Day 123: The Death of Ish-bosheth

1 Chronicles 6:31-81 The Levitical genealogy is accompanied by lists of cantors, who led the music at liturgical gatherings, and the cities given to the Levites in the various tribal territories. The Levites, because they were a priestly tribe intended to serve the other tribes of Israel, did not receive a territory of their own but were given several cities in each tribe’s region where they could live and prosper.

Ch 6:32 The Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies was the central focus of worship in the Temple as a special sign of God’s presence. In Catholic churches, Christ is TRULY present in the Eucharist, which is reserved in the tabernacle. The tabernacle plays an important role in the spiritual life of Catholics; therefore, it is situated in a dignified and prominent location that facilitates public and private worship of the Body of Christ. (CCC 1183)

Psalm 26 The psalmist proclaimed his innocence since he had lived faithfully, trusting in God with virtuous living.

I do not sit...with the wicked: Crucial to overcoming sin is to avoid people, places, and circumstances that are NEAR OCCASIONS OF SIN. Many Acts of Contrition include a petition for help in avoiding near occasions of sin. 

Who is the man...will he instruct: If we stand in awe and adoration of the Lord, we will be attentive to his instruction in the form of moral law and the Commandments.

I wash...your altar: The psalm as a whole seeks God’s recognition of innocence so the psalmist is worthy and in the proper disposition to participate in the Temple liturgy. The celebrant at Mass washes his hands near the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer, just after the Offertory, as he echoes this verse of the psalm: 

“Wash me, O Lord, from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” (And who says the Catholic Mass isn’t Biblical? 😉)

All of our prayers, particularly prayers of contrition, cannot be mere words but rather must express the sincere disposition of our hearts. (CCC 2700)

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

• 2 Samuel 4 is pretty important to pay attention to

• Why?

• So we can learn how to pronounce Ish-bosheth?

• Yes!

• But also because here is David who wants to be an honorable man

• As we get deeper into Chronicles, we are going to focus on the positive traits and strengths in character of David

• Now in 2 Samuel, we will see David’s woundedness, flaws, and realness

• David is full of strength but he DOES HAVE FLAWS 

• We see how consistent David is in 2 Samuel 4

• We see his character through and through

• David from the very beginning has been someone who doesn’t necessarily take pleasure in VIOLENCE

• David doesn’t take pleasure in punishing those who DON’T NEED TO BE PUNISHED according to him

• Later on, we will see that David SHOULD HAVE taken more action, to punish those who DESERVED PUNISHMENT

• But NOW, David is taking mercy on Ish-bosheth, his enemy

• Many in Israel were calling Ish-bosheth to be the new King of Israel

• He was the enemy of David

• AND YET…

• When Rechab and Ba’anah (did anyone else read this as BANANA? 🤪) go into Ish-bosheth’s home and ASSASSINATE him in bed, they tell David that they destroyed the last remaining member of King Saul’s family (almost anyway…stay tuned 😉)

• David responds by highlighting the fact that THIS WAS NOT HOW TO DO THINGS

• THIS IS GOING TO BE A NEW KINGDOM UNDER GOD

• THEY ARE NOT GOING TO DO THINGS THAT WAY

• Remember the end of Judges? 

• Every man did what was right in his own eyes

• Here is David who is making it ABSOLUTELY CLEAR that this will NOT be how his Kingdom of Israel will act

• They will not be a LOOSE confederation of tribes that take the law INTO THEIR OWN HANDS

• They are going to be a UNITED KINGDOM who are under the LAW OF THE LORD

• Remember that Samuel had said if he was going to be king, he had to KNOW the LAW OF THE LORD, he had to read the Law DAY AND NIGHT

• David will talk about this in Psalms, “Lord, how I love your Law. I ponder on it day and night.”

• Here is an example of David LIVING THAT WAY

• When the assassins come to David, he rewards their evil dead by killing them, taking out JUSTICE on them

• He showed the people of Israel that this was not how things were to be done in his Kingdom

• That might have been the way before, with loose confederations and imperfect judges and everyone did what was right in their own eyes

• BUT NO MORE!!

• Chronicles is going to be not only just following David

• It shows how he PREFIGURES the coming Christ (TYPOLOGY!!)

• BUT ALSO, it shows hope for the re-establishment of the Kingdom and the royal throne, but also of TEMPLE WORSHIP

• When 1 and 2 Chronicles were written, it is largely believed that it was AFTER the Babylonian Exile (Era 8 in the Great Adventure Bible Timeline)

• The people of Israel have suffered an incredible defeat

• They have been exiled

• Basically, David united all 12 tribes

• BUT…

• After King Solomon, those 12 tribes are divided

• They have 10 tribes in the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and 2 in the Southern Kingdom (Judah) (stay tuned all will be explained)

• Chronicles is written after that division of tribes but also after the destruction of the 10 northern tribes and the EXILE and RETURN of the 2 tribes in the south

• The Chronicler is saying there is a line of David (Judah) and a line of Levi and we are going to follow these families in particular 

• WHY?

• They were longing for the re-establishment of the Kingdom and TEMPLE WORSHIP TO ITS FULL STATUS

• So those are the main points of the Chronicler who wrote Chronicles (POP QUIZ!!! Who did Fr. Mike say is theorized to have written Chronicles? Answer in the Comment Section of the Facebook Post on the Ascension Catholic Bible Studies Facebook group page 😁)

• Be patient, we will get there, but FIRST we have a bunch of names to get through yet 😉

• WHAT A GIFT 

• We get to recognize that God works in TIME

• God works in HISTORY

• The God of ETERNITY working in HISTORY is MIND-BLOWING

• How is God so humble that He made us in LOVE and He continues to keep us in existence out of LOVE and He continues to speak to us, guide us, and protect us OUT OF LOVE?

• The God of ETERNITY who has entered into time wants to enter into EACH AND EVERY ONE of our lives

• WE ALWAYS NEED GRACE

• We need the prayers of each other to help WALK IN GRACE

• PRAY FOR FR. MIKE

• PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and glory. We thank you so much for your Word. We thank you for just the fact that you have worked in history, and you continue to work in history. Lord God, you have worked with every one of these people and every one of these families and tribes, just like you work with us, every one of us listening to your Word being proclaimed. All of our families, strong and weak. All of our families, whole and broken. All of our families, united and divided. Lord God, you are part of history. You are the God of history. You are the God of eternity. You are the God of OUR history and you lead us and call us into eternity. And so we give you thanks and we give you praise. Please receive our praise today, on this day 123 of listening to your Word, of being shaped by your Word. We thank you and praise you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”