My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
12 – For it is not an enemy who taunts me– then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me– then I could hide from him.
13 – But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.
14 – We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.
15 – Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.
In our last post we considered David’s prayer for confusion on the counsel to his son Absolom, in the beginning of the rebellion. David, if my understadning of this psalm is correct, addresses Ahithophel. Ahithophel, who was David’s equal, a familiar friend, a companion. David, in using the term companion, is describing Ahithophel as a friend who is gentle, one who is docile towards him. No violence, no treachery, no underhandedness. As David speaks of him as a “familiar friend”, he introduces the concept of knowledge, of understanding each other as friends. Ahithophel was not an aquaintence of David, but had a deep friendship with the king, appearing to be open and honest with each other.
The king speaks of the sweet counsel he shared with Ahithophel, even in the temple of God. While David was in the temple, Ahithophel was with him. David and Ahithophel shared times of being before God together, sharing a faith, and communing with God together. Who could David trust more? To whom would David share his greatest vulnerabilities? Who could hurt David the greatest?
It is obvious in this passage that to be a familiar friend, a companion, a man that has your trust, is to open yourself up to the greatest treachery. But to love and to be loved, this consideration cannot be considered. It will poison the relationship, so if there is a back stabbing, it will not only come as a stunning surprise, but the pain and shock associated with this turn will be deepest! So it is for David, and so is his reaction so understandable.
In our past we had some believers turn on us, believers we trusted, and that we thought were trustworthy. For the period when we experienced abandonment and rejection, shock carried the day. How could this happen? I will not detail it out for it is in the past and the Lord has provided healing for us, and hopefully for them. Nevertheless, to be betrayed by a friend is a very deep cut!
And David wanted blood! He is a warrior, a fighter, a man who enters battle intent on winning, dominating over the enemy, crushing those who oppose him.
Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive
For David to speak thus is to see his pain come out, to see his sense of justice come to the surface. In no uncertain way was David going to allow this to go unpunished, and he sought justice before the Lord, asking the Lord to let them enter Sheol alive! Whatever that specifically meant for the Old Testament believer is beyond me, but it can’t be good!
During our time of betrayal, when the shock lessened and I had some lucid thoughts, I must confess I had evil thoughts towards my friends who hurt us. The Lord moved us on, and a healiing eventually came, but I can somewhat identify with David’s heart.
There is One who did not seek death over His enemies, but entered into death for His enemies. He is altogether different than David in this regard, and exercised grace greater than any I entertained within my own life.
He is the One who did not seek justice over his enemies, but showered grace and mercy upto those who spit on Him, cursed Him, whipped Him, and nailed Him to a cross, eventually killing Him through a slow agonizing death. He is so much greater in His acts of love, grace and mercy, than we can imagine, little llone to compare with His weak and fragile creation.
He is the Lord, and He has experieinced the treachery of His creation, reacting to it in grace and love towards us. He is so different!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.
Considering the Bible 