PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: 2 Samuel 3-4

What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?

“May Joab’s family never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy.” (2 Samuel 3:29)
Again and again as I read these OT stories, I think about how we read the bible.
People speak about the bible as if it fully reveals the will of God.
I believe it does, but we need to clarify and qualify what that means.
Not everything in the bible is God’s will, it is human will.
This leprosy curse certainly is not how Jesus calls us to treat others.
Jesus takes us beyond the cultural practices of ancient Israel.
The polygamy at the beginning of ch.3, and the forced return of Michal.
This was a sin-messed, sin cursed culture and time, yet God works through it.
God works through the ‘soap opera’ of human history to raise up Jesus.
Jesus is the son of David, but he is vastly superior to David.
David had his moments, but he is not an example to us of ‘the good life’.
I marvel at how God works through these stories to bring Jesus into the world.
God is not working to punish me, or the generations after me, for my sins.
God takes the curse in Jesus, so that I don’t have to; in Jesus I am blessed, not cursed.
PRAYER
Lord, there is too much curse in our world today as it is. May I join you in breaking the cycle of curses by being and agent of your blessing.