David the King: Reflections on the Spirituality of I & II Samuel - Bishop Robert Barron

the following is an e wtn special presentation well it is now a great honor to introduce to you someone who is truly intergalactically smart namely Bishop Robert Barron who is no stranger to the Napa Institute Bishop Baron I think everyone knows is the auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for the region of Santa Barbara and of course prior to that Bishop Erin you know instituted formed and directed a word on fire a global media ministry which in which he is written honestly hundreds of articles produce hundreds of videos done hundreds of letters and responses to question questions I mean it's just an enormous leap valuable ministry for evangelization of Catholicism of Catholicism especially among young people he he is noted of course for his PBS series Catholicism which a lot of non-catholics have seen evangelization continues through his ages prior to starting word on fire he did his master's degree as and rubella just mentioned at Catholic University of America he did his PhD at the Institute catholique dipali he also then went on to become professor of theology at kenric Seminary and then visiting professor anakinra Mundelein seminary and then visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame and the Pontifical University of st. Thomas Aquinas in Rome he also then went on to become the rector of Mundelein seminary and employ an enviable task if ever there was one and still continue to do word on fire while he was there until he was appointed in 2015 to be the auxiliary bishop of los angeles a truly accomplished truly brilliant truly evangelical spirit we welcome to the stage Bishop Robert Barron well thank you father Spitzer and thanks everyone for being here you know that line he stole from me intergalactically smart but I applied it to him I wrote an article about father Spitzer and I said this guy is of some kind of alien I don't know where he gets where he have you been plowing through his books you've been lecturing on these books there you are they're terrific I think I found them oh not that many months ago and I plowed through I think was volume two first which I love and wrote about and I'm working through volume three right now they're terrific I think because it's a very high-level evangelization and apologetics so read father Spitzer as much as you can also congratulations to to Tim bush for pulling off this wonderful conference I was here I think was three years ago and I think it was half the size when I was here so to see so many people and it's just good for us isn't it because we've all been hearing correctly I mean what a dark time were going through in the culture and so for us Catholics to get together and to share ideas and inspiration and just to beat each other's presence is great it's a good thing so Tim thank you for getting this thing off the ground here's my travel itinerary I don't want that I want my notes don't worry for the thug hey listen I got limited time 33 minutes and Counting right there I say no it's okay I know you've had a long morning what I want to talk about everybody is King David it my strike he's a little bit odd why is this man coming to Napa to talk about King David well the practical reason is about five years ago I was invited to write in this wonderful commentary series that Brazos press puts out they have theologians commenting on the biblical books so Yaroslav Pelican himself did the first one on the Acts of the Apostles and every one from Stan Lee Howard wast to David Burrell to matthew levering many others have written so I was very honored to be asked to write on 2 samuel which wonderful text dealing with King David and I must say I've written about 15 books I've never enjoyed researching a book more than this one to be immersed in these great texts around King David and to search out the theological and spiritual meaning of this really pivotal text in the Bible so I wanted to share with you in this brief time I have just some of these insights there's so much you could get that's an ad for my book by the way that was subtly inserted they're just too worried about about 1 & 2 Samuel I think and I much have the Iliad and Odyssey in mind when I say this I think it's simply one of the greatest texts to come down to us from the ancient world not just for its theology which is enormous ly important but simply as a literary text as a text that explores human psychology for the vividness of its characters for its narrative Verve I can't think whether you have a better text from the ancient world than one in 2 Samuel that distinction by the way is somewhat artificial it's a function of the length of Scrolls when the book was translated into Greek so so much fit on one scroll that becomes you know 1 Samuel and our system and then 2 Samuel so there's no great difference in terms of authorship and theological theme and so on and so forth who wrote it well the short answer is we just don't know when was it written well many people speculate a lot of the biblical books are written around that post-exilic period when Israel had had a pretty long theological development and also a somewhat a serene time when this kind of literary work could be done I find persuasive the view that there's this single what they call deuteronomistic history going roughly from the book of Deuteronomy through 2nd Kings that one author at least one editor supervised the