Family Dynasty Drama - The Entertaining Bits of the Bible

David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 1 Samuel 22:1

The day’s readings

The Bible isn’t a book. It’s a library.

I often take inspiration from Psalms. And when I am trying to say something inspirational, I will turn to them. But Psalms is one book from a big library, albeit the most popular one. There are other treasures here to be explored.

Parts of this library are just flat out entertaining. I refer you to First and Second Samuel. If you can get over the idea that it’s supposed to be holy, it reads like the television shows Empire or Succession, family dramas of power struggles.

Rival gangs, betrayal, murder, rape, adultery—why should church people read this stuff?

Nah, I am not going to cherry pick the story of David’s repentance (it’s coming in the second season) and overlook the rest. I will claim the whole saga.

This is our family story. This is where we come from. It’s a bad habit to forget, to rewrite our past as though it is a glorious virtuous past. If it seems shameful, well, yes. Let’s take it out, expose it to the light, and develop the habit of acknowledging what is hard to remember.

We can practice remembering and claiming what happened 2500 years ago to warm up for remembering what happened 300, 200, 100 years ago. Remembering the whole story, not just the virtuous glorious parts.

There is no wholeness and healing without truth. David will learn that in Season 2.

Stay tuned.

Have you ever read First and Second Samuel straight through? What are your thoughts?