Prelude to a King: Not in the US, Please

Our series continues with the transition from King Saul to David - a prelude.  I hope today is not a prelude to a new king in America

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Transcript

Sermons from Mission Hills UCC

San Diego, California

Rev. Dr. David Bahr

david.bahr@missionhillsucc.org

July 7, 2024

“Prelude to a King”

2nd Samuel 5: 1-5, 9-10 – Common English Bible

All the Israelite tribes came to David at Hebron and said, “Listen: We are your very own flesh and bone. 2 In the past, when Saul ruled over us, you were the one who led Israel out to war and back. What’s more, the Lord told you, You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be Israel’s leader.

3 So all the Israelite elders came to the king at Hebron. King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

4 David was 30 years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years. 5 He ruled over Judah for seven and a half years in Hebron. He ruled thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah in Jerusalem.

9 David occupied the fortress, so it was renamed David’s City. David built a city around it from the earthen terraces[a] inward.[b] 10 David grew increasingly powerful, and the Lord of heavenly forces was with him.

As we heard last week, a shepherd boy named David was sent to the Philistine front lines to bring lunch to his older brothers and couldn’t understand why all the soldiers were just standing around.  He learned that the sides were at a stalemate and there was a deal on the table:  Just send one man against one man, but no one would be that one man.  David thought this was ridiculous, so he said, “I’ll do it,” and to the shock of everyone, he did it.  With just one stone from his little slingshot, David took down giant Goliath.  Cheers erupted.  The brother who told David to go home and “let men take care of manly things” suddenly boosted this little twerp up on his shoulders.  “My little man!”

At first, King Saul loved this.  He was riding high on victory.  It reminded him of his early days as King when he took 12 squabbling tribes and created one cohesive force and led them to their first ever victory in battle.  All Hail King Saul.  But all that power went to his head and he started making bad decisions, making excuses and rationalizing his behavior.  

It didn’t have to be this way.  Saul knew better but he wouldn’t apologize and instead he became more arrogant and defiant.  The angrier he got, the wilder his mood swings.  His advisers suggested that music might lift his spirits.  They told him about a young shepherd from Bethlehem who played the harp and had a beautiful voice.  As soon as David sang, Saul was so taken that he invited David home and treated him like his own son.  It was a short taste of royal treatment, however, and soon he was back watching sheep and chasing butterflies and subject to torment by his seven brothers.  Up until the time, of course, when he took lunch to them and said, “I’ll do it,” and saved the people from the Philistines.  From that point forward, his life was never the same.  

David brought Goliath’s head to King Saul and the people erupted in joy.  The king called for a big hero’s reception.  But as happy as Saul was for that amazing victory, he couldn’t help himself and he was soon overcome with such jealousy and rage that his mood took a deep dive.  The night of his big victory with a slingshot, David pulled out his harp.  It worked.  Saul was Zen, right up until the moment he picked up his spear and threw it straight at David, nearly splitting him in half.  David looked horrified but Saul just gestured, “Oops, my bad,” and closed his eyes. David began playing again.  Until Saul threw his spear directly at David.  This time the advisers swooped in and carried David away to safety.  

It had been a long, exhausting day and David slept well that night.  But in the morning, the next thing he knew, he was being led off to battle.  And he learned that Saul had put him in charge!  The entirety of David’s battle experience had been lions and bears, oh my, and against one giant.  And now he was in charge of leading 1,000 men against an enemy with 10,000!?  Clearly Saul was just trying to get rid of him in the fog of war with plausible deniability.  But against all odds, somehow the boy was a genius strategist and rose to the occasion.  Victorious, everyone returned from battle chanting “Saul killed thousands and David has killed tens of thousands.”  

Saul inwardly seethed even as he exclaimed the glory of his soldier and promised his daughter Merab to him in marriage in front of everyone.  But he was furious.  Before he would let David marry her, Saul sent him off to another impossible battle.  Again, David returned victorious, but oops, Saul had already given Merab away in marriage.  Here, you can have Michal.  As a “gracious gesture” to make up for his mistake, Saul said, since your family doesn’t have any money to pay the bride-price, I’ll let you just pay with… foreskins.  Just bring me back 100 Philistine foreskins – an impossible task that would surely result in David’s death.  But what do we know about David?  He came back with 200.  

Saul just couldn’t win against his golden boy yet he wouldn’t give up.  David’s new wife, Michal, Saul’s daughter, and his oldest son, Jonathan, helped him go into hiding.  David could have put an end to this torment by killing Saul and he wanted Saul to know he could.  One time while David and his men were hiding in a cave, Saul went inside to relieve himself.  David snuck up behind with his knife, but instead of stabbing him, he secretly cut a piece of cloth off his hem.  He did it again another time and later showed the pieces to Saul as if to say, beware.  David had no intention of killing God’s anointed, but he didn’t want Saul to know that.  

