Dr Paul Allen

David and Saul (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) One of the more vexing problems in the Old Testament is how to parse the parallel accounts of 1 Chronicles 21:1–17 and 2 Samuel 24:1–25. 1 Chronicles 21:1–2 Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Go, number Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me a report, that I may know their number.” 2 Samuel 24:1–2 Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” The two accounts are nearly identical, save for one glaring disparity: The Chronicler’s version has Satan as David’s instigator, while 2 Samuel names Yahweh , the God of Israel , as the provocateur. The Chronicler’s a...

The rules of war for God ’s people are laid down in Deuteronomy 20, and they represent a control of justice, fairness, and kindness in the use of the sword. Special hardship conditions were defined as a ground for excusing individual soldiers from military duty until those conditions were cleared ( Deut. 20:5–7). Even those who had no such excuse but were simply afraid and reluctant to fight were likewise allowed to go home (v. 8). Unlike the contemporary armies of other nations, who might attack a city without giving it an opportunity to surrender on terms (1 Sam. 11:2–3), the armies of Israel were required to grant a city an opportunity to surrender without bloodshed before moving on to mount a full-scale siege and destruction of the city. In this context, the women and children were to be spared from death and cared for by their captors (Deut. 20:14). Only in the case of the particularly depraved inhabitants of Canaan itself was there to be total destruction (v. 16). The reason g...

"Death of King Saul", 1848 by Elie Marcuse (Germany and France, 1817-1902) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) 1 Samuel 22:1–23:29; 1 Peter 1:13–19; Psalm 123:1–124:8 Distress can unite people. In difficult moments, in shared pain, we discover our true friends. When David fled from King Saul , his divided family was suddenly supportive of him, as was every man in the region who was distressed or indebted (1 Sam 22:1–2; compare 1 Sam 17:28–30). A shared sense of despair reveals the humanity in us all, helping us to get past our disputes and work together for one purpose. For a disjointed band of brothers to be united beyond initial circumstance, they must have one purpose. That’s precisely what David gave his motley crew: They would fight the Philistines ( Israel ’s greatest enemies) together (1 Sam 23:1–5). David took a terrible situation and turned it into an opportunity to do what needed to be done. As rightful king, David was obligated to protect Israel. Yet it still took ...

If a person were to ask you what the most widely misunderstood story was in the Bible, what would you say? The night meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3 ? The creation story of Genesis 1? The  entire   book of Revelation ? There’s definitely shortage of competitors when it comes to “commonly misunderstood texts of scripture”, right? That being what it is, I’d suggest that the most widely  known  is probably the story of David and Goliath , and that story is  always  misunderstood…hence the title.  Usually, the story is generally taken as some sort of underdog tale meant to encourage people to tackle impossible odds, or something along those lines. Sorry. That is not what it’s about. Part of the confusion about the story is because people  assume  they know the meaning of the story based on cultural assumptions, but part of that is also from a lack of contextual understanding.  We tend to not pay attention to...

Jesus is considered by scholars such as Weber to be an example of a charismatic religious leader. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) There is a homelessness that is distinctly Christian . Because a Christian is no longer of this world, even though he or she remains in the world (John  17:14 –15). Most of us understand this abstractly. We know that Jesus chose us out of this world (John  15:19 ) and that Hebrews calls us to live as “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews  11:13 ). But the concrete experience of never quite fitting is hard to get used to. No matter where we are, no matter what we do, we’re always foreigners and feel somewhat out of place. Until we really come to grips with this reality, we will repeatedly feel disoriented and disappointed. This results in plenty of “grumbling and disputing” ( Philippians   2:14 ) until we are willing to embrace that Our fallen, failing bodies are not our home. Someday they will be resurrected in perfectio...

The Promulgation of the Law at Mount Sinai, by the illustrators of the Figures de la Bible, 1728 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) While God characterized him as “a man after His own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14), David also developed a good reputation among the people: “The commanders of the Philistines went out to battle, and it happened as often as they went out, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul. So his name was highly esteemed” (1 Sam. 18:30). The fact that his name was esteemed meant he himself was esteemed. When we say that someone has a good name, we mean there is something about his character worthy of our praise. When Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the commandments for the second time, he “called upon the name of the Lord. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness and truth; who keeps loving-kindness for thousands, who forgiv...