thanks blondie you rock!
King David seemed like a tyrant
by Gopher 16 Replies latest watchtower bible
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mkr32208
Blondie's post is just more proof that the "law of moses" was in reality no such thing those acounts and laws were actually written centuries later
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Doubtfully Yours
King David is the perfect example of God's favoritism, thus the behavior in his so-called Organization.
Many of the sins he committed were punishable by death in those times. Was he really ever punished as stablished by their law? Of course not!
You see, even in ancient times, it's who you know that counts!
DY
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Narkissos
Some other nice acts of war attributed to David, the man according to Yhwh's heart:
Now David and his men went up and made raids on the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for these were the landed settlements from Telam on the way to Shur and on to the land of Egypt. David struck the land, leaving neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing, and came back to Achish. When Achish asked, "Against whom have you made a raid today?" David would say, "Against the Negeb of Judah," or "Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites," or, "Against the Negeb of the Kenites." David left neither man nor woman alive to be brought back to Gath, thinking, "They might tell about us, and say, 'David has done so and so.' " Such was his practice all the time he lived in the country of the Philistines. Achish trusted David, thinking, "He has made himself utterly abhorrent to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant." (1 Samuel 27)
He also defeated the Moabites and, making them lie down on the ground, measured them off with a cord; he measured two lengths of cord for those who were to be put to death, and one length for those who were to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.
David took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for a hundred chariots. (2 Samuel 8)
He brought out the people who were in (Rabbah), and handed them to saws and iron picks and iron axes, or sent them to the brick oven. Thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. (2 Samuel 12, according to the likely original meaning which is often toned down into "forced labor".)
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ThiChi
Look and the context around his life. The types of Nations he had to deal with. He was a man of his times....
YHWH forbade him to build his temple because of the blood he had spilled.
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Narkissos
Another particularly dark episode is when the dying David orders Solomon to exert a vengeance he had promised not to exert (himself), in 1 Kings 2 (Solomon will find a convenient pretext in the end of the same chapter):
There is also with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a terrible curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim; but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.' Therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; you will know what you ought to do to him, and you must bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol."
ThiChi: I am not anachronistically moralizing, just pointing out some features of the David record which are usually overlooked...
YHWH forbade him to build his temple because of the blood he had spilled.
Interestingly enough this motive is not mentioned before 1 Chronicles (22:8; 28:3): it is lacking in 2 Samuel 7 // 1 Chronicles 17. Evidence of some evolution in ethical perception?
Mkr...: You're right of course, a number of elements in the David story do not fit the Torah at all, which is very natural since they are older than the Torah. Just in the few chapters I reviewed in the last post I noticed the following:
- David's sons are priests (2 Samuel 8:18). According to the Torah they shouldn't be.
- David makes his own crown out of the idol of Ammon (2 Samuel 12:30). According to the Torah he should have destroyed it.
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ThiChi
""I am not anachronistically moralizing, just pointing out some features of the David record which are usually overlooked...""
No offence, I was only giving context to his times. I have enjoyed your comments and viewpoints.
"Interestingly enough this motive is not mentioned before 1 Chronicles (22:8; 28:3): it is lacking in 2 Samuel 7 // 1 Chronicles 17. Evidence of some evolution in ethical perception?"
Many instances are not recorded in other books, does that in itself make a situation false? We have only speculation...granted, on both sides.