by nicolaou 53 Replies latest watchtower bible
Is the message about god or the Pharoah-like king/priest hero?
Definitely about the latter. And also about the royal sanctuary (the temple of Jerusalem) on the site of which the story ends.
I agree that in many cases the gods are not the main characters in the stories, as a modern "religious" approach might imagine.
I have already talked about this in another similar thread.
It seems to me that David's sin was not taking the census per se. Exodus 30:11-15 says that whenever Israel were to be summed/numbered/counted, offerings were to be made. David didn't offer sacrifices when he took the census. This coupled with the fact that David could've taken the census just to boast about how many people he was ruler of/over. It showed pride. The other times where census were taken, they were for the purpose of the priesthood, military - they were about to go to war or wanted to know who was old enough to serve in the military - or was instructed by God. This particular census by David doesn't seem to fit any of these.
About the Gibeonites - God wasn't the one who came up with the idea of offering the "seven men" to the Gibeonites. The text says that it was the Gibeonites and they specifically ask for people of Saul's house - descendants of Saul because it was Saul who murdered lots of Gibeonites. The reason why they asked for the lives of Saul's descendants could be that since those who died couldn't procreate anymore or continue their family life, the Gibeonites wanted to do the same to Saul but the text says that David felt sorry for one of Saul's children so he didn't offer him up.
justahuman - but super nonetheless
So god was justified in killing 70,000 people because;
(a) "David didn't offer sacrifices when he took the census."
(b) "David could've taken the census just to boast about how many people he was ruler of/over"
(c) "This particular census by David doesn't seem to fit any of [those] instructed by god"
That's one scary arse, disturbing multiple choice question justahuman! Let me ask you point blank - should god's conscience be clear following his murder of 70,000 men, women and children?
Watch your ass nickolaou....Jehovah has your number!
