Sunday Sermonette: Last last words

You may recall that 2 Samuel 23 presented what purported to be David's last words, but he has had many more words to say since then and now we get what really are his last words since he in fact dies immediately after saying them. They consist of a hit list, including Shimei who David had previously promised not to kill. Well, he kept his word I guess, David had Solomon do the murder. (Shimei had called David names and thrown rocks at him in 2 Samuel 16.)

 

BTW that David ruled for 40 years shouldn't surprise us since everything in the Bible seems to last 40 years. The Israelites wandered in the desert eating manna for forty years. Solomon will reign for 40 years. So was Saul, and so will be Jehoash and Joash. And there are many other 40 year events.

Then we get a long story about Adonijah, who had thought he was going to be king, asking Baathsheba to ask Solomon to give him Abishag as a wife. Recall that Abishag was the fair maiden the court engaged to be David's bed warmer, and the idea seems to be that she's a big prize. Not that Abishag has anything to say about it. Anyhow, both Adonijah and Baathsheba seem to assume that this will be no problem, but in fact it enrages Solomon so much he has Adonijah murdered. The text doesn't explain why this is so offensive to Solomon, but the implication seems to be, as I have said, that only the king is worthy of Abishag. The book never says that Solomon in fact married her but he probably did since we will later learn that he had 700 wives. (Sic) 

 Solomon then deposes Abiathar from the priesthood. (Abiathar was the sole survivor of the massacre of the priests of Nob ordered by Saul. Yeah, the trail of murder is convoluted.) This fulfills a prophecy from Samuel that Eli's descendants would eventually lose the priesthood. Solomon then carriers out the hit David ordered on Joab, ignoring the sanctuary of the temple in order to do so. Then, for unclear reasons, Solomon decides not to kill Shimei, but to put him under house arrest. However, Shimei eventually violates the house arrest and gets killed anyway. So this is all very holy.

2 When David’s time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, ² “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, ³ and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; ⁴ that the Lord may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel.’

⁵ “Moreover you know also what Jo′ab the son of Zeru′iah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Ama′sa the son of Jether, whom he murdered, avenging^[a] in time of peace blood which had been shed in war, and putting innocent blood^[b] upon the girdle about my^[c] loins, and upon the sandals on my^[d] feet. ⁶ Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace. ⁷ But deal loyally with the sons of Barzil′lai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for with such loyalty they met me when I fled from Ab′salom your brother. ⁸ And there is also with you Shim′e-i the son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahu′rim, who cursed me with a grievous curse on the day when I went to Mahana′im; but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ⁹ Now therefore hold him not guiltless, for you are a wise man; you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.”

Death of David

¹⁰ Then David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. ¹¹ And the time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ¹² So Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established.

Solomon Consolidates His Reign

¹³ Then Adoni′jah the son of Haggith came to Bathshe′ba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably.” ¹⁴ Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” She said, “Say on.” ¹⁵ He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel fully expected me to reign; however the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, for it was his from the Lord. ¹⁶ And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me.” She said to him, “Say on.” ¹⁷ And he said, “Pray ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Ab′ishag the Shu′nammite as my wife.” ¹⁸ Bathshe′ba said, “Very well; I will speak for you to the king.”

¹⁹ So Bathshe′ba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adoni′jah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right. ²⁰ Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you.” ²¹ She said, “Let Ab′ishag the Shu′nammite be given to Adoni′jah your brother as his wife.” ²² King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask Ab′ishag the Shu′nammite for Adoni′jah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother, and on his side are Abi′athar^[e] the priest and Jo′ab the son of Zeru′iah.” ²³ Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “God do so to me and more also if this word does not cost Adoni′jah his life! ²⁴ Now therefore as the Lord lives, who has established me, and placed me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, Adoni′jah shall be put to death this day.” ²⁵ So King Solomon sent Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada; and he struck him down, and he died.

²⁶ And to Abi′athar the priest the king said, “Go to An′athoth, to your estate; for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because you shared in all the affliction of my father.” ²⁷ So Solomon expelled Abi′athar from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord which he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸ When the news came to Jo′ab—for Jo′ab had supported Adoni′jah although he had not supported Ab′salom—Jo′ab fled to the tent of the Lord and caught hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹ And when it was told King Solomon, “Jo′ab has fled to the tent of the Lord, and behold, he is beside the altar,” Solomon sent Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada, saying, “Go, strike him down.” ³⁰ So Benai′ah came to the tent of the Lord, and said to him, “The king commands, ‘Come forth.’” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benai′ah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Jo′ab, and thus he answered me.” ³¹ The king replied to him, “Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him; and thus take away from me and from my father’s house the guilt for the blood which Jo′ab shed without cause. ³² The Lord will bring back his bloody deeds upon his own head, because, without the knowledge of my father David, he attacked and slew with the sword two men more righteous and better than himself, Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Ama′sa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. ³³ So shall their blood come back upon the head of Jo′ab and upon the head of his descendants for ever; but to David, and to his descendants, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace from the Lord for evermore.” ³⁴ Then Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada went up, and struck him down and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. ³⁵ The king put Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada over the army in place of Jo′ab, and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abi′athar.