Of all the many ways Saul dishonored God, one of the worst was while David and his men were hiding.  Starving, they begged the priests of Nob for something to eat and they consented.  Saul discovered this treachery and ordered every priest killed.   Increasingly, Saul felt like God had abandoned him and consequently, the more desperate he acted, the less connected he felt.  Anymore, when he called upon God, he heard nothing back.  And no more dreams.  No more prophets.  He was so desperate he tried one more thing. 

Saul had banned all mediums, like psychics, under threat of execution.  It simply meant they went underground and were very careful who they told.  Saul asked his advisers to find a medium and they found a woman at En-dor.  Saul disguised himself and asked her to contact the now deceased prophet Samuel.  Samuel appeared and the woman panicked when she recognized it was King Saul in front of her, but he said, don’t worry.  Samuel reprimanded Saul and told him he would die the next day at the hands of the Philistines.  The next day, with Philistines racing directly at him, Saul fell on his own sword rather than be killed, along with his armor bearer and 3 sons, including David’s beloved Jonathan, the subject of next week’s story.  

All of this was the tragic prelude to David being anointed King at the age of 30, inaugurating his 40-year reign as the greatest king in the history of Israel – not counting his numerous indiscretions, some of them just as bad or worse than his predecessor.  But, in the grand scheme of things, it’s a prelude and not all is lost.

Not all is lost.  I’ll admit, however, it’s starting to feel that way.  A new state law in Louisiana now requires all public school classrooms to post the Ten Commandments.  That was followed by the Oklahoma state board of education mandating the teaching of the Bible in public school classrooms – not as an example of literature but as doctrine.  The superintendent indicated they may need a curriculum to ensure “uniformity of instruction,” which I’m pretty sure doesn’t include the wide variety of Christian beliefs in this country, particularly like the inclusive gospel preached from pulpits like ours, let alone what that means for people who are not Christians.  

Both of these are clearly unconstitutional, but after the Supreme Court tortured the Constitution again this week to fulfill yet another wish of evangelical Christians, I thought, it’s all over.  There’s no shame.  Prepare to soon live in a Christian theocracy, which should alarm no one more than Christians.  

Officials in Louisiana and Oklahoma, who will soon be followed by other states, claim the Bible and the Ten Commandments are part of the founding documents for the United States and therefore deserve their place in public school curriculum.  That’s simply not true, but it goes to the heart of Christian nationalist’s argument that the United States was founded to be a Christian nation with, as they call it, dominion over the Seven Mountains of family, religion, education, media, arts & entertainment, business, and government.

We’re all exhausted of politics.  I’m very aware of that and have tried to mostly refrain from appearing political, although that is nearly impossible these days.  Just to be an Open and Affirming Church is seen as politically divisive.  But, to be silent on this grants consent and consent to this cannot be granted.  

But far from an indictment on today’s evangelical Christians, a new book called Baptizing America shows how mainline Protestants set the stage for this and promoted the idea of the US as a Christian nation.  We used to call it civil religion – as innocent as pastors praying before city council meetings, which I used to do regularly in Cleveland.  Baccalaureate services before graduation.  Sunday blue laws.  Or singing the national anthem in worship and flying American flags in the sanctuary.  We even used to pledge allegiance to the American flag at Vacation Bible School.  What could be wrong with that?  

It’s not that it’s wrong so much as its out of place.  Which comes first?  We give our allegiance where it belongs:  to Jesus in church and our personal life and to our country in civic life.  We all have important civic duties as citizens.  Jesus very helpfully said, “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.  We can be patriotic at home all day long but to say “God so loved the world” challenges the very notion of singing God Bless the USA in worship.  It all seems so harmless, just like, what’s wrong with posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms?  Because, at heart, the Ten Commandments are a document requiring fidelity, “Thou shalt have no other God beside me."  And how to worship the one and only true God:  Keep one day holy.  Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.  And which version will they post?  Exodus or Deuteronomy?

The Constitution, on the other hand, is fundamentally a document that refuses to establish a state religion.  Let’s put that on every classroom wall.  Article VI bans all “religious tests” for office, the framer’s clear rejection of the theocracies that ruled Europe.  The First Amendment, meanwhile, bans the establishment of a national religion and interference in the freedom of citizens to worship how and whomever they choose.  The framers sought freedom from the dictates of religion so they established a nation based on laws – with no one person above that law.  Even King Saul was subject to laws that limited his ability to do whatever he wanted.  And if we want to get biblical, American Presidents should be held to at least the same standard as Saul.  

It might all seem quite depressing at the moment.  But not all is lost.  Today is prelude for the day the arc of the moral universe has bent toward justice, because one day, one person-one vote, will return.  But it takes arc-benders, like David, upset at people standing around wondering what someone else is going to do, in this case, to protect our freedom from religious rogues.  Today, let the prelude be not for a new king, but when life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is realized for everyone of all religions and no religion, all races, genders, orientations, abilities, languages, and so much more.  Isn’t it possible that both religion and state could agree on that? 

Highly recommend Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism by Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood, Chalice Press, 2024