~ See Shavuot notice near the end of this Tsiyon News ~
From Eliyahu
From the Bible's point of view what is the difference between
good people and bad people? Assuming we are speaking of YHWH's covenant
people, Israel, good people are those who conscientiously strive to keep His
commandments and bad people are those who don't. Sounds simple enough, yet
modern readers often err in making this distinction when assessing Bible
characters. Why? The tendency is to judge by modern standards of conduct, or
personal standards of conduct, rather than on the basis of Yah's
commandments.
For example, consider David. While everyone likes the 'David
killed the giant' story, David often receives mixed reviews after that. Why?
One very big reason has to do with the fact that David had a number of wives
- not just one. A number of verses list David's wives, such as this one:
"To David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn
was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; and his second, Chileab,
of Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third,
Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;
and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth,
Shephatiah the son of Abital; and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah,
David’s wife. These were born to David in Hebron." 2 Samuel 3:2-5
I count 6 wives there, and there were more later in David's
career. That practice runs completely contrary to both Christian values and
feminist values of our day. Not only that, but it seems to call forth a
strong emotional repugnance against it, causing people to think of David as
a bad person. Was he?
Certainly, if he was alive today and living like this he
would definitely be stigmatized. However, the stigma attached to having
multiple wives that exists today is not to be found among the commandments
of the Torah that governed ancient Israel. In fact, the Torah allows and
regulates such marriages, and even requires them in certain situations, such
as in the case of levirate marriage, for example. Mind you, the Torah is not
just a book of commandments. It is the handbook for a complete social system
that governed Israel in David's time. The social system of the 21st century
world is completely different, but does that mean that David was bad? David
lived, not according to the modern system, but according to the commandments
of the Torah as practiced in his time, which was the standard by which he is
rightfully judged.
David was guilty in the sin against Uriah the Hittite, which
David both admitted and repented of. Everybody knows about that, so there is
no need to rehash it here. In dealing with that sin, YHWH said this:
"This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: ‘I
anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of
Saul. I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into
your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if
that would have been too little, I would have added to you many more
such things."
2 Samuel 12:7-8
Clearly, the implication of Yah's statement above is, that
while David overreached in the matter of Uriah, all else that David had,
including his wives, had come from YHWH. Given no lesser witness than God
Himself, it would surely be wrong to judge David as 'bad' because he
accepted the gifts his Father gave him.
Here, some writers have realized they can not accuse David
simply because he had wives, so they have found another way of slandering
him. They say he had Canaanite pagan wives - which is forbidden by the
Torah. Regarding the Canaanites He said:
"..when YHWH your Elohim shall deliver them up before
you, and you shall strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them: you
shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them; neither
shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give
to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son." Deut
7:2-3
Had David taken wives from any of the Canaanite nations
listed as such in the Torah, then he would be in violation of this command
prohibiting marriage from among them. That would definitely be bad. Some
claim that David did exactly that. They make the case from David's raids
from Ziklag upon neighboring Canaanite tribes, using this verse:
"David and his men went up, and made a raid on the
Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for those were the
inhabitants of the land, who were of old, as you go to Shur, even to the
land of Egypt."
1 Samuel 27:8
They claim this proves the Geshurites were Canaanites. Then
they point out that David took "Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur
as wife" (2 Samuel 3:2-5). In their eyes that makes David a bad fellow,
because they think this proves that David disobeyed the commandment against
taking Canaanite wives. That looks like a solid case against David - until
you review the rest of the facts. What facts?
The heart of it is that there were two different distinct
people groups translated as Geshurites in some Bibles. Easton's
Bible Dictionary lists these as follows:
* The inhabitants of Geshur. They maintained
friendly relations with the Israelites on the east of Jordan (
Joshua 12:5 ; Joshua 13:11 Joshua 13:13 ).
* Another aboriginal people of Palestine who inhabited the
south-west border of the land. Geshuri in Joshua 13:2 should be "the
Geshurite," not the Geshurites mentioned in ver. 11,13, but the tribe
mentioned in 1 Samuel 27:8 .
The tribes that David raided from Ziklag included the nearby
Geshurites located in the "southwest border of the land." Notice now
that these Geshurites were Canaanites, located near the Philistines, in the
direction of Egypt:
"YHWH said to [Joshua], “You are old and advanced in
years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed. “This is
the land that still remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and
all the Geshurites; from the Shihor, which is before Egypt, even to
the border of Ekron northward, which is counted as Canaanite""
(see the map near the bottom of this page). Joshua 13:1-3
David didn't marry these people, he killed them as the Torah
commanded.
