And David Continues to Amaze Me

Reading more about his life has helped to believe that there is a lot to do if I ever be one of Gods A-list. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I really like David and the way we can relate to him. No, I don’t have enemies, but there are people that I don’t really like and in 2 Samuel 19: 6 “In that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends.” It seems almost impossible, but I think that if we at least try, God will help us. What I don’t get is the part of hating our friends… Why is that even there? Shouldn’t it be more like love your friends and your enemies, it confuses me, and it makes me disagree with the Bible.

Reading more about David made me think about all the things that we had to do, like his mission in life. Talking about mission and life, I believe we are all different and therefore all of us have different missions or things we have come (to this world) to accomplish. It might seem as people in the old days (Bible days) had bigger missions than the ones we have now a days, but we live in different periods and that’s why we have different tasks or challenges.

One of the things I liked the most about David was the way he felt about God. There are different perspectives or believes in God. Some religions suggest he is you, like in yourself, others think he is just a superior being, and so on. I believe pretty much what David believed, that he actually is out there, that he loves us and cares for us, he is our strength and protects us. “LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer… he is my shield, the horn of my salvation, my high tower, my refuge, my savior.” (2 Samuel 22: 1-6)

Wow. That is such (I can´t describe) thing to say. And then he continues saying how he was able to survive his enemies thanks to him and not like Job, his prayers were answers, “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.” (2 Samuel 22: 7) Here we see how he was so blessed and favored because of being such a great guy, or as he said it: “The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.” (2 Samuel 22: 21)

Something else I really like about him is the way that he reacts when he makes a mistake, instead of hiding it like most of us would, he tells God and in a way asks for punishment. “And David spake unto the LORD… and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.” (2 Samuel 24: 17) Even though bringing down a punishment for all his father’s house seems like something big, to make up for probably a small mistake, I think it shows how sorry he was and how important it was to him to have God´s total trust and protection around him. So at the end, to make sure things were perfect again between him and God, he built him and altar and offered various things to him, and guess what, it worked.

Something So Big From Someone So Small

Samuel is much more different than what I had imagined it would be. I thought it would be much easier to understand, but the truth was that it was a bit more complicated. I believe it’s because it was probably written by a different person. Anyways, I was still able to learn some things such as the story of David. I remember hearing the story of David and Goliath endless times, and never imagined someone could get so much from it.

It´s actually really interesting, how a “giant” comes to a city and threatens its people by saying “choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.” (1 Samuel 17:8-9). It´s surprising for someone to trust themselves so much that they actually believe that they are so big and strong that no one can defeat them, and yet talk about their own death.

David was practically just a small boy, but with huge faith, and he was the one to stand up against Goliath and actually defeated him because he believed that the Lord was with him, and eventually he was, for he was able to win. This also made me think on how sometimes small things can have great effects, such as David, that just by throwing a small rock he was able to kill such a huge thing and make a difference to a whole city that was able to survive thanks to him.

After David, being such a great guy and doing so much, Saul who used to be nice to him decided he wanted to kill him. I really didn’t understand why, but he did. I think he was probably jealous because he was the one that was supposed to be remembered as the one who was able to beat Goliath, but wasn’t.

This makes David have to escape and run away as much as possible so he isn’t killed. This isn’t something really that great… why run away after being considered the hero? Jonathan, Saul´s son seemed to be the only one that really cared for him, and he cared so much that “he loved him as he loved his own soul.” (1 Samuel 20: 17) that is just immeasurable, it´s kind of weird, because they´re both guys, but it´s probably like Enkidu and Gilgamesh who were companions and that they meant so much for each other that it was as if it was themselves. The way they cared for each other was so big that they trusted each others and would say “The LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever.” (1 Samuel 20: 42)now, that’s something we don’t see every day.

All this makes me ponder on Gods judgments. It seems in a way unfair that there are such good people as Jonathan and others as mean as Saul. But in Samuel 24: 15 I was able to learn that “The LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.” That if he really is a judge he must be a just judge. This has led me to answering one of the questions, some good things happens to good people and bad people, and bad things happen to both good and bad. “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5: 45) it really depends on how we acts, we are free to decide, and God is there to judge and therefore help us once in a while.

