, sordid details. It is a story that portrays a David very different from the hero who defeated the Philistine giant, Goliath.

I want to explore this story in this Sunday’s sermon for two reasons. First, it provides a basis for helping us to think about power and the exercise of power in our own time. Second, the personages and events described in this story feature in important ways other Biblical passages and stories, and the awareness of those connections can deepen our understanding of those other parts of Scripture.

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This Sunday’s Old Testament lesson centres on David’s desire to build in Jerusalem a temple for the Ark of the Covenant, that most central sacred object in ancient Israelite religion. The previous chapter in II Samuel (last Sunday’s Old Testament lesson) recounts how David brought the Ark to Jerusalem. Now he wants the Ark to be in a suitable setting in Jerusalem. But Nathan, the prophet, has a word from God during the night, a word that he is to bring to David indicating that David should not build a temple. Rather, it is something David’s successor will do. God, in this story, makes a remarkable promise to David, namely that his lineage will occupy the throne forever and that God’s steadfast love will always be with David’s descendants. David’s line ceases to occupy the throne after Jerusalem is occupied and the southern kingdom of Israel is destroyed by the Babylonians in 587/586 BCE. Subsequent generations of Jews, and after the beginning of Christianity, Christians also, have interpreted this promise of God in a more expansive way. Sunday’s sermon will explore some of the dimensions of the story and about how we might hear and understand that promise of God.

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The reading from II Samuel concerns David’s decision to move the Ark of the Covenant, that is the ark containing the two tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed, to his new capital city of Jerusalem. David has relatively recently become the king of the entire land, not just the king of Judah; in other words, the ten so-called northern tribes, who had retained an allegiance to one of the late King Saul’s sons, have now agreed to have David as their king. The Ark of the Covenant, while historically important for all the people of Israel, had particular importance for those ten northern tribes. Until the Philistines had captured the Ark in a battle with the people of Israel, the Ark had been located in the main worship centre of those northern tribes. David’s decision may well have reflected his own valuing, as a person of faith, of this important religious symbol. However, his decision to move the Ark to Jerusalem also had political value for him. If the Ark of the Covenant was in Jerusalem, it made Jerusalem not only the political and military centre of this newly united kingdom he ruled but also its religious centre. In other words, while David may have had religious motives for this action, it was also politically advantageous for him.

The story has some troubling details, not least the death of Uzzah who dies after touching the Ark in an effort to stabilize it. But the story raises questions that still have applicability in our time. What is the effect on a religious symbol when it gets used for political purposes? Does such use undercut the religious value of the symbol? This week’s sermon will look at these and related questions.