A few thoughts on 1 Kings today

In my study this week of 1 Kings I keep finding myself going back to 1 Samuel. In the books of 1st and 2nd Kings we have name after name, and generation after generation of kings, assassinations, civil war, and usurpers. Why? What changed or happened that turned the people of God towards an endless cycle of sin instead of faithfulness? 

Throughout the books of 1st Samuel and much of 2nd Samuel the text speaks glowingly of David. Everything changes in 2 Samuel 11:1

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 

This passage introduces the well-known story of David's adultery with Bathsheba, David's attempted coverup, and the murder of her husband Uriah (who was a close loyal soldier of David's). What led to all this evil? We typically think of David's worst decisions being those when he was at his worst. Yet, just as a small voice may cause a mighty avalanche to fall, and a final piece of straw may break a camel's back, it was a seemingly small decision that David made which led to all the rest of this horror. 

We're told that "In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war,"...."David remained in Jerusalem". Instead of David going out to do what he should be doing (and that which had won so many victories as recounted in 2 Samuel 1-10), David stayed home. It wasn't some massive, devious plot that led David down the path that would end in death (for his own offspring, as well as for a trusted advisor). It was a simple decision to stay home, rather than go do what he had done for years. 

It is entirely consistent with the timeline, and the thematic flow of the books of Samuel and Kings to pin the definitive moment in which the history of the United monarchy of Israel hinges is the moment in which a king made a simple decision to not do what he should do, and instead leave himself open to “alternative” options. 

Because of David’s “staying home” in 2 Samuel 11:1 instead of going off to war he plunged himself, his family, and his lineage into a cycle of destruction that would end with every boarder David had fought to capture, overwhelmed, and every city David won, lost. The kingdom which was once united and under the rule of one king's family, would be split and be ruled by waring clan leaders. 

Just as in Judges we see a cycle of sin get worse and worse with each generation, we see the same story unfolding, albeit with different people in different time periods. While the names change the realities don’t. Sin is insidious, destructive, and even in its most “innocent” forms is a recipe for generational disaster. 

Sometimes it's not big moments that are big. Sometimes its small moments of overcoming temptation where sin is defeated. Sometimes the most ambitious thoughts we should have, are to be dutiful and faithful in the simplest of choices.