Second Bible Read Thread

2 And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David's head: and he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceeding much.

Man, the king of Rabbah must have been an absurdly strong individual to be able to carry around 75 lbs. on his head as a crown all day. O_O

Day 133: June 10

Psalms 32
Psalms 51
Psalms 86
Psalms 122

Day 134: June 11

2 Samuel 13 through 15

Swords&Sunflowers said:

2 Samuel 12:8 and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added unto thee such and such things.
..the struggle is at trying to be content at what God has given or allowed in life, and to be patient that He can provide. Temptation comes and it's so easy to forget that God can satisfy that which a person longs for. Lust doesn't give God chance to give us something better.

Click to expand...

You know, upon reading the story of Amnon, Absalom, and Tamar this time around, I saw a slight parallel between their evil deeds and those of David's against Uriah and Bathsheba. David had asked forgiveness, of course, but if I recall correctly, the Lord still chastised him in saying that "the sword would never leave your house". It is a tragic but poetic justice, almost, in that first Amnon took someone who did not belong to him, Tamar (and on top of that, forcefully, while I imagine that at least Bathsheba was consenting), just as David did Bathsheba, and then Absalom killed Amnon in vengeance, harboring a grudge for two years. Two of David's sons lost to him (soon will follow Absalom as Amnon already had) by the sword. Just as David put the sword unjustly to a man he had already wronged once, Uriah.


Oh, and, for @Multifavs and @Swords&Sunflowers , since I do not think either of you had become a part of this community yet the first time I did this thread, here are my same thoughts on the story in 2 Samuel 13 from that time. I really haven't changed my opinion on that, so it still applies if you are interested in seeing it :

And with that, I would like to make mention that the story of Amnon, Tamar, and Absalom always got my attention when reading through King David's time of reign. It is sad to see how Amnon - at least at first glance - seemed genuinely in love with his half-sister Tamar, but he listened to some really bad advice from his friend Jonadab to actually set up an attempt to seduce her by having her alone with him in his room while he feigned illness, instead of just, you know, telling her without pretext or selfish intent. But at the same time I hesitate to say that Amnon ever, before making that choice for evil, loved Tamar in any Godly or pure sense in the first place, as it is evident that his physical desire for her was too great and it tipped the scales so that he let himself be overcome by lust to the point of taking her virginity against her will, literally not being able to wait, what, just a few days or a week to have the King's blessing to marry Tamar when she herself said she would be willing if David did so? Amnon dishonors Tamar in two different ways here, the girl he claimed to Jonadab to love, and the evil unfortunately did not stop there. Absalom feigns forgiveness for his brother Amnon's horrific actions but all the while plans to kill him in vengeance, which he succeeds in, causing King David to lose one son to death and soon, as I believe we will see coming up in 2 Samuel, another son to treachery and madness.

Day 135: June 12

Psalms 3
Psalms 4
Psalms 12
Psalms 13
Psalms 28
Psalms 55

Day 136: June 13

2 Samuel 16 through 18

I'm afraid that the history of David and his family only gets uglier from here. =/

You must admire David's compassion for some of his enemies despite his being a man of the sword. After all his son Absalom had done against him, including dishonoring all of David's concubines in a grotesque public spectacle as seen at the end of 2 Samuel 16, and in chapter 17 David still admonishes his commanders Joab and the others to "deal gently with Absalom". When it seems that Absalom had nothing but completely undue contempt and hatred for his father. Unfortunately, considering that in the past Joab has made it evident that he is just as violent a man as Absalom, perhaps David should have withheld Joab from ever going near Absalom's forces in battle, that he would take little issue with striking down Absalom despite the king's command to not harm him.

Day 137: June 14

Psalms 26
Psalms 40
Psalms 58
Psalms 61
Psalms 62
Psalms 64

Swords&Sunflowers said:

Psalm 40:2 He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay; And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

Click to expand...

I know. That song immediately came to mind too when I read this part in Psalms last night. ^-^

Day 138: June 15

2 Samuel 19 through 21

2 Samuel 20:9-13

... I'm starting to believe that Joab just really likes killing people ....

Day 139: June 16

Psalms 5
Psalms 38
Psalms 41
Psalms 42

Day 140: June 17

2 Samuel 22 and 23
Psalms 57

Day 141: June 18

Psalms 95
Psalms 97
Psalms 98
Psalms 99

I don't know why; we're kind of all over the place here when it comes to reading the Psalms especially, but, I guess that's just how the guys at RC Sproul ministries figured that David and the sons of Korah, etc. wrote these Psalms chronologically.

EDIT: It's just that in my MEV Bible the Psalms for today's reading are not marked with an author. I assume they come from King David, however the last Psalm to be attributed to an author is Psalms 90 in this version, to Moses. I just want to bring it to attention that it seems logical that either Moses OR King David could have written these Psalms, at least Psalms 95 in particular.