Well, as everyone else David once fell in love and married someone he cared for. And as every other story, there was war. This time it was between the Philistines and Israel and to me it was totally wild. Women, sons and daughters were taken captives, the city was burned, and there were great disasters. “David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.” (1 Samuel 30: 4) One of the most tragic deaths was Jonathans and his father Saul´s and even though it was sad, and tragic just like any other death, the truth was that it had happened. Death is something that will come to everyone, and it usually is in moments where we least expected them to happen, but I really like how they were remembered, “Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.” (2 Samuel 1: 23)

This makes me think of how I want to be remembered. Sometimes I wonder “What am I leaving, when I'm done here… When my time comes, forget the wrong that I've done, help me leave behind some reasons to be missed… And don't resent me… Keep me in your memory” (Leave Out All The Rest, by Linkin Park). As much as we might love for others to forget some of the things we have done wrong, many wont, that’s why we should try to live the best we can. We don’t know when we will die, so we have to make great things that will make us be remembered. How to you want to be remembered?

Harsh Beginning = Satisfying End

After all Job had asked and all his hard work and long prayers, God finally answerers him. To me it seemed as if he wasn’t really happy about Job, as if he had already found a new favorite and had forgotten him. He started to day really harsh things, such as “Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.” (Job 38: 3) he also tells him that he should understand that he (Job) is not the one that knows it all and that he should know how to really trust him and other mean things.

I don’t really like this, I had never imagine something like this would actually come out. It’s the complete opposite of what I had expected Gods answer to be, he seemed perfect and loving to me, but after what he told Job it seemed to make me think that sometimes things might not be exactly what they seem.
Maybe after all God is a great being only that he is in a way like us, and therefore also gets mad and has some bad times, if things are that way, then I think I can understand him.

Then, when God isn’t so stressed out, he asks Job what exactly he wants, and what he answered was “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.”(Job 42: 5). And since then, things become much better, God forgives Job´s friends and they are friends with him again. He is greatly blessed with a big family, many animals and other great things. And even though Job had a not-so-good start he was able to live with what he had, not give up and survive to one day be greatly blessed and end his life by living it in a way that many others would have probably dreamed for, because after all, “the LORD had blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning” (Job 41: 12).

God´s Wisdom and Job´s Understanding

All this is a little complicated, and the reason why it is, I believe is because Job has so much in mind, and personally, I think I understand him, I mean, how can you not have too much to think about after knowing you have so much to do after all the things God expects from you and all the peer pressure he was from his “friends”.

He ponders on the difference between wisdom and understanding, and once you think about it they are actually two completely different concepts. Wisdom is pretty much like what God has, total knowledge and knowing it all. On the other hand, understanding can be when you understand what things are, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have knowledge, but it´s more as if you actually know what it´s about. Even though they are different, the two are linked. How can you have wisdom if you don’t understand? But how can there be understanding if there is no knowledge, or in other words wisdom?

While writing this, I felt I agreed with Job, “Whence then cometh wisdom? And where is the place of understanding?” (Job 28:20) this is interesting, we don’t really question ourselves where all this comes from, and simply imagine it just is. But as always, Job has an explanation, and even though I don’t fully agree with this, it´s a possibility, “The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding” (Job 28: 28).

As it said in Job 12: 13 “With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding” (obviously talking about God). Then they talk about in a way, an example of what God was doing to the nations “He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again” (Job 12: 23) this is interesting, and it has made me think, was God being understanding or was he actually being wise and doing all this for the best. I think that most of the time things we don’t understand why they happen happen. The only one that knows why is God and he is there to help us and show us the right way to go through those tough times.

In these chapters, I have also been able to get to know Job much better. After believing he was Gods favorite one we realize how he actually feels about all this and how it even seems as if he wished things were different. “My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God” (Job 16:20). This is so sad, poor Job, it´s like the people that are closer to God are tested more and much harder that anyone else. In Jobs case, was not only that his friends hated him and bullied him, but he also felt alone, because not only was now friendless, but now he felt his prayers were never answered and that no matter how much hope he had nothing would happen. In his own words: , “I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment. My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me…And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it” (Job17:15, 19: 7 and 19: 14).

Job is a really noble guy, he didn’t really complain as much as much as I would and in a way he never gave up, for he deeply believed that he was “clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me” (Job 33: 9) and therefore wouldn’t give up because he knew that maybe someday he would be greatly blessed by God after having gone through so much. He knew that God was just and that he shouldn’t fear him or all that was happening to him, because he thought that he was “wise at heart” and therefore would help him endure.

