II Samuel 6:16-23 - Undignified
The Living Word With Chuck Davis
II Samuel 6:16-23 - Undignified
>> Welcome to the Living Word with Chuck Davis. [MUSIC] >> Second Samuel 6, 16 to 23, "Undignified." As the Ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked out of the window and saw David leaping and dancing before the Lord and she despised him in her heart. They brought in the Ark of the Lord and said it in the place inside the tent that King David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Host and distributed among all the people and the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one, then all the people departed each to his house. David returned to bless his household, but Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, how the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself. Before the eyes of the servants, female servants, as one of the vulgar fellow shamelessly uncovers himself. David said to Michal, it was before the Lord who chose me above your father and above all his house to appoint me as prince over Israel and the people of the Lord. And I will celebrate before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this. And I will be abased in your eyes. But my female servants to whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor. And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death. Finally, the arc is returned to Jerusalem and it's a procession filled with pomp and circumstance, uncontrollable worship. David leaps and dances. We were told in the previous passage, and he's in a linen effort. He's not in the clothing of a king, but he's showing humility before the Lord. There's an abrasive note to this text through the word despised. The text moves us from public worship to the private domestic conflict between David and Michal. There's a confrontation that comes, I think, out of her role as Saul's daughter. Remember, David won Michal in 1 Samuel 18 in his battle with Goliath. She was given away, but David reclaimed her in 2 Samuel 3. We saw a couple of passages ago that David had many concubines and wives. I wonder if there's some jealousy happening here. Even though it was protocol for his day, you can't get around the fact that she probably doesn't feel like the special one that he fought for in the beginning. Her response is the language of sarcasm, how the king of Israel honored himself today. It begins. The opinion of Saul's daughter matters in the story because there's a legitimacy be given to David out of his connection to Saul's old party and family. Bruggemann notes in this text that there are three elements in Michal's strong words to David, her sarcasm that David actually picks up in his response to her, honor or glory, the maids, and uncovering himself shamelessly where David proves that there is no shame, he would rather be contemptible before God than to bow to somebody else's opinion. In the middle of all this conversation, David reminds us that Yahweh chose him before Saul. He somewhat dismisses Michal in her perspective. The view of Yahweh is more important than the view of his wife, even if it is the king's daughter. The text finishes with these words that she remained barren. The assumption behind that in a biblical worldview was that this was the working of Yahweh. She thought she was in the position of strength, but she was actually becoming to Yahweh and all of the things that he would grant under her. The soul of this passage to me is that God is worthy of our unembarrassed and full-out worship. That means sometimes we will be in places where we won't be able to withhold the emotion and our responses will drive us to proclaim the Lord's name with great exuberance. The now what for me in this passage is to choose to worship God all the time without thinking about what others are judging of that situation and their perspective on it. It's a calling to live my life before God and not before others. So today, Lord, we choose to live with an audience of one, you are that audience. As we live and move and have our being, as we express our worship to you, we pray that we would not be concerned about what people around us think, but that we would primarily be concerned about what you think. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.