2 Samuel 8
2 Samuel Chapter 8
One Thing
Luke 10:41–42 (NET)
10:41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, 10:42 but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her.”
Read 2 Samuel Chapter 8 - What questions does this passage raise?
How do we handle difficult passages of scripture?
1st step - Jesus is the lens through which we read scripture.
John 5:39–40 (NET)
You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
Hebrews 1:1–3 (NET)
1:1 After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, 1:2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. 1:3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Hebrews 10:1 (NET)
10:1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.
Colossians 2:17 (NET)
2:17 these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ!
John 1:14–18 (NET)
1:14 Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. 1:15 John testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’ ” 1:16 For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another. 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ. 1:18 No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.
Use the lens – What does Jesus show us that pertains to this OT passage?
Matthew 5:38–48 (NET)
5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 5:39 But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer. But whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well. 5:40 And if someone wants to sue you and to take your tunic, give him your coat also. 5:41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 5:42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not reject the one who wants to borrow from you. 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, 5:45 so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? 5:47 And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they? 5:48 So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Luke 23:33–34 (NET)
23:33 So when they came to the place that is called “The Skull,” they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 23:34 But Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Then they threw dice to divide his clothes.
John 18:36 (NET)
18:36 Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”
Luke 19:41–44 (NET)
19:41 Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, 19:42 saying, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 19:43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 19:44 They will demolish you—you and your children within your walls—and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
2nd Step – Use Scripture to Interpret Scripture
Hebrews 13:8 (NET)
13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!
1 John 4:7–9 (NET)
4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. 4:8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 4:9 By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him.
Ephesians 6:12 (NET)
6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.
1 John 1:5 (NET)
1:5 Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
James 1:13–15 (NET)
1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 1:15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.
John 10:10 (NET)
10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
3rd - Consider Culture
- Ancient Near East. We know that people are influenced by the culture they live in. Often, these beliefs are so core, that we do not even recognize them. The people in the bible and the biblical authors are not exceptions.
- ANE people believed deities were regional
- ANE people did not differentiate between the physical and the spiritual.
Isaiah 2:4–5 (NET)
2:4 He will judge disputes between nations;
he will settle cases for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,
and they will no longer train for war.
2:5 O descendants of Jacob,
come, let us walk in the Lord’s guiding light.
Tertullian, 160-220AD – “Only without a sword can a Christian wage war: the Lord has abolished the sword.”
Clement of Alexandria, 150-214AD – “Above all Christians are not allowed to correct by violence.”
Justin Martyr, 100-165AD – “We ourselves were well conversant with war, murder, and everything evil, but all of us throughout the whole wide earth have traded in our weapons of war. We have exchanged our swords for plowshares, our spears for farm tools… Now we cultivate the fear of God, justice, kindness, faith, and the expectation of the future given us through the Crucified One.”
Only One Thing - Jesus
One Thing
Luke 10:41–42 (NET)
10:41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, 10:42 but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her.”
Read 2 Samuel Chapter 8 - What questions does this passage raise?
How do we handle difficult passages of scripture?
1st step - Jesus is the lens through which we read scripture.
John 5:39–40 (NET)
You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
Hebrews 1:1–3 (NET)
1:1 After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, 1:2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. 1:3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Hebrews 10:1 (NET)
10:1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.
Colossians 2:17 (NET)
2:17 these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ!
John 1:14–18 (NET)
1:14 Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. 1:15 John testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’ ” 1:16 For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another. 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ. 1:18 No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.
Use the lens – What does Jesus show us that pertains to this OT passage?
Matthew 5:38–48 (NET)
5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 5:39 But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer. But whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well. 5:40 And if someone wants to sue you and to take your tunic, give him your coat also. 5:41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 5:42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not reject the one who wants to borrow from you. 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, 5:45 so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? 5:47 And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they? 5:48 So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Luke 23:33–34 (NET)
23:33 So when they came to the place that is called “The Skull,” they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 23:34 But Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Then they threw dice to divide his clothes.
John 18:36 (NET)
18:36 Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”
Luke 19:41–44 (NET)
19:41 Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, 19:42 saying, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 19:43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 19:44 They will demolish you—you and your children within your walls—and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
2nd Step – Use Scripture to Interpret Scripture
Hebrews 13:8 (NET)
13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!
1 John 4:7–9 (NET)
4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. 4:8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 4:9 By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him.
Ephesians 6:12 (NET)
6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.
1 John 1:5 (NET)
1:5 Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
James 1:13–15 (NET)
1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 1:15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.
John 10:10 (NET)
10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
3rd - Consider Culture
- Ancient Near East. We know that people are influenced by the culture they live in. Often, these beliefs are so core, that we do not even recognize them. The people in the bible and the biblical authors are not exceptions.
- ANE people believed deities were regional
- ANE people did not differentiate between the physical and the spiritual.
Isaiah 2:4–5 (NET)
2:4 He will judge disputes between nations;
he will settle cases for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,
and they will no longer train for war.
2:5 O descendants of Jacob,
come, let us walk in the Lord’s guiding light.
Tertullian, 160-220AD – “Only without a sword can a Christian wage war: the Lord has abolished the sword.”
Clement of Alexandria, 150-214AD – “Above all Christians are not allowed to correct by violence.”
Justin Martyr, 100-165AD – “We ourselves were well conversant with war, murder, and everything evil, but all of us throughout the whole wide earth have traded in our weapons of war. We have exchanged our swords for plowshares, our spears for farm tools… Now we cultivate the fear of God, justice, kindness, faith, and the expectation of the future given us through the Crucified One.”
Only One Thing - Jesus
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