Day 86, or March the 27th. Respectable or not
respectable? Our thoughts today are from 2 Samuel
chapter 16, verses 5 and 6. As King David approached
Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul's family
came out from there. His name was Shimei, son
of Gerah. And he cursed as he came out. He pelted
David and all the king's officials with stones.
And now the big picture surrounding these verses.
David's son Absalom does his best to take the
crown from his father David, and for a while
it looked as if he might succeed. For a short
time he takes his father's advisors and rules
from Jerusalem. He is a very charismatic ruler,
and David appears to have lost his throne forever.
Only God can re -establish David's monarchy now.
Now today's action step. Today we meet a foul
-mouthed man called Shimei, son of Gerah, a Benjamite.
Not at all like another son of Gerah in Judges
3 .15, he was a judge called Ehud, and the son
of Gerah a Benjamite too. When the Bible says
someone is son of, it often means descendant
of, as with Jesus, son of David. In any event,
these two men were almost certainly related.
It seems good families have bad members and bad
families have good ones. All too often, we judge
people by their relatives or where they live.
In the town where we have lived since 1982, there
is a level crossing which was automated some
years ago, much to the annoyance of the residents,
but that's another tale. Anyway, this rail crossing
splits the town in two, and if you live on the
seaside of the track, you are classed as inside
the gates, and superior to those who live outside.
I clearly remember asking a shop assistant if
I could take some wallpaper samples home. He
asked if I lived inside or outside. I told him
inside, and he said, take as many as you need,
no problem. He was judging me by where I lived.
We love to pigeonhole people, don't we? Try to
concentrate today on treating everyone as an
individual, just as God does.