Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 157
2S
| 6:17–7:9
S am u el – K I N G S
145
daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King Da
vid leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt
for him.
They brought the Ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the special tent David had prepared for it. And David sacrificed burnt offerings
and peace offerings to the Lord. When he had finished his sacrifices,
David blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
Then he gave to every Israelite man and woman in the crowd a loaf of
bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people returned
to their homes.
When David returned home to bless his own family, Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. She said in disgust, “How distinguished
the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant
girls like any vulgar person might do!”
David retorted to Michal, “I was dancing before the Lord, who chose
me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of
Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, and I
am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in
my own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I
am distinguished!” So Michal, the daughter of Saul, remained childless
throughout her entire life.
When King David was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him
rest from all the surrounding enemies, the king summoned Nathan the
prophet. “Look,” David said, “I am living in a beautiful cedar palace, but
the Ark of God is out there in a tent!”
Nathan replied to the king, “Go ahead and do whatever you have in
mind, for the Lord is with you.”
But that same night the Lord said to Nathan,
“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord has declared:
Are you the one to build a house for me to live in? I have never lived
in a house, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this
very day. I have always moved from one place to another with a tent
and a Tabernacle as my dwelling. Yet no matter where I have gone with
the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel’s tribal leaders,
the shepherds of my people Israel. I have never asked them, “Why
haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar house?”’
“Now go and say to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord
of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I took you from tending sheep in
the pasture and selected you to be the leader of my people Israel. I
have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed