David

Wednesday, August 5, 2009 -- Week of Proper 13, Year One
Albrecht Dürer, 1528, Matthias Grünewald, 1529, and Lucas Cranach, the Elder, 1533, Artists

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 978)
Psalms 119:97-120 (morning) 81, 82 (evening)
2 Samuel 9:1-13
Acts 19:1-10
Mark 8:34 - 9:1

David is such a difficult figure for me to admire. So much of the account of his life is a Machiavellian political story of intrigue and violence, and the stories of his personal life seem like a textbook on family disfunction and abuse. I find David hard to like.

Today we have the rather pitiful tale of Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the only remaining descendent of King Saul. "Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake?" David asks.

The reason for the question is that David has already arranged for the execution of all of Saul's other descendants (2 Samuel 21; we don't read that passage in public worship). David used the excuse of a famine to allege that it was caused by bloodguilt from an earlier attempted genocide that Saul carried out against the Gibeonites, non-Israelites who lived within Israel under a treaty they tricked Joshua into making. David used the Gibeonites' malice toward Saul as the means for him to annihilate any potential claimants from Saul's dynasty. David turned over to the Gibeonites the seven sons of Saul, and they executed all seven, impailing them on a mountain. Their bodies hung in the open for five months while one of Saul's widows tried to protect them from scavengers. It's an ugly story, though it is in keeping with the ancient custom of a new dynasty killing all the potential heirs from the former dynasty.

However, David spared Saul's grandson Mephibosheth, allegedly out of love for his father Jonathan. It didn't hurt that Mephibosheth was crippled and could not therefore be king. (His actual name was Merib-baal, meaning "Lover of the Lord," but later Biblical editors, sensitive to the use of the name Baal for God, followed the custom to changing Baal to Bosheth. In this case, the Merib-baal was changed to Mephibosheth, meaning ""Exterminator of the Shameful one.")

It is not hard to imagine how Merib-baal/Mephibosheth felt about David when he was summoned to the King's presence. David is the man who had taken his grandfather's kingdom and dynasty away from him and authorized the extermination of his family. "What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I?" Mephibosheth says to David. Indeed, Mephibosheth's circumstances are not much better than a dead dog. Allegedly to "show kindness," David brings Mephibosheth into David's palace and commands him to eat at his table always. It is something like house arrest. Under the constant eye of David and David's men, Mephibosheth would be watched for any sign of treason. David was keeping a potential enemy close, and calling it an act of friendship for the sake of Jonathan.

David then made an alliance with one of Saul's former servants Ziba, giving him whatever was left of Saul's inheritance. Ziba could till the land and receive its produce, and it looks like the only rent was for Ziba to provide enough food for Mephibosheth to be fed under David's watchful eye at David's table. Today's account in 2 Samuel ends with this pitiful description: "Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he always ate at the king's table. Now he was lame in both hi feet."

Tomorrow we'll get to read about David's seducing Bathsheba and arranging for her husband's death. What a guy.
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A note about today's new observance in our "Holy Women, Holy Men" calendar.

Albrecht Dürer, [1471-April 6, 1528] German printer and engraver. Dürers religious
images remain some of the best known in western Christianity. Though a Roman
Catholic, he sympathized with the Protestant Reformation in Germany.

Matthias Grünewald [c. 1475-1528, August, date unknown] (Real name: Matthis
Nithart, later called himself Gothart). German painter most famous for his Isenheim Altar
triptych portraying Christ's suffering in realistic detail for the patients of the hospital
where it was commissioned. He was also capable of luminous representations of the
Nativity and the Resurrection.

Lucas Cranach, the Elder [1471-October 16, 1553] German Lutheran painter of
religious and secular subjects. (Aug 5)

Lowell

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Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

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Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

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Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas