ALIVE: Chapter 95 Growing Up Holy

Anna woke up earlier than usual that morning, before the dawn, but try as she did, she couldn’t fall back to sleep so she got out of bed, lit her oil lamp, grabbed a pillow and went over to her chair covering her legs with the small woolen blanket, and sat comfortably and quietly. She thought of how Mary had blossomed over the years. She was still such a quiet and pensive child. The temple mother had watched over her so well, to make sure she learned the psalms and the law. Then Anna tried to recall the lessons little Mary had told her on their last visit.

 In her quiet hallowed home Anna filled her soul with worship. The bitter taste of the absence of her precious child had been supplanted by thick sweet honey knowing how well Mary was cared for. The Lord must have a reason in Mary’s own life for separating her from her natural mother, and giving her another mother, all the while knowing how very much Anna, as far away as she was, loved her. For truly Anna loved Mary and the Lord, more, much more than she cared for herself. How else could she endure the loneliness? It was true that the teachers in the temple could fill her young mind and heart with so much more peace and beauty than she could have in the world with its conflicts and demands. Anna contemplated what a life of service to God, of learning, and uninterrupted love and service to the Lord would be like. Pure gold.

 “Thank you Lord, for this moment.” In the candlelit darkness Anna’s soul, like rising bread-dough gradually, mysteriously, filled with gratitude. She whispered so as not to waken Joachim, “Blessed be God, and blessed be all his holy angels. May His holy name be blessed throughout all the ages. Though He afflicted me with childlessness, He has had mercy upon me. Now I have given to Him of what He gave me. My heart rejoices in Him. May He be glorified through the ages and may my daughter, His daughter, glorify Him all the days of her life, to sit in His temple and behold the wonders of His mysteries.” Anna wondered if perhaps her daughter would someday marry and give birth to a prophet. But she abruptly stopped that line of thinking. God will do what He wants and it is not up to me, thought Anna, ashamed to even entertain such thoughts.

Joachim’s louder snoring arrested her frivolous thoughts and pulled her back into the chilly room. Then his breathing sounded labored and Anna began to worry. He was getting old, she could see how he walked with a limp and was hunching over. Joachim had been such a strong young man, and now he is ripening like a soft sweet pear that has lost its grit.

The snoring stopped. Anna decided that her mind was wandering too much, so she tried to sit without words and watch the sun ever so gradually fill her room with light.

Peaceful silence was broken again by Joachim’s snoring, and since it was daybreak Anna stood up to start a fire and boil water.

As she went about the home tidying up and preparing breakfast Anna noticed that Joachim was sleeping much later than usual, but she didn’t want to wake him up, as she figured that he needed the sleep. He was close to his 80th year. How quickly the years had passed. She could barely remember their life before Mary, so much had the child filled their hearts and consciousness. Since they left her in Jerusalem they lived from visit to visit savoring the anticipation, and then the memories. How she had blossomed in the temple. How many years had it been? Anna struggled so to remember that she had to sit down and think hard. Of course she remember that Mary was only three, but how old was she now? A bird then perched itself on her window sill looking for the breadcrumbs that Anna often left there. She smiled at her little feathered friend, glad for someone else to feed. As she went to her breadbox to sweep the crumbs for the bird, she thought of king David and how it angered the Lord when he counted the soldiers in his army. What do the years mean anyway? Silly me. What does time mean to God? Come little bird, here is your breakfast. Just as she set the crumbs on the sill she heard Joachim rise. And so her day was to begin again.

Joachim entered the room his long white hair all messed up and bedclothes rumpled and asked, “When is it that we are going to visit Mary? I forgot.”

Anna smiled at her old man. “Good morning! In a few days, after Shabbat my dear. Now wash up. What would you like for breakfast?”

That was a joke because every morning for their sixty years together as one, Joachim sipped his cup of mountain tea and ate two rusks and an egg for breakfast. In season he also ate a few figs. As she scurried around the kitchen space Anna thought about the rhythm of the repetition of the days, how morning follows morning as if there is only one that never ends. How her life had taken a turn; she never could have anticipated these quiet days when she was a young girl like her Mary, but with sisters. How she missed her sisters Zoia and Mary. Perhaps one day they could meet her in Jerusalem to visit Mary. Perhaps their daughters Elizabeth and Salome would come too, maybe at Passover. Enough thinking, she thought.

