How do we reconcile the following words with the wicked sins David committed with Bathsheba and her husband?
“For I have kept the ways of Adonai,
I have not done evil by leaving my God;
for all his rulings were before me,
I did not depart from his regulations.
I was pure-hearted toward him
and kept myself from my sin.”
-2 Samuel 22:22-24
To answer that question, I’m gonna introduce a hermeneutical approach that you’ve probably never heard before, even if you are a seminary student or graduate.
See, here’s the thing.
As a worshipper of the God of Israel, it is your duty and obligation to study His Word so diligently that you can determine when Scripture’s greatest heroes are doing right versus doing wrong.
That takes real wisdom and a deep understanding of Torah.
Just because a certain action of David or Moses is recorded in Scripture doesn’t automatically mean what they did was approved by God.
Because sometimes the behavior of even Godly men of Scripture was based on ancient customs, or they were under the influence of their evil inclinations.
So we have to rightly divide the Word and determine whether the words and actions recorded in Scripture were aligned with God’s Will or not.
I ain’t talking about obvious copyist errors…
Or trying to figure out which of God’s laws or attributes are real and which aren’t.
Christianity has seriously gone off the rails with its “the law has been done away” theology.
I’m also not talking about Bible characters being misquoted or misrepresented.
What I mean is this:
As we study God’s Word from the very beginning, we are to build a toolkit of His laws and principles.
With that toolkit, we develop the wisdom to see when a Bible character is making the right choice…or the wrong one.
The tricky part?
Most of the time, the Bible doesn’t go out of its way to tell us whether what they did was good or bad.
Words and actions are just reported as historical facts, with no judgment or explanation.
It’s up to us to be discerning and figure it out.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
The Bible gives us the facts, not always the judgment.
It’s your job to study, build a strong grounding in the Torah, and figure out who’s walking in God’s will…and who isn’t.
Ya feel me?
Wisdom isn’t just about knowing the stories.
It’s about seeing the right from the wrong, especially when the Bible doesn’t go out of its way to make that clear to us.
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“All Scripture is inspired by God
and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction,
and for training in righteousness.”
– 2 Timothy 3:16
“Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal
of your mind,
that by testing, you may discern
what is the will of God,
what is good and
acceptable and perfect.”
– Romans 12:2
“But solid food is for the mature,
for those who have their powers
of discernment trained by
constant practice to
distinguish good from evil.”
– Hebrews 5:14
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