Sunday 1st December
Read 2 Samuel 24:24b-25
“So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. 25 David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer on behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.” (NIVUK)
The book of Samuel started without a king. It began with a woman praying before a corrupt priest in a tent who was willing to offer her son’s life to the Lord. Samuel finishes with the offering of a sacrifice by a king at the place where the temple would be built. An offering of his own life on behalf of the people.
We are asked to reflect on the nature of God’s rule amongst His people. How far have we come? Is rule under the Lord’s anointed the best way to bring peace on the earth? As much as David tried to reflect God’s will and way in the world, we finish Samuel in the knowledge that he is flawed too. There is still to come one who would bring about peace on earth and establish God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.
It involves sacrifice also. Not far from the very location that David offered these sacrifices, Jesus would offer up His own life to bring about the peace that eluded Israel and the world for so many years. Immanuel, God with us and for us.
