Discover The Word

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets” (Hebrews 11:32).

IDEA: While the writer of the letter to the Hebrews treats David with a single word, the writers of the Bible treat him extensively.

PURPOSE: To help listeners see that David had much in his life to commend him as a person of faith and much in his life that might make us question that he was a person of faith. The purpose today: people of faith have much to commend them but do not necessarily live lives without flaws.

Does reading the Bible sometimes raise questions in your mind that can create doubt?

When I read the letter to the Hebrews, there are questions I have that puzzle me about the choices that the writer makes.

I. Have you noticed that the writer of the letter to the Hebrews deals with David in a very off-handed way?

Time will not permit to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah and David and Samuel.

Contrast the writer’s treatment of David with Abraham and Moses. While the writer of the letter to the Hebrews mentioned David in a single word, the writers of the Bible tell us more about David’s life and thoughts than about any other character, more than about Abraham and Moses.

How do you explain this?

Is it because the writer doesn’t think that David is a good example of a person of faith?

David committed some pretty major-league sins and therefore the writer of Hebrews could dismiss him. That doesn’t jibe with some others the writer refers to.

A second explanation is that he didn’t think much of any of the kings. He certainly doesn’t mention other kings in the list. Were all of them bad?

A third explanation: Is it because, taking him at his word, he didn’t have time to do it?

II. The question isn’t beside the point: why does the author of Hebrews dismiss the extensive treatment that David gets in the rest of the Bible?

Most of 1 Samuel, all of 2 Samuel up to chapter 2 of 1 Kings and a large part of Chronicles (1 Chronicles 11 – 29) are devoted to David. We know more about David’s actions and his thoughts than about any other man or woman in the Scriptures.

In addition, from that time on, he is often referred to by Old Testament and New Testament writers.

For example, in Romans 4:4-6 Paul quotes David from Psalm 32.

III. Let’s take the statement in Hebrews 11:32 at face value. If the writer had spent a much time really discussing David as he had Abraham and Moses, the chapter might have gotten out of bounds.

Sometimes when you’re preaching a sermon or teaching a class, there is good material you have to leave out.

But we do have some time and we will take time to look at David as a person of faith and see some things we might gain from the study of his life and of his psalms.