writing about whole literature because there's a commonality of language theological theme etc so I think 1 & 2 Samuel probably fit within that a great deuteronomistic history now themes of importance abound in this text and here's one I just want to put right up front and I'll look at it from different angles the theme of kingship David is the Great King in the tradition he's the great king of Israel the paradigmatic King the fact that Jesus is the King of Kings is the new David the son of David is extremely important but look at David is a pivotal figure right in the middle of the biblical revelation you might say who pivots back toward Adam who was the primal King and pivots forward toward Christ who's the King of Kings I won't say a word about that link to Adam which i think is very important go back to the opening verses of the Bible and this great story of creation here's the first thing to notice about it in almost all the creation myths of the ancient world all the creation stories you find something like this order coming about through a primal act of violence one God conquering another one group of God's overwhelming another often making the universe from the the body parts of the conquered gods and so on what's first of all striking about Genesis I think is that creation happens in a non-violent way order comes not through violence but through a act of speech let there be light and there was light let the world come forth and it came forth etc God's nonviolent act of speech gives rise to the order of the world but then everybody watch this as everything comes forth from God so the planets and the stars and the earth itself and the animals and the mountains and the rivers and so on what are you seeing you're seeing things that in various places and times in the ancient world were worshipped as divinities people worship the moon and the Sun and the stars they worship the earth they worship the mountains what is the author of Genesis saying over and over again these are not God good indeed very good but not God I remember I just got into Santa Barbara my pasture region and there was a an ecumenical gathering you know and we people all the different religions and then some kind of more a hippie type people you know we're talked about the new AG thing and they were just really singing the praises of the earth you know and I said well I'll do that too I said in the cadences of the book of Genesis but the world is good but it's not God when we get that wrong a lot of trouble ensues and so Genesis keeps saying weirdy divin izing these various elements don't worship them however it is not denigrating them rather it's putting them in their proper place now what do I mean many scholars point out that as the elements come forth in this stately manner you know one day following the other what we're witnessing is a kind of liturgical procession think of the elements of a liturgical procession coming forth in a stately way one after the other who comes at the end of a liturgical procession I was at the end of one today as a bishop so the the priest or bishop the one who presides at the prayer comes at the end what's the role of creation the role of creation is to give praise to God under the leadership of the high priest now here's the role of the human race here's all of us as we know by baptism called to be priests to lead as it were all of creation in right praise now watch this theme subtly expressed throughout the opening chapters of Genesis the early commentators saw Adam before the fall as the first priest and the Garden of Eden as a kind of primal temple Adam before the fall is in the stance of odd wat Co now go back here to Pope Benedict it was at World Youth Day 2005 that he gave the young people this beautiful etymology right adora in Latin odd or rot Co means to the mouth of to be mouth to mouth that means aligned remember in the beginning of the song of songs let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth well it's his beautiful love poem but it's always been read as the relation between the kiss of his mouth means may I be in the stance of - a rat CEO lined up aligned all of my powers aligned to God into God's purposes and see when that happens then my interior tea becomes properly ordered and then around the proper ordering of the human comes the proper ordering of the culture of the city of a society of nature there's Adam before the fall the primal priest in the primal temple leading all of creation in the right praise of God don't deify creation but see it in its properly liturgical role Adam is priest he's also what king he's also King what's his task to cultivate that garden and to defend it and then having cultivated it properly to extend its influence so again the early commentator saw Adam meant to go on the march to eden eyes the world to turn the whole world into a place of right praise do you see how the priestly and the kingly elements come together in Adam so what's wrong with Adam well not we look at the original sin you might say it's a compromising of his priesthood and his kingship when Adam begins to worship something other than God namely his own ego eating from the tree of a knowledge of good and evil what happens is he falls apart interiorly the disintegration of the self follows from bad praise that makes sense that's right on that wonderful word orthodoxy which in the derivative sense means right belief but the fundamental sense of that term is right praise doxa in