Mr. Perfect

Once again we read about a great man, which was very righteous and was deeply loved by God. I am even starting to think that maybe God is like that with all of us, always helping us and everything, only we just don’t realize. Really, why would there be a different between them and us? Ok, maybe there’s many, but the point is that he probably cares for him as he cares for us. That’s why I believe this is wrong: “Job…was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” (Job 1: 1) How could that possibly be? I thought no one was perfect, but it suddenly seems like there is an exception, Job. I really don’t understand. But just like all of us, he is tempted by Satan, but because he has such a strong faith and is so keen to God, he is in a way protected and even though Satan’s things might sound right, he was strong enough to ignore them and just follow God.

Then we see the truth, the reality. At last we see how Job shows that he is not perfect. After all the pressure he was under, not only by Satan, but also from others, he like it was supposed to happen, he gets mad, feels confused to the point where he actually curses God, but because he was so great and actually fell sorry, he went back and repented for “then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped” (Job 1: 20).

Once you actually really think about it you can actually understand their different point of view. God like any other powerful superior someone would want to have someone so faithful to you that there was some sort of bond in between, to the point where God thinks that “there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 2: 3) Satan I bet would also love to have someone like him, but because he is so mean, he just doesn’t.

On the other side, one can really notice the advantages of being Gods favorite. As Job says: “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me” (Job 6: 4). This shows power, protection and in a way love. Job was really faithful and that made him be very perseverant, which at the end made him be able to be so perfect.

What was supposed to be a play...

Abram travels with Lot and Sarai.
Sodom and Gomorrah are a terrible thing that seems to never be any better.
Isaac is finally born, and this makes all the family learn about faith and sacrifice.

Moses, The Chosen One

This is the story of Moses. He didn’t really understand why some things were happening, just like we sometimes feel, but the truth is that he was actually chosen to do a certain thing. His responsibility was to help the Israelites, his people. God talked to him in various occasions, some may think he was just lucky, but it was because he had something to accomplish. This makes me think that maybe all of us have something to do in this world, in this life, and that’s why we are here. We might not understand why some things happen the way they do, but I deeply believe that everything happens for a purpose, Moses´ was to rescue them from all the sorrows and hard times people in Egypt had to go through.

Something I really liked is the way God is always with him and helps him and in a way tells him exactly to do. It´s like he tells you the instructions to do everything, and the best part is that you are actually free to decide to accomplish them or not. The same happens to us, maybe God doesn’t exactly talk to us but he does help us and tries to guide us, but we can decide if to follow or not. An example of this is seen in Exodus 3: 13 “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them?”, and then something that I would have never imagined happened. Moses had some sort of speaking problem, and that caused him to wonder even more if he was actually the chosen one. God doesn’t give up on him, but makes his spirits uplift and help him believe in himself. He gives him a companion, just like Gilgamesh and Enkidu, to help and support each other, always side by side.

He also helps him not to give up, but keep on fighting, because even though God was there on his side to ask the pharaoh to “let his people go” (Exodus 5: 1) it wasn’t completely easy anyways. He had to be persistent and very intense, so maybe he would convince him to let them go. There were many plagues and things that would have made me say yes in the very instant they talked about it, but the pharaoh was much more harsh and almost didn’t let them go, after many things had already happened and there had been a lot of suffering in Egypt, then he let them go.

Something a bit confusing was the way in which God, knowing the pharaoh wouldn’t change his mind still made Moses go and tell him, then when he resigned, and things started to happen, Moses would pray to god and things would become a vicious cycle and in a way it wasn’t really that effective, because God would send something bad, but them stopped it, knowing there wasn’t anything really good in stopping it because the pharaohs mind would still be thinking the same. This happened because the “Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.”(Exodus 7: 13)

At the end think finally change, and the journey of Moses and his people starts. I like how Moses help the people be positive and energetic about their surviving. He tells them, “Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.” (Exodus 13: 3) and no matter how much the pharaoh was after them and was so close to catching them he would continue telling them that “The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14: 4) this I believe gave them the hope they needed.

And indeed that was what happened. God did help them and they were able to succeed and prosper. But just in case they decided to do something improper, he gave them commandments to follow and now exactly what were the right things to do. The interesting thing about this is that those are the same commandments we use now a days.