“Joachim, your breakfast is on the table my love, come.”

Joachim shuffled into the room and sat down. “Anna, do we have honey? I think I want some this morning.”

“Yes dear, remember last month Moishe brought us a jar from his farm. I will get it.”

“Anna, I dreamed about my mother and father again last night. This time I was a boy out in the fields looking for snakes and both of my parents were calling me as if I was lost and they were desperate to find me. I could see them but they couldn’t see me.  I called back but they couldn’t hear me, and then their voices turned into Mary calling for me, I tried to holler to tell her where I was, but sound didn’t come out of my mouth, I couldn’t even hear myself, and then I woke up. I don’t feel well Anna.”

“You will be fine Joachim. We will go to see Mary soon and you will perk up.” Anna said that, but as she looked at her husband, she noticed another degree of weakness in him.

Joachim’s blue eyes grew wet and hazy as he stared into the air. “Yes. I will see Mary and feel better.”

“Perhaps you should go visit your shepherds this morning. It’s been several days, and I will finish making this dress for her soon. Okay?”

After eating his breakfast Joachim left the house without thinking to say good bye to Anna so deep in thought was he. Instead of going to his field, he was drawn to hike up the nearby mountain to hear God as Moses did.

 He only made it part of the way and found a ledge that he decided would have to suffice. Sitting on the ledge he surveyed the valley beneath him and the sheep and cows grazing. The sun was rising higher in the cloudless sky beating its rays down on him to warm his old bones. So tired from climbing was he that he laid down on the warm rock and closed his eyes. He soon dozed off. When he opened his eyes again the sun was already past high noon. He was in the middle state between asleep and awake. The quiet of the mountain pleased Joachim. He was still lying on the rock gazing at the sky when he heard words. He couldn’t discern whether the sound came into his ears from outside or up through his heart; it was a very distinct message. Joachim heard, “Your seed will deliver your soul from Sheol and you will live with Me forever.” The message was short and clear, but he had no conception of what it could mean?

 Joachim sat up alert for more words that didn’t come. He surveyed the valley beneath him and then mustered the energy to descend. While making his way back down Joachim could not forget the message, neither could he meditate about what it meant while searching for a stable place to land each foot lest he fall with no one to hear his cries.

As for the strange message, Joachim wanted the right time and place to think about it. Descending the mountain was more difficult than the climb. He was continually trying to keep from sliding on the dusty earth and falling, even with the aid of his walking stick. The hot sun made him feel dizzy. He needed water. “Oh this old carcass, how long must I endure your feebleness?” said Joachim to himself. If Joachim had been aware of his guardian angel helping him every step of the way, he wouldn’t have been so anxious. When he reached the foot of the mountain, he didn’t even pause, but went straight to the well for refreshing water.

After quenching his thirst Joachim walked over to the temple to sit before going home.

Inside, the temple was dark and cool and empty. The young men were out in the fields or at their work in the village.

While sitting in the cool room he got the sense it would not be long before he would join his parents in Sheol. The vale between life and death was becoming more opaque, to the point that he couldn’t remember who was still alive and who had passed on of his friends and relatives. His mother and father visited him more frequently. They weren’t always memories or dreams, their visits were something else. He felt their presence. Are they coming to take him?

He wondered whether this next visit to Mary would be his last. As he walked home Joachim looked down at the dusty hard ground and for the first time regarded the earth as his true home, where his old bones would rest until the earth is no more. He felt no fear. He was grateful for his life, and for his wife and daughter, and he prayed in thoughts that the Lord would care well for them in his absence. Yes, sending Mary to the temple, as much as it grieved him and still does, Joachim knew that the separation was right. That Anna was wise to give her up.  Her precious life would not be changed when he died. Hopefully their love for each other would be as strong, if not stronger in his absence. Perhaps he would still be able to visit her and watch over her. But Anna. Oh my Anna, all these years....

 With that thought Joachim found himself at his front door again.

 “You have been gone all day! Are you okay my dear? Come inside and let me feed you. Let’s wash our hands together. Supper is ready.”

Joachim smiled at how oblivious she was to the reality that he had been facing. He wanted it that way. Let the Lord prepare her as He did himself.

Finally, the day came when Joachim and Anna were to take their journey to Jerusalem and to the big Temple to visit their little girl. She was just ten years old. Every time they went she looked so different. She grew so fast. And yet she was still the same pensive sweet Mary they gave birth to and they loved with all their hearts and souls. Now that sweet child was being filled with knowledge of the Lord, of the psalms, and of the law. They were so impressed by her depth and her humility for such a young person. They wondered what they would find, how much Mary will have blossomed this time.

 Perched on their own camels in the caravan it was impossible to speak but Joachim had so much to say to Anna. It was difficult for him to stay upright on the camel. He was worried that he wouldn’t be able to make the trip again. Without visits to Mary he was as already dead.

While bobbing up and down on the camel, Joachim was reminded of the message by his extreme thirst like that of that day on the mountain. But this time he had a skin of water with him. He just needed the caravan to stop so he could take a drink. Still thirsty he spent the hollow time of travel thinking about the message of his seed and deliverance. He didn’t dare tell the priest, or any priest of the great temple for fear of being stricken down and sharply reprimanded for entertaining heretical notions. Instead, he wanted tell Anna. She wouldn’t chide him, and she might even be willing to talk about it with him. He wondered what she would think of it. No. He changed his mind. It was too strange, too boastful to even imagine such a thing. He had better not fill her mind with such notion of eternal life, whatever that meant. Besides, they only had one child, and a girl at that. No. He would keep the message to himself. If it was true that his soul could be delivered from Sheol, then he would be patient and wait, yes wait in hope that it is true, but he would tell no one.

At that moment the leader of the caravan rang his bell to indicate that they could stop and rest and drink their water. Joachim rolled off the donkey as an old man or a child would. But he landed on his feet and went straight for the skin of water, lifted it to his parched mouth and took five large swallows.

“You must have been might thirsty!” exclaimed Anna. “My turn.” And she reached her hand out for the water skin.

“I was.” replied Joachim handing her the pouch which was much lighter. “How much farther before we stop for the night?”

This had been the most difficult of all the trips the elderly couple had taken during the seven years that Mary lived in the temple. They tried to come often, every few months, but even Anna wondered how Joachim could make it. Perhaps, she thought, they should move to Jerusalem to be near her and if permitted, they could visit more often.  Anna kept this idea in her heart to discuss at the right time with Joachim.

When they finally arrived after the most arduous journey and settled in the room of the boarding house that had become so familiar, Joachim went directly to the bed and slept without even washing the dust off his body.

Meanwhile, Anna unpacked and left Joachim to sleep while she walked round the marketplace. It felt good to be off the camel and to stretch her legs.

The following morning the couple woke up together and quickly dressed to not waste a moment before being with their daughter.

Mary ran straight to her father and gave him a long hug. Tears whelled up in his old blue eyes, that he shut to feel her youth and her beauty and her joy. How she loved her father. He wasn’t worthy of such love. How could he be? Nevertheless, if it was the love of God that poured through this lovely young girl, then it was the strength of love itself, and that, he could accept. That love has a substance of its own, its own power, it’s own reality beyond the human heart, but is it a power that is as another of Gods creations, or is it a spit of God’s own essence?

As he observed Mary and Anna chatting cheerfully Joachim looked at his daughter and sensed that she would carry the whole world on her shoulders. How could this possibly be? He looked at his adorable ten year old, at the brink of her passage out of childhood and wondered if this notion was a gift, or was it perhaps a prophecy? He shook his head ruffling his white hair to rid himself of such speculations. Mary look curiously at her father. “What is it papa? Are you alright? May I get you something?”

“I am fine my darling. It is so good to be here with you. Tell me what you learned this week.”

 “Well!” replied Mary merrily, let me show you what I did! I’ll be right back!” She ran to her bed and opened the chest at the foot of the bed, found her embroidery and pull it out, messing the rest of the items to tidy up later. Then she ran back to her papa and showed him the most colorful embroidered cloth. “See! I did this all myself!”

“Anna looked on admiring her daughter’s handiwork and said, “I am sure that I couldn’t do any better!”

“Thank you mama. Papa do you like it?”

“Of course I do my dear. I have never seen such a colorful design. It looks like a field of summer flowers. How long did it take you to make this?”

“Oh! I’m not even finished yet. I want to give it to my friend Ruth who is an orphan. I’m her mother!”

Anna and Joachim smiled at each other and then looked over at Mary. Anna said, “How kind of you. Is Ruth a little girl like you were when you first arrived?”

“No mama,” replied Mary, she is much older and she is about to leave and be married, but she still needs a mother, and I will always be her mother.”

ALIVE: Chapter 87, Magnificent King David

I can’t enter the mind and emotions of mature King David as I could imagine them when he was a boy, or even as with the other Patriarchs: Noah, Abraham, and Moses; I can only consider the events of David’s turbulent life as king in wonder at the complexity of the man who at the same time had both the brutal power of a killer and the tender soul of a monk.

How, I wonder, does our Almighty God proclaim this son of Jesse to be “a man after His own heart.” God pulled this young man out of throngs of boys and set him on an earthly throne as a model for all of us aspiring immortals; to show us what it means to be a man in the bleak world but of God. David was and is the standard bearer as a person who is ALIVE.

David is the first king of kings.

This man of war and women, who deeply loved his children was also the greatest poet in human history. No poems are as familiar, and as revered, as the 23rd Psalm, “the Lord is my Shepherd”, or the 51st Psalm, “Have mercy on me o’ God,” or “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” That David was in many ways a child of The Most High God cannot be denied when reading the treasury of psalms that we have inherited from him. These psalms are medicine for the soul. Often, they become messages from God in times of trouble and confusion, and they rejoice with us in times of awe and gratitude.

Because David is such a special man, it is worth studying his decisions and responses to a great variety of circumstances, and to see how God fathered him. We make our own destinies through our decisions. Life certainly is an exercise in Cause and Effect. Each of us forges our own path through the one life we have, and if that leads us into a wilderness, frightening, dark and filled with sadness then we only need to look for the light of the sun and follow it up and out. The light of God, like the sun, is always there. He illuminates the right path for those humble enough to ask for it, then to see it and be guided through the wilderness of the brief and turbulent life on earth. David is a prime example of this.  Though he encountered difficulties innumerable, heartache, passions, nevertheless he reached deep within his heart to seek the light which is God, and to cling to Him, and in return God always led him out of the wilderness and loved him.

When Michelangelo was commissioned to carve the statue of David in marble, he produced the image of a perfect form, a perfect young man in the full bloom of life. By artfully sculpting perfection in David, Michelangelo asks us to translate the physical David into the man of God David.

To be a man after God’s own heart, God who made us in His glorious, light-filled image and likeness, who demonstrated Himself to be loving, reasonable, and tolerant, but demanding and fatherly, accepted David and fathered him. When David had Uriah the Hittite killed by sending him to the battlefront without back-up so that he may take his wife, and when the prophet Nathan made him aware of the severity of his transgression two things happened. David sincerely repented and he was punished. The punishment was that he would be a warrior for the rest of his life. Because his life was consumed by battles of kill or be killed, he was not free to do the one thing he wanted most to do, which was to build the Temple as a glorious home for the Ark and for God. 

God, the wise Father, did not allow David to build his Temple, just as He didn’t allow Moses to enter the Promise Land, and He didn’t allow Saul to remain king. Decisions have consequences. Repentance does not ensure reversal of the consequences or release from punishments in this earth-phase of life.

David was the Adam who trusted God. Did David trust God as much as Abraham who was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac? Yes, and more. David trusted God so much that he boldly offered himself in the battle with Goliath, and like Isaac was saved from annihilation. David spoke to and heard from God as did Moses.

David, with all his faults, but with all his humility received the highest honor of all which was to be the forefather of God’s Son, of God incarnate: Jesus Christ.

For you and me, David is a steppingstone to Christ. He is the nearest stone over the fast running brook, and he is flat and wide, and as big as Goliath’s foot.

One sad day David died. His family and all of Israel mourned. They whaled and they cried. His son Solomon, the second son of the wife of his biggest sin, rose to inherit David’s throne. Solomon was half the man his father was simply because, for all his wisdom, he was not humble or obedient to the law as David. Solomon shows us how a man can have all the Wisdom of the world, and all of its wealth, but without humility and obedience he is as dead.

Chapter 83 The David-Seed Buds

Never was a shepherd more content with his life than when young David returned to the pasturelands and to his innocents.

In those days he strummed his lyre for himself and for the Lord. Barely aware of the hot sun beating down on him, David entered a cooling world of tones deep as a canyon and sharp as broken crystal. The harmonies that he was creating joined fingered-strings to his ears and to his invisible heart, the triumvirate communicating purely with its Creator. There was no dissonance there, no haughtiness, no rancor, not even pride in his talent.

The moment when he spotted a stray sheep David spun out of that ethereal  place and gently set down the lyre to guide the lamb back to the fold. From the contrast of sudden silence David understood how and why the sounds of the lyre were medicine for the king.   

How Satan must flee from pure beauty and harmony.  How offensive it must be for the tormentor to be rendered impotent. 

Quickly David re-focused on his duty to his sheep. His own thirst reminded him to drive the flock to a pond, and for himself to find a shade tree. He knew just the spot and skillfully drove his party to relief from the hot sun.

The young keeper of the sheep was oblivious to the battles taking place furlongs past the sounds of them for the Lord being David’s shepherd fed him in still pastures. Here David was maturing from within as the grape evolves into a tawny port slowly and imperceptibly except to the angels.

When the blistering sun descended gently behind the mountains David gathered his satchel and lyre, picked up his staff, and called to his lambs that it was time to go home.

Oh how he loved Bethlehem. Would that he never had to leave it. Yet, the arrangement his father made with the king was that he could go back and forth from palace to pasture to tend their sheep. The next day, was to be a day of return to Saul.

After David had placed his sheep safely in their corral he rushed inside for supper. His mother appeared distressed as she was stirring the stew that she had spent her day preparing. Her hands trembled and her head bowed low in silent prayer.

“What is it mother? Where is father and my brothers? Have I returned too soon?” David respectfully did not question the trembling hands or trickling tears that moistened her cheeks.

“No my love, your father will be present shortly, but I cannot say if or when your brothers will return. The Philistine are on the rampage. Morning and evening since you left they come to take their stand. They would have us destroyed or become their slaves. Your brothers are on the field of battle now. I am troubled lest I loose one of my precious sons to Sheol.

Cheerfully David responded, “This means I don’t have to go to the palace tomorrow!”

David hugged his mother tightly and with increased solemnity added, “Mother, trust in God and do not fret. Shall we pray together as we did when I was a boy? How often you soothed me as I listened to you speaking with Yahweh as you would speak to your father.” David did not realize that  comparing Yahweh to a father had never been uttered, or even thought of before that moment. It was a concept born of the Spirit deep within David’s innocent core. Even his grieving mother did not notice. 

At that moment Jesse entered the room and the conversation quickly turned to the more pragmatic condition of the sheep and if they had had enough food and water. Father and son gravitated to the table for supper where mother was setting down bowls of her aromatic lamb stew. Together the family gave thanks and then dined in silence, solemnly awaiting the brothers return.

While chewing bread Jesse said, “If Eliab and your other brothers do not return by daybreak, I want you to take for them an ephah of parched grain and ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; also take those ten cheeses over there to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers fare, and bring some token from them.” Jesse said that to soothe his wife as well as to feed his sons.

“But where will I find them?” asked David.

“I will go into the village and inquire.”

“Yes father.”

That evening Jesse learned that Saul and all the men of Israel, were encamped in the valley of Elah.

David rose at first light, gathered the provisions into his satchel, and went as his father had commanded him. As he drew near Elah he first heard, then followed the shouts of the war cry to find the army going forth to the battle line between Elah and Ephes-dammin where the Philistines camped. The opposing armies thrust themselves at each other in the valley between two mountains.

Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. David left his satchel in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went to find and greet his brothers.

Just as he spotted a brother and was approaching him, David looked up to see a giant of a man who had emerged into the front from the camp of the Philistines. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at this monster in awe.

His height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat looked to be five thousand shekels of bronze. He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head looked to weigh six hundred shekels of iron.

Jaws of the Jews dropped at the site of this giant.

At the front, the giant stood like a greater than life-size statue. Sound of voices, even of heavy breathing suddenly stopped. The giant’s voice moved into the opening his form made for him and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “I am Goliath! Why have you come out to draw for battle? Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul?” The sound of his bellows wafted loud and clear for yards around so that every Jew and every Philistine knew exactly what he said. This giant and enemy was about to disarm them with the threat of his words before he crushed them like ants. 

“Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me,” he bellowed like thunder. Then the lightening of his words struck, “If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.”  The eyes of the giant scanned the ranks of Israel’s piercing wide eyes under furrowed brows and stabbed repeatedly at their hearts.

Saul and all Israel heard the words of the Philistine with dismay and great fear. 

Full of self satisfaction, Goliath turned around to leave, stomping through the crowd of cheerful Philistines back to his camp to rest-up.

Israel watched with relief this head above heads drift farther away from them. Goliath left his pathetic enemy to fret and to plan their response.

Once they saw the giant leave, Israel turned and fled back to the shelter of their own home base. Brothers in battle yielded to brothers in terror. All of their fighting was as nothing if just one man could lose the war for their entire nation. They had no giant to match this monster. Some men wondered what slavery would be like. Would they take their wives and children? No one spoke of these fears, they quietly chewed them over and over, like tough tasteless meat, in their anxious hearts.

A commander of Saul’s army passed through the camp loudly proclaiming, “The king will greatly enrich the man who kills Goliath and will give him his daughter and make his family free in Israel. Which one of you will fight for our freedom?”

Aminadab snickered and said to his brother, “As if anyone could. What good is a reward that is impossible to win? Why does he not offer us his whole kingdom?” Eliab nodded nervously.

David, who was looking for his brothers heard the offer and said to the men standing by him, “What did he say shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

Two men shrugged and answered David in unison, “His daughter, and freedom shall be given for the man who kills him.”

His eldest brother Eliab spotted David and heard him.  Eliab’s anger was kindled against David. He said, “Why have you come down? With who have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart; for you have come down just to see the battle.”

David replied, “What have I done now? It was only a question?” He turned away from Eliab toward another and spoke in the same way; and the people answered him again as before.

When the words of faith in God that David spoke were heard, the relieved commander went directly before Saul to let him know that they had a volunteer. Saul immediately sent for him. David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

Saul looked at his young shepherd and lyre-player, smiled and said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

David answered Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, I took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them since he has defied the armies of the living God.” David added, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will save me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul carefully considered David’s argument and wondered if it could be true. Then he weighed his options. David or immediate surrender. Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you!”

To this day no one knows whether Saul had faith that the living God could prevail through David, or if rather Saul figured that either he would surrender immediately and be enslaved, or that he could buy some time by sacrificing the shepherd, since no one, especially himself, the king, was willing to die at the hands of Goliath. For either reason, Saul put all of his chips on the child.

Let us believe the best, that by allowing the boy to fight Goliath, Saul showed as much faith in God as David did. Saul knew how high the stakes were because, if David was wrong and lost, all of them, even the king, would become slaves of the Philistines, their women defiled, their children made to worship idols.

With his own hands Saul carefully covered David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor and tried to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.” So David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch. When done he picked up the sling and said, “Where is that giant Philistine?”

Eliazer ran ahead to the camp of the Philistine and told them that Israel was ready.

Goliath reappeared out of the mass of Philistines and drew near to David with his shield bearer in front of him. Goliath looked at David with disdain for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?” And Goliath cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “ Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.”

But David replied, “You come to me with sword and spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head, and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by the sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into my hand.”