greek right praise orthodoxy the right praise of all of creation that's the solution what's the problem bad praise so one way to look at original sin is Adam falling out of this relationship and then around him the city the society the culture nature itself falling apart to the disintegration secondly a way to read original sin Adam is a bad king why well he allows the serpent to influence him he allows the serpent to have sway in the garden he doesn't properly defend the garden and therefore he's not able to extend the influence of the garden more widely he's a dysfunctional King now now what's God's purpose throughout the Bible you might say to restore and eventually to enhance in a way that we didn't imagine possible this great identity of priesthood and kingship therefore Israel begins to look to search to seek for the true priest and the true king now we know who that is don't we we were on the far side of the Incarnation know that it reaches a climax in Jesus the true High Priest now read the letter to the Hebrews the true king of kings what's he called he's called the new Adam by Paul which has tons of resonance but see the point I'm making he's the new Adam the new priest the new king he's also called the son of David his name born in David City well who's the if you want pivotal or transitional figure between Adam and Christ David David when Israel finds not its absolute fulfillment but finds a beautiful expression of the kingly priest or the priestly King okay that's for the main point I want to make and I just want to now look at it from a couple different angles in my 21 minutes excuse my voice - I got I've got a bit of a cold I'm recovering from um let's go back to the very beginning of the samuel literature the beginning of 1 samuel and this wonderful story of Hannah of Hannah now who is Hannah you could say she's someone at the lowest end of the social spectrum she's the lowest rung of the social ladder a childless woman now this unfair but in in biblical times would have been seen as someone of very low status and yet she is one of the most significant figures in Salvation history because it's through Hannah and it will see now her great gift that the story of salvation goes on now I'm going to read you something of Tim I'm sorry if Tim bushes here I stole this from my room I'll bring it back I promise I didn't bring my Bible with me you know right before 1 Samuel is a book of Ruth and that's a wonderful book course there's all kinds of reasons it's there but in the deuteronomistic history if we follow that of reading the one chronologically that that precedes 1 Samuel is the book of Judges and now listen to how judges ends it's really relevant to us I think this little line listen oh very last verse of the book of Judges in those days there was no king in Israel and every man did what was right in his own eyes now America 2016 we go like yeah yeah perfect that's what we want autonomy there's no king tell me what to do but see Anna biblical reading this is not good news at all this is the worst possible news Israel is looking for a king because a king who will properly gather the tribes in right praise and right order will make Israel live up to its mission of being the focal point now for all the nations of the world see Mount Zion true pull of the earth all the tribes go what the tribes of the Lord that means the tribes of Israel but then through their dynamism all the tribes of the world without a king every man doing what was right in his own eyes what is that but an invitation to scattering now we're back at the Tower of Babel the scattering of Israel and therefore the scattering of the world see this is not the place to be now we who did we reverence autonomy but that's not a great biblical value the great biblical value if you want is the enemy right where God becomes the no mas the law of your life not autonomy I aim my own law that's a recipe for disaster in the Bible so what does God do well see God never tires of sending rescue operations that's the story it seems to me of the Bible we're always getting off the beam we have from the beginning you know that lovely story from the rabbis I love those that someone asked one of the rabbis how much time was there between the creation and the fall and the answer was about 15 minutes right you know we tend to get off the beam that's the point you know okay so God is now gonna try to launch a rescue operation and he does so in in typical typical fashion through someone at the lowest end of the the ladder so we're told of this man called Elkanah and his two wives right pnina and hannah so Hannah's one of his two wives the former has given him children but the latter has not and so up they go on a regular basis to Shiloh which was the holy city before the temples established in Jerusalem that's where the Ark of the Covenant was and Hanna there as we know prays and she sheds tears praying for a child I love this now from mr. sensitivity listen to Elkanah the the husband he says why do you grieve am I not more to you than ten sons well the answer implied of course is evidently not you know evidently not honey the point of course here is that God works and typical the Bible typical of the great tradition of a church - God works through the most lowly and despised one of the great principles from the spiritual masters is were you stumble that's where you dig for treasure right and those of us who you know we're addicted to success that's one of the