One Big Story = One Big Family

There is so much that I don’t even know from where to start, maybe the right place is the beginning, well the continuation of the beginning. In chapters 25 to 35 I was able to realize that one of the most important theme or what we see the most is family. The Lord said to Rebekah “Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25: 23) and that is for sure what happened. Their names where Esau and Jacob, and their story I pretty much like Cain and Abel´s only this one has a brighter ending. Everything started because Jacob was being treated better by his mother than Esau and then little by little things started to get complicated, until the point where Jacob became the one who was in charged.

One day, Isaac told them he was very old and wanted to eat something and then give him his blessing, but because Rebekah wanted Jacob to be the one to be blessed she made him obey her and tick his father to bless him instead of his brother.

Jacob was actually a good guy, just dumb enough to follow every single thing his mother said. Yes, we do have to be obedient but it is obvious that if our parents are telling us to do something that’s not really good, we have to understand that they are not perfect and that sometimes we have to intervene and open their eyes. If Jacob had done something like that, things would have probably been different. Rebekah had said: “Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. “ (Genesis 26: 8) and because Jacob obeyed his mother so much, he left, just like what she had instructed him to do, and he journeyed and fell in love.

Yes, another love story, this one seemed to be a really good one until things started to get a little out of control. Her name was Rachel and Laban was her father. He told Jacob that if he wanted her he would have to work for her, seven years. He was madly in love, and like anyone would have probably done for their other half, he worked and waited seven years. “And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.” (Genesis 23: 20) Isn’t that just so lovely? Well, the time passed and he asked for her, Laban got everything ready and even made a feast, but instead of giving him Rachel, he gave him Leah, his other daughter. I think that is just the most selfish thing ever. He just wanted to take advantage of Jacob so he could get what he wanted and not have to work so hard, plus maybe he probably didn’t want to have to give this daughter away anyways. But Jacob, after so long of not giving up he would have probably became a better, more perseverant and patient person.

But Laban didn’t, so he made him work for other seven years so he could get Rachel, as if she was some sort of prize, why did have to be so self centered on himself and couldn’t help with others happiness?

After fighting so much to finally be with the one he loved, God, I believe was unfair. How could he not let Rachel have children after all he knew they had already been through? Because “when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.” (Genesis 10: 1) I don’t really like this, why would she die if she didn’t have kids, that just sad, I thought that they wanted was to be able to be together because they loved each other, not because they were going to make a family. Well, maybe that was part of what contribute to their happiness, but why die if they couldn’t have kids, instead they should try to live a happy life with one another, now that they finally were together.

The sad thing, is that he doesn’t only have Rachel as a wife, or is she the only mother of his children because (yes, they were able to finally have kids latter on) but he had also other women and other kids. He actually had many and it makes me wonder, if he worked so hard to be with Rachel because he loved her or was it because something else? I think that if it wasn´t because of true love, then there was really no point in working so hard to one day actually be able to be with her.

After so long, Esau and Jacob meet again. This reminds me of Gilgamesh and how at the beginning Enkidu and Gilgamesh embrace and kiss, right after they have met and fought, but even though they don’t fight or met for the first time, they still do those things… It’s like it was a secret handshake or something back then.” Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept” (Genesis 33: 4) and that wasn’t all, they were so happy to see each other again, and Jacob was probably feeling guilty, that he gave back the blessing to his brother, who should have had it in the first place.

At the end we see how their stories intertwined and how at the end of such a long story, there was a big family, but after all it was God who had said: “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.” (Genesis 35: 11)

Life Goes On and So Does The Bible

This time in Genesis we see that God does keep his promises. He had made a covenant with Abram and blessed him by “multiplying (him) exceedingly” (Genesis 17: 2) something else that happens is that God tells Abram his name will now be Abraham. I think this is interesting and it is weird at the same time. Why change your name? Even though his name wasn’t changed to something very different, it was still changed. God said that he would change his name because he was going to be the father of many nations and I think that the name had to somewhat be longer. The funny thing is that his wife Sarai has also her name changed, to Sarah, I believe because of the same reason.

Talking about her, we see in these chapters that she is also blessed and this time with something she had believed impossible, something like having a child at a very old age. This give me hope, to know that God cares so much about us that he will actually bless us, sometimes when we least think about it. Because like it said in chapter 18 verse 14, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” the answer is no. He is God and can do anything, we are the ones that actually have to try to do something.