Goliath ejaculated a hearty laugh. Then he drew near to meet David; in turn David bravely plunged toward the battle line to meet Goliath. David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead, and he immediately fell face down on the ground.

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, striking Goliath and killing him. There was no sword in David’s hand. Then David ran and stood over Goliath, he grasped his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, then he cut off his head with it.

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. The troops of Israel and Judah rose up with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath. 

ALIVE: Chapter 82 Meeting Saul

Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord  tormented him.  And Saul’s servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit from God has tormented you. Let our Lord now command the servants who attend you to look for someone who is skillful in playing the lyre; and when the evil spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will feel better.”

So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me someone who can play well, and bring him to me.”

One of the young men answered, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a warrior, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.

So Saul sent messengers to Jesse. They found him working in his wood shop. One of the young messengers, like a fanned out peacock full of authority and pride demanded of Jesse, “Send to Saul the king your son David who is with the sheep. Tell him to bring his lyre. Tell him to come with us now.”

“Wait here, I will fetch my son. Mother will take care of you.” Jesse went straight away to find David in the south pasture where he sent him that morning.

“David!” called Jesse from afar when he first spotted him. “Come here !”

David ran over to his father wondering if there had been an emergency with his mother. “What is it father?”

“Two messengers from King Saul have come for you. The king is suffering and needs to hear you play your lyre to soothe him. Get cleaned up, pack and go with them. This is the Lord’s doing.”

“What does this mean father?”

“Observe and serve King Saul. You are a lowly young shepherd of Bethlehem. Look at this invitation as nothing more than the first step of climbing the mountain of the Lord. Go in peace and in prayer my son.”

Together David and Jesse rounded up the sheep and steered them back to their corral.

Father and son walked silently to their home as if walking backward through time and ending up in a mysterious future. Each man filled with his own thoughts and fears translating them into prayer to the Lord dared not speak.”

Meanwhile, David’s mother had prepared a meal for the messengers who waited patiently for David’s arrival so they could return to their distressed king. She prayed while preparing the food.”Lord, may my son and Yours become worthy to lead your Holy people Israel. Teach him and guide him. I see your hand upon him now and I give you glory, honor, praise and worship.” A tear spilled out of the mother’s eye as she became overwhelmed by the significance of this first step since the anointing by Samuel. Through the prayer of her heart this daughter of Judah burst out of the small and dusty village of Bethlehem and into the luminous clean heavens where God heard her and answered her with peace.

With the sheep safely in their pen, Jesse, and then David entered their home and nodded to the strangers, “Greetings, I will soon be ready.” David washed his face and hands in the sink bowl and changed his clothes. Then he gathered some fresh clothes and placed them in a cloth satchel.

While the messengers were eating, Jesse took a donkey and loaded it with bread, a skin of wine, and a kid to send to the king along with his youngest son David.

David, with the confidence of a child of God, not of a man educated and wise in his own eyes, set out for the journey with the messengers and the kid, and his lyre to meet King Saul, whom the prophet Samuel said he would replace.

David was glad to have the lamb walking beside him, his father’s gift to the king. He wondered if this lamb would become a sacrifice of Saul, to carry his sins and to be slaughtered. Certainly, thought David innocently, the sins of Saul must be great for God to want to replace him. He had no idea of why Saul was to be replaced, and neither did Saul. Walking beside the lamb to meet the king David felt chills run down his spine when it occurred to him, that he too was as the lamb being offered to Saul to free him from the torment of his sin. David was as a bloodless sacrifice whose life was about to be altered.

With every step David felt a layer of childhood peel away from his consciousness. A stream of questions came to his mind. Will Saul love him or kill him? Will his sheep back home be well cared for in his absence? Will they wonder where he is?”

David arrived at the palace and looked around in awe. The shepherd boy had never before seen such opulence. Before he could adjust to the grandeur of the space, David was immediately whisked into the parlor where Saul lay on a divan being fanned by his servants. A muscular, nearly naked guard announced their arrival. Another servant pointed to the seat for David. David bowed to the king and sat and lifted his lyre to his lap and plucked a few strings to wake it up. Then he played a melody he composed one hot afternoon after the discovery of a pond he had not known about. The kids were particularly playful that day. All was right with the world. David hoped to convey the joy of that moment through the sounds of his lyre, to his ailing king.