things we get addicted to easily success power privilege look at me but the Bible is never that interested in all that business worldly talk the Bible holds up a complete failure make me the crucified Jesus look at him a complete failure in the eyes of the world were you stumble where you trip and fall that's where you dig for treasure so the treasure is gonna come now from Hannah listen to her prayer now if you look with pity on the misery of your handmaid if you give your handmaid a male child I will give him to the Lord for as long as he lives and then another figure comes in displaying the same level of pastoral sensitivity as Elkanah namely Eli the priest listen how long will you make a drunken show of yourself sober up from your wine he says to poor Hannah who's been praying and Hannah with an extraordinary dignity beautiful dignity and self possession says I've had neither wine or liquor I was only pouring out my troubles before the Lord again this despised figure then that's the point here is he's being made fun of imagine having your clock cleaned by the high priest like that you know and publicly humiliated and yet maintaining her dignity she explains what she's doing it's from her that the salvation will come she gives birth the Lord hears her prayer she gives birth to Samuel who was begged of the Lord and then Hannah performs this act which i think is absolutely paradigmatic now in the Bible it corresponds precisely with John Paul called the law of the gift right which I would sum up as your being increases in measure that you give it away now if you take nothing else for my talk please take that from John Paul to your being increases in the measure that you give it away now that's not just nice poetry there's a metaphysics behind that see because God is love right that's what God is straight through and therefore when you receive the divine life you can't hang on to it because if you hang on to it as a possession it stops being the divine life that makes sense God exists in gift form he is love and therefore if you try like this like the prodigal son father give me my share coming to me it's lovely in the Greek there he asked for the Asiya coming to me it's the Greek word for substance but it meant in the Koine of the time it meant like my money give me the money coming to me so I can hang on to it well what happens the prodigal son is he fritters it away of course he does because the divine life can't be held onto in that form it's only had on the fly right namely as you receive it give it as a gift and then you'll get more when you get more give that as a gift and you get more until it becomes until it becomes the water bubbling up in you to eternal life as Jesus told a woman at the well right the same issue is you come the well every day and you grab and you and you drink and you take and you're thirsty again well of course you are because you can't have the divine life in that form what you receive give what you receive give and you get more of it so here's Hanna at this pivotal moment in salvation history and she receives a gift from the Lord her son Samuel and what did she do but she gives him back and out of that generous gift flows you might say the rest of salvation history it's from that gift that the thing is able to move forward what blocks the purposes of God fellow sinners is when we make that little move of clenching and grasping I'm gonna take it and make it my own no no it's the people who enter into the loop and the rhythm of grace that allow the divine purposes to continue so that's a little bit about Hannah and I want to say now a word about Eli we just have seen his magnificent pastoral of presence Eli and his sons so he's the high priest there at Shiloh we've seen he's not a shining example of pastoral sensitivity he needs CPE or something you know we'd say in the seminary world but on the other hand he did he took a Samuel in and he raises him he's kind of a mentor to young Samuel we hear about his two sons right hophni and Phinehas and they are bad right through so Eli's kind of an ambiguous figure I'd say hophni and Phinehas are bad right through what are they doing well they're taking advantage of people by abusing their own priesthood really listen they were having relations with the women serving at the entry of the meeting tent and they take the best of the meat offerings for the sacrifices so they're they're taking advantage of their power and position as priests to abuse the people now complaints we hear are brought before Eli he heard repeatedly how his sons were mistreating all Israel so they the people bring the complaint to the high priest to his credit initially Eli speaks to his two sons why are you doing such things it's not a good report I hear that the people are spreading about you so he he does he warns them he speaks to them but then often in Phineas disregard their fathers warnings and go on doing exactly what they were doing at which point God sends a messenger with this message listen yes the time is coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your family so that no man in your family shall reach old age there's a warning from God because he's not acting to deal with the bad behavior of his sons here's a motif everybody I think is right through the David literature the samuel literature is the theme of the ineffective king now go back remember Adams bad King Adam didn't care for the garden didn't tend the garden adequately didn't protect it from the evil influence you know we all know in Shakespeare we all know about Macbeth we all know about Richard the third people that are grasping for power but there are people in Shakespeare think of King Lear who abandons his power at the beginning of the play or think of Titus Andronicus who's offered the crown of Rome and oh no he refuses it and from that great refusal flows all the tragedy of those two plays it's a king that doesn't do his job a king that's not adequately protecting what's given to him to protect that causes an awful lot of trouble watch that all the way through the Samuel literature and you see it strongly here now eventually we hear that Samuel comes of age and we have that delicious story we all love it it's beautiful story of the Lord calling to young Samuel remember and and because it says you know vision was infrequent how come by the way vision was infrequent God's fault God decided to stop appearing to stop speaking no I think it's it's witnessed to a culture that's grown blind and deaf a culture that has forgotten how to see and how to hear sound familiar at all we who live in this now hyper secularized society one way to describe a secularized society is one that's forgotten how to see and how to hear in regard to the things of God well this is Israel now having drifted far from the ways of God eventually the Lord gets through to young Samuel Eli says you'll go and say here's your servant I'm listening and so on and it's beautiful it's a story about spiritual direction about the way God speaks about how we hear all that's true but I think what's interesting is we always end the store we there don't we you know when we read it in the lectionary that's where the story ends with Samuel beautifully going in to listen to the Lord but we don't listen to what the Lord says here's what he says so imagine this kid the Lord speaking Nicole listen listen here's what he said I am about to do something in Israel that will cause the ears of everyone who hears it to ring on that day I will carry out in full against Eli everything I threatened against his family though he knew his sons were blaspheming God he did not reprove them that's what God says deliver to little Samuel this is not a gentle message you know of all as well and no no in other words what he's saying is I'm gonna do what I warned him about unless he takes action I'm gonna that's that's what God's gonna do what happens next Israel gets in a battle with the Philistines and it's a dreadful battle a terrible loss and so Israel says let's get the Ark of the Covenant we'll bring the Ark of the Covenant itself into battle that'll win the day it's even a greater disaster 30,000 we here are killed and the ark is taken away and hophni and Phineas are killed the news is brought back to Eli he's waiting by the gate of the city when he receives it in his shock he falls over backward and dies huh now here's my question here's my question to you does any of this story sound familiar to you we had bad priests abusing their people taking advantage of their people because of their office we hear of a word of complaint brought to their superiors to the high priest who speaks some words but doesn't really act further warnings from God followed by inactivity resulting finally in a disaster for Israel that's story the last 25 years seems to me saccade never God never abandons his church but we need to read our church by the way called the new Israel we need to read our church through a biblical lens what's been going on in the past 25 30 years yes a disaster but God doesn't abandon us but rather God is moving us through it seems to me this process of cleansing and reform and renewal painful yes yes this was a disaster for Israel we've been through the worst period in American Catholic Church history no question about it in my mind if you'd asked me 30 years ago what was the worst period would have said 19th century when they were burning down convent snowmen last 30 years far worse than that seems to me but see God does not abandon the new Israel his church but rather God is following this pattern of cleansing and renewal I think we see it here I got five minutes to talk about David and Goliath and all kinds of fun things here let me I'll do two babies two more quick things with you let's let's say a word about about David Goliath I remember years ago when I was a young priest I gave a talk in the parish about David and Goliath and the pastor got up and he was making the announcement so he goes father Barron's gonna be speaking on David Goliath you gotta come out and see how that thing turns out all right who knows who knows how that's gonna go I'm skipping a couple things here with time in mind and trying to get a cut to the chase if I can what's one of the first things we hear about David at the Spirit of God rushed on David spear of God rushed upon David I said it at Mass this morning gratia prima right grace first grace first and I mentioned it if Luther had said Grazia Prima not gratia Sola we would we'd be okay the troubles gratia Sola but Grazia prima right grace comes first David's chosen the Spirit of God rushes upon David known as please when David acknowledges that and turns to the Lord consistently things go well when when David turns away from that when David relies upon his own strength that's when things go bad basic spiritual principle grace comes first it rushes upon him we've all been chosen every one of us this King is priests