Something I really like is what Abraham asks God. “Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” (Genesis 18: 23) maybe many of us have asked that question, and the answer was that if even if there were only ten righteous between a whole city of wicked, he would still preserve their lives. This might seem unfair to some, but I think God would make the best jury of all. He knows exactly what, why, when and how things have to happen.

There was a story that seemed to be very familiar, and that we had already read in Metamorphoses, I don’t know it they copied from the Bible, or if it was the other way around, but it was anyways practically the same. In Metamorphoses, it’s known as the story of Myrrha and her father. In the Bible it’s the story of two girls, who say “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father” (Genesis 19: 32).

Next is Isaac, Abrahams and Sarah’s son, the one that blessed their lives and who also made sure to continue what should be called part of the life cycle. Yes, he falls in love. Her name was Rebekah and she became a great comfort to him, and what we will find out latter a great mother too.

Abram and Others

Here I was able to read and understand more about other known stories, such as Babel and the beginning of Abrams. Everything was going on great, and everyone spoke the same language. Many decided to build a city and a tower, but then the Lord confounded the language of many, so they wouldn’t understand each other and then “the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” (Genesis 11: 9) I think it is important to know why and how this happened, and that way be able to know how there are different people in different places of the world that speak differently.

Generations continue and then we get to Abram. Who was very close to God and built an altar. This I think was probably to offer sacrifices, like the ones they used to do, with the little lamb. I think that the sacrifice was to maybe make the owner of the little lamb feel and actually make a real sacrifice by giving them away, but it also was to praise god and show how much he meant to them.

“The LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” (Genesis 15: 1) I really like this because we see how God felt and how much he cared about Abram. It makes me think that he thinks the same way about us, and is there to help us and bless us when we have done something good.

Abrams story continues and we read that he and his wife Sarai couldn’t have any children, and so she made her servant his husband’s wife. The servants name was Hagar and she was able to have children with Abram, and even though Sarai was sad, she was happy at the same time for what had happened. This makes me think about Metamorphoses and how love was such an important thing and how it is important in here too.

And So The Story Continues

When they were in the garden, God told them that they could eat from every tree except the tree of knowledge. A snake tented Eve to eat from the tree and she gave some to Adam, this made them know and understand everything better. “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3: 14-15)

Then God makes them realize that they can know what is good and what is not, this makes them have to be able to choose what they want. We are all free to choose whatever we want, and no matter what we choose, there will be a consequence, so we have to be careful with what we chose.

Then we see as Adam and Eve start to multiply and how their family starts growing. We read about what happened with Cain and Abel and how each of them had chosen a different path, and depending on their actions were their consequences. An example is what happened with Cain. He decided to go through the bad path and he was greatly punished by God.

Because the heart of men started to be very corrupted and there started to be a lot of violence, God decided to punish them and there was huge storm that lasted a really long time. God had told Noah to build and ark and in it take a male and a female of every animal. He decided to obey and was able to survive with his family after all he had to through.

Then I think God realized that maybe he had been very harsh and that’s why he said “I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.” (Genesis 8: 21) and to make sure others know he keeps his word he makes a covenant with them, and I think that the covenant was about us not doing what was wrong and instead to choose right and if we did, God wouldn’t punish us with a storm as the big as the one that happened long ago. I believe that he left a sign to remind us all about it, the rainbow. “And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Genesis 9: 16)

How Everything Came To Be (Blible´s point of view)

The Bible is another very important piece of literature, especially because it was the first one be printed and also because so many believe in it. In Genesis chapter one and two I was able to see how everything was created in order, and it makes me think of how organized God is and how it is so much easier to understand it was like this, like something created one day, then something else the other day, I think it is much easier than trying to understand how the big bang actually happened. Something else that I was able to realize was that after God creates something and named it, he would see if it was good. This I think shows his love for us, he wouldn’t have created something that wasn’t good for us, and that’s why we have such a beautiful and lovely earth to live in. This has made me think that we should be thankful for everything he has done for us and actually care about the world and show him how much it really means to us.

We also see the importance of Sunday, because it was the day where God had finished the creation and was now time for him to rest. I don’t think he was actually tired because he is God, but because he actually wanted to show us that Sunday should be a day to think and praise him, because the other six days we are very busy and don’t really do that, on Sundays I say we should actually take some time to rest, just like he did and make it a really special day. We should sanctify Sunday. Here we see the beginning of men and women and how we actually came to be.