The sound of the lyre struck David as rounder and deeper and so much louder than it ever sounded in the fields, as if it had matured as an instrument. The music transported him back to the fields where he started the day and then boomeranged him back to the luxurious room and the presence of the powerful king. The tones high and low wafted through the air saturating it with its healing power. 

David had been playing for a little over an hour when King Saul stood up, flashed the boy a grateful smile and departed the room. David stopped playing immediately and an attendant promptly ushered David to a room with many beds. David set his satchel and lyre on his new bed and took his first good look around at the unusual surroundings.

When another servant entered the room with a full armor for David, he didn’t know what to think. He had only come to play his lyre, now he is given a bed and an armor. David said out loud for anyone to hear, “Will I stay here? My sheep are waiting for me. Who will tend them?”

“Sire, your sheep are not your concern. The king needs you. He has enrolled you in his service. When you aren’t playing for him, you will be an armor bearer. The food is good here; you will not be uncomfortable.”

David wondered how this person could tell him how he would feel.

For the next seven days David was on stand-by. Whenever the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, David was sent for. He would then fetch his lyre and played it with his hand, and Saul would be relieved and felt better, and the evil spirit would depart from him. This ability to relieve him from the evil spirit gave David power over the king. Saul both needed and resented David for this power. David felt like a prisoner. He both admired and feared the king.

One day, a full moon after David left Bethlehem for the king’s palace, his father Jesse arrived looking for him.

David happened to be outside but within the compound. When he saw his father approaching, he ran up to greet him.

“Oh father, I have never been so glad to see anyone. How are you? How is mother?”

“We are well. Why are you still here?”

“The king needs me often. I must stay and play the lyre, and when I am not playing I have become an armor bearer. I have no say in the matter. I am in the king’s service. How are my sheep? How I long to return to my fields, and to ...” David wanted to say “mother” but he held back to keep this longing in his heart.

Father and son walked into the palace together, David showed his father around the massive building. Jesse too had never been in such a grand edifice before.

Saul had heard of the arrival of Jesse and went out to greet him. Jesse bowed before the king who said, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.”

“We need him too, my lord. I pray thee to allow this young man to go back and forth to feed his sheep and so his mother can savor his youth.”

Saul who had a beloved a son of his own, and was feeling better, acquiesced to Jesse’s request. “He may leave with you for a few days provided he return.”

David was the first to say, “Thank you my lord!” Saul turned around without acknowledging the father’s or the son’s gratitude and left the room.

“Let’s go now!” David said to his father.

Father and son quickly departed, lest the king have a change of heart. God withdrew the evil spirit from Saul to allow David to return to his mother.

David was so glad to be home again. When he spotted his mother rushing towards him with wide and longing arms David’s heart skipped a beat. In their embrace each soul felt the heartbeat of the other so that neither mother nor son knew which beat was their own. Warm moments later they released each other for a good long look. Never had they been apart for so long.

Then David took leave from his mother to see his flock and allow her to prepare the family meal.

The feast was ready. All the brothers came into the home in ones and twos to greet their baby brother and to eat supper. The oldest, Eliab, embraced his youngest brother for the first time. David was caught off guard and didn’t know whether it was because he was missed or because of some change in status that his time at the palace had given him. Nevertheless, David relished his brother’s love and returned it.

The next morning David awoke at first light and dressed quickly. He could not wait another minute to take his sheep out to pasture. His soul thirsted for the solitude, the conditions in which he communed best with God. David needed this time to digest his experience at the palace.

For the first few hours David’s mind was a whirl of memories and new thoughts. Thoughts of all the people in the palace and their roles and the hierarchy and rules of behavior. It had all been so foreign and so uncomfortable for him.

David was straddling a new frightening life and an old comfortable one, and he was glad to be back in his old home, if only for a little while. The kids surrounding him sensed his emotional tumult and hovered closer to him than usual smelling the earth and munching the grass. Days passed in his beloved old routine. He was all the more content and grateful for the shepherd’s life than ever before.