2 Samuel 2: Abner
First Sunday of Lent, March 10, 2019
Abner was Saul’s general – a courageous and loyal man. He found himself serving Saul at the time that the power and prestige of the House of Saul was waning while that of the House of David was waxing. After Saul’s death, Abner and David reconcile, but one of Saul’s remaining sons, Ishbaal, trumps up charges about Abner and Rizpah (one of Saul’s concubines). We see peace and unity again threatened by plotting and division. Abner is murdered, David laments. We can see what happens to Ishbaal in the next chapter, but what we see here is an ever-resent theme in the human drama: Humans always seem to succumb to envy and greed.
What do I do when I meet the Abners, Ishbaals, Joabs, Davids and Sauls in my life? What do I do when presented with the possibility of union with people from whom I have (with good cause) previously kept my distance? How do I know if an enemy heart has been converted? How do I respond to the hand offered in peace? How do I know if that hand is truly offered in peace? We do not have the human answers to these questions; but we know what we must do. We must trust God.
From today’s morning prayers and readings:
Isaiah 40:1: Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem . . .
Isaiah 49:13: The Lord comforts his people and shows mercy to his afflicted.
Psalm 103: The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
Psalm 145: The Lord is faithful in all his words and holy in all his works. The Lord lifts up all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.
We have no way of reading human hearts and minds. We can rely on our gut reactions to people and circumstances, we can imagine what someone may be thinking or doing . . . but we cannot know for certainty what occurs deep within someone else’s mind, heart and soul. That is for God to know . . . that is for God to handle.
The Lord is faithful in all his words and holy in all his works.
We are God’s word as adopted brothers and sisters of Christ. We are God’s works in this world where we have been planted. How do we respond to the Abners, Joabs and Ishbaals in our lives?
For more on this story click on the images above or go to: http://patty-patcards.blogspot.com/2010/12/people-multiple-choice-in-what-city-did.html and http://sharingknowledge.org/wb/pages/bible-studies/history-of-the-characters-of-the-bible/king-david.php#wb_section_423
Cameron, Peter John. “Prayer for the Morning.” MAGNIFICAT. 3.5 (2008). Print.
A re-post from March 10, 2012.
The Noontimes 