Today's Readings and Stuff -- Sunday, 27 April 2014

short shrift and tense evening as we watch the weather reports.  Bad weather in the southern plains and aiming at Arkansas among other places.  We lived in Arkansas 1999-2004, our daughter and son-in-law, and his family, and many friends, still live there.  And others in central Kansas, Okalahoma, NE Texas, and parts of Louisiana.  And the heavy weather is headed there.  So our concerns are not only for the areas and the people in general, but also for those we know, love, and miss seeing.  May the Lord protect them!

Dear Wife was well enough to come to church services with me this morning.  I think she is becoming comfortable there, and we spent time after services speaking with the church office manager.  I think they have a real need for Wife's assistance in the maintenance of their computer systems and in training some of the volunteers whose computer skills are a bit primitive.  We had hoped to find a place of service, and perhaps this is where the Lord was directing us.

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The Old Testament reading today is chapters 17 and 18 in 2nd Samuel.  Rebellion begins at home, and David had not always acted wisely.  Few of us have, but few of us expect to have our own son making serious efforts to kill us.  Not unknown in that culture, nor indeed in several cultures today, including in the Arabic ones.  Turns out badly for the rebel, as it generally does.

II Samuel 17

1	Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:
2	And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:
3	And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.
4	And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.
5	Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.
6	And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou.
7	And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time.
8	For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.
9	Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.
10	And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.
11	Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.
12	So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one.
13	Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.
14	And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.
15	Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counseled.
16	Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.
17	Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David.
18	Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man's house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down.
19	And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known.
20	And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
21	And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said unto David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counseled against you.
22	Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan.
23	And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.
24	Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
25	And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa was a man's son, whose name was Ithra an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab's mother.
26	So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead.
27	And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,
28	Brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse,
29	And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

II Samuel 18

1	And David numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds over them.
2	And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also.
3	But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succor us out of the city.
4	And the king said unto them, What seemeth you best I will do. And the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands.
5	And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.
6	So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim;
7	Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men.
8	For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
9	And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.
10	And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak.
11	And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle.
12	And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king's son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.
13	Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me.
14	Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.
15	And ten young men that bare Joab's armor compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him.
16	And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.
17	And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.
18	Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place.
19	Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD hath avenged him of his enemies.
20	And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day: but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead.
21	Then said Joab to Cushy, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushy bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.
22	Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushy. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready?
23	But howsoever, said he, let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushy.
24	And David sat between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone.
25	And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near.
26	And the watchman saw another man running: and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings.
27	And the watchman said, Me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.
28	And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed be the LORD thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.
29	And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.
30	And the king said unto him, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still.
31	And, behold, Cushy came; and Cushy said, Tidings, my lord the king: for the LORD hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee.
32	And the king said unto Cushy, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushy answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.
33	And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

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The New Testament reading is verses 1-19 in chapter 21 of the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 21:1-19

1	And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.
2	And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.
3	And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:
4	For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.
5	And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said,
6	As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
7	And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?
8	And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.
9	But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
10	Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
11	And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
12	But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.
13	And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
14	Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:
15	For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
16	And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
17	And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
18	But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
19	In your patience possess ye your souls.