we've all been chosen baptism turn to the Lord that's where your strength comes when you rely on your own things go Ben next we hear that David is a singer so he comes to soothe Saul right who's been received a bad spirit from Yahweh we hear David's a warrior and David is a singer I think it's very important everybody just from a historical standpoint to see that the great leaders they are warriors to be sure but they're also poets aren't they think of Lincoln I mean famously in our country I mean how many remember Lincoln's particular policies about you know the fiscal arrangements and the cement but who forgets Lincoln's words right where Lincoln became the sweet singer of America as David was the sweet singer of Israel many he points out you know that Churchill fought with the one weapon he had in 1940 which was the English language you know all I have to give you his blood toil tears and sweat will fight on the beaches will fight in the streets will fight well he was marshalling the power of the language to defend the country I often tell seminarians and because everyone in this room is a leader in the church in some way that we lead through our persuasive and poetic speech to articulate the vision to articulate what God is about it's a huge part of our leadership and David demonstrates that no more wonderfully than when he stands against Goliath you come at me with sword and scimitar I come after you with the power of the Lord God what's he doing they're not just threatening this this giant adversary but he's summing up the very identity of Israel that's where Israel finds its power that's where the New Israel still finds its power I love this about Goliath as he's described I don't even know what a lot of these words mean but they sound cool he's he's worrying bronze Greaves and a bronze scimitar slung from a baldric I don't even know what a baldric is but it sounds mean doesn't it the shaft of his javelin was like a Weaver's Hetal bar and he Weaver's what's a Hetal bar I imagine it's that thing it's iron head weighed 600 pounds well here's the point the scholars say that Goliath is wearing somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand pounds of armor so I always think of I'm out here in California I think of Schwarzenegger in one of his movies from the 80s you know in full Terminator mode with the sunglasses and that that's what we're meant to see here we're meant to see in Goliath the full array of worldly power and self-protection remember this is origins reading of the book of Exodus when the the Egyptians have enslaved the Israelites and they make the Israelites do two things to build monuments for the Pharaoh and to build fortified cities now origins point is that's what we all do all the time we sinners we take the best of us the best of our creativity intelligence and and courage and so on and we dedicated two monuments to ourselves look at me and fortified cities protecting ourselves right that's much of the drop of human life is is hey if they noticed me and am I protected from possible attacks well there's Goliath now Schwarzenegger covered in thousand pounds of armor is the way a lot of us move through life now this is where the spiritual masters come in and it's fellow sinners you know I'm talking about do you feel that way sometimes that you're kind of moving through life because you're so concerned about protecting your ego all the time how does David come after him he tries to put on Saul's armor what a lovely detail but he can't move in it you know he's not used to it and he can't move in it so David goes out unprotected but mobile is a light on his feet there's a spiritual symbolism there so much was go through life we down with all the preoccupations of self-protection but to go out to face life with that kind of blithe spirit of trust in the Lord that's a better way to move and to live and then of course we see it's anticipated here it's fulfilled on the cross of Jesus what we see is we're not gonna conquer Goliath so much by taking him on on his own terms all right you've got a thousand pounds of armor I'm gonna put two thousand pounds of armor on you've got that gun I got a bigger gun that tends not to work but rather it's a different strategy employed by David many years ago I got one minute left many years ago had Mundelein I had a student who was a martial arts specialist and he told me about this martial art called Aikido do you know about that anybody Aikido is is a martial art it's an art of war but it's not like a direct confrontation at watch um Jackie Chan's movies he D does Aikido which is it's to use the momentum and strength of your opponent against them right so that you deftly get out of the way at the last minute or you you you know use your own body as leverage and you bring them to the ground it's you use very power of your opponent against him and remember the student told me the purpose of Aikido is it's not to kill your opponent not to injure your opponent is to leave your opponent laughing on the ground like I can't possibly defeat you now I say it's not perfectly exemplified here it's perfectly exemplified on the cross of Jesus it seems to me but David going out practically undefended relying on the power of God and on his own kind of live and deft maneuvering to outmaneuver the great Goliath it's a hint I just finished I promise is not a commercial I just finished this a film series the pivotal players and one of our pivotal players is Michelangelo and we got in to see of course the great David sculpture and and everyone rightly sings the praises of that statue is this beautiful example of Renaissance humanism the glorification of the beauty of the body at cetera et cetera all that's true but what I emphasized was David as this pivotal biblical figure who looks back to Adam who was naked unselfconsciously so before the fall and afterwards has to cover and defend himself and looking forward to Christ naked on the cross who goes out against the Goliath of the world all the powers of the world but not with the weapons of the world but going out naked and utterly reliant upon the power of God and in that great act of Aikido out maneuvers the powers of the world I said can you see in the nakedness of David as Michelangelo portrays it both the nakedness of Adam before the fall and the nakedness of Christ on the cross and then keep in mind the same Michelangelo does that magnificent statue of the nude resurrected Christ the new Adam right I think everybody it's anticipated here in David's great battle with Goliath I got zero point zero time I do find this picture one more quick little I'll do one is I know everyone's tired you heard a lot of talk this morning let me do but pop up oh yeah let me just do this this last little image for you so David eventually after the Civil War with Saul emerges as the as the power in Israel he unites the tribes right he brings the twelve tribes together how important that was when just after David the tribes split up again north and south how significant by the way that Jesus the new David gathers the tribes the 12 apostles symbolic of the 12 tribes Jesus reaching out every opportunity to bring in the exiled tribes etc so David brings them together he's operating here as a good King he's operating here as as Adam in his kingly mode but then the king is also the priest and so David gets the Ark of the Covenant and in this great liturgical procession brings it into his capital city and beautifully memorably David dances before the ark right now how do we read that think of Adam before the fall moving in easy familiarity with Yahweh Auto ROTC ole mouth-to-mouth imitating if you want to put it this way the movements of God Adam dancing harmoniously with God what sin but a falling out of this harmonious dance dancing on my own terms according to my own ideas this harmony turning into a kind of cacophony how do we read the dance of David before the ark but humanity now being restored to this right rhythm in relationship to God he's dancing before the law it's weird isn't it you mention we'd be dancing before the traffic laws are before tax specifications or even before the constitution well no I mean we see the law is kind of a necessary evil how about the law the law that enables you to do what you want to do the law that awakens in you your own deepest desires that's a law that you want to dance before as David now dances before Yahweh they say I love this and my Bible friends here know more about it than I do Scott and Tim and others can help me with this but they say that some of the movements of the priests in the jerusalem temple built by David's son Solomon were meant to imitate the Davidic dance so some of the gestures and movements were imitating this primal dance of David and then then everybody if those moves of the temple priests had some influence upon the developing Christian liturgy is there something to our gestures and bowing and movement and procession that's meant to evoke David's dance which in turn calls to mind the great dance of Adam before the fall this is the king and the priest coming together as one I think I'll end it there because I going this much more but I think I'm ready to close there could I encourage everybody dig out your Bibles don't steal it from the room as I did but take out your Bible and read through 1 and 2 Samuel this this truly pivotal text right that heart of biblical revelation and I think you'll find enormous spiritual uplift god bless you all thanks for listening today Thanks Oh Bishop Baron thank you so very very very much for that wonderful talk I just have to say you know it really does remind us that this biblical narrative is so applicable to contemporary culture again and again and again and again you know that the same four little elements that the Bishop Baron went through are present in our lives that God gives us this instruction shows us the way to the light you know we wind up trying to abide by it and then one day we just let egotistical II ego just gets in the way and then one day we start this philosophy a new philosophy of dark philosophy I want more than enough and of course once that happens God has to let the forces of darkness that we've entered in to take its shape but then he sends his repair mission as Bishop Baron put it and in that repair mission brings us back to the light through some new surprise the surprise of grace the surprise of the Holy Spirit the surprise of taking over history and divine providence it's a beautiful scenario absolutely applicable it means we should never give up hope ever because God will keep doing an infinite number of repair missions but we got to really keep ourselves in check because that ego unchecked is going to be a dark disaster area thank you for enlightening us once again bishop very

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Length: 48min 4sec (2884 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 19 2016