³⁶ Then the king sent and summoned Shim′e-i, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and do not go forth from there to any place whatever. ³⁷ For on the day you go forth, and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall die; your blood shall be upon your own head.” ³⁸ And Shim′e-i said to the king, “What you say is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” So Shim′e-i dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹ But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shim′e-i’s slaves ran away to A′chish, son of Ma′acah, king of Gath. And when it was told Shim′e-i, “Behold, your slaves are in Gath,” ⁴⁰ Shim′e-i arose and saddled an ass, and went to Gath to A′chish, to seek his slaves; Shim′e-i went and brought his slaves from Gath. ⁴¹ And when Solomon was told that Shim′e-i had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned, ⁴² the king sent and summoned Shim′e-i, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord, and solemnly admonish you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go forth and go to any place whatever, you shall die’? And you said to me, ‘What you say is good; I obey.’ ⁴³ Why then have you not kept your oath to the Lord and the commandment with which I charged you?” ⁴⁴ The king also said to Shim′e-i, “You know in your own heart all the evil that you did to David my father; so the Lord will bring back your evil upon your own head. ⁴⁵ But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord for ever.” ⁴⁶ Then the king commanded Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died.

So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

Footnotes

1. 1 Kings 2:5 Gk: Heb placing
2. 1 Kings 2:5 Gk: Heb blood of war
3. 1 Kings 2:5 Gk: Heb his
4. 1 Kings 2:5 Gk: Heb his
5. 1 Kings 2:22 Gk Syr Vg: Heb and for him and for Abiathar

A tale of liberty

The childish refusal of so many Americans to take simple actions and endure what is at most a minor inconvenience to save the lives of their neighbors in the name of "liberty" has reminded me of many of the paradigmatic tales in public health history. I'm going to give you one: the story of milk.

From the late 19th to the late 20th Century, life expectancy in the U.S. and other wealthy countries essentially doubled. In 1880 life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was about 40 years. Now it's nearly 80. (We've actually lost ground recently but that's another story.) While the death rate at all ages has declined, the biggest impact has been on deaths of infants and children. Today we think of the death of a child as an unbearable tragedy, but in 1890 something like 1/4 of all children died. It was commonplace. Children mostly died from infectious diseases. Why was that?


At its founding, the U.S. population was predominantly rural, but by 1900 the majority of the population in the northeast lived in cities, and by 1910 the same was true in the west and Midwest. Cow’s milk had to come into cities like New York from farms tens of miles away, at a time when there was no refrigeration, and it was often contaminated with pathogens that killed the children who drank it.

Louis Pasteur invented pasteurization in 1865, which made milk safe to drink. But the mere existence of the method didn’t matter, even 25 years later milk was not pasteurized. Then a German immigrant in New York City, a wealthy merchant named Nathan Strauss, learned about pasteurization. In 1892 he used his own money to establish a pasteurization plant in Manhattan’s East Village, and in 1893 he established “milk depots” in low income neighborhoods to sell pasteurized milk below cost. He also established a second plant to provide pasteurized milk to an orphanage on Randall’s Island, where the mortality rate was something like 15% a year. The death rate immediately dropped substantially.

 Strauss’s efforts attracted the attention of scientists and physicians, and incited a campaign to outlaw the sale of unpasteurized milk. This then attracted the attention of president Theodore Roosevelt, who in 1907 appointed a commission to study the matter. The report came back the following year with the conclusion that pasteurization would save many lives. As the reaction to public health mandates more recently might lead you to predict, the campaign to mandate pasteurization got a furious backlash, including from most milk producers. Why they thought it was good business to kill their customers I cannot say. Many in the general public also opposed the ban on raw milk, claiming that pasteurization negatively affected nutrition and taste. Nevertheless Chicago did ban the sale of raw milk in 1909, but New York didn’t get around to it until a typhoid epidemic in 1913. Nearly all major cities followed suit in the next few years, and the infant and child mortality rate plummeted.

Today, federal law bans interstate sale of raw milk, but state laws vary. Eleven states allow raw cow’s milk to be sold in retail stores without restriction, but others allow sales only directly at the farm, while 20 prohibit it entirely. I do not believe there is any validity to claims that it is nutritionally superior, but it is less dangerous than it was in 1900, because of refrigeration, because it is likely to be fresh, and because cattle today are unlikely to be infected with pathogens that can pass into their milk. 

Nevertheless I do not believe there is any "liberty right" to kill your children. Children who are sick or dead don't have any liberty. On the other hand today we enjoy the liberty to buy milk and serve it to our children with the knowledge that it is safe. That is the real meaning of freedom -- the right to make rules that create liberty.

 

Whither Covid?

I recommend this Twitter thread by John Burn-Murdoch, as most Americans and their political leaders have apparently decided that the pandemic is over. It isn't, although here in the U.S. we are in a better place than we were a year ago. 

In a nutshell, new cases and hospitalizations are rising in much of the world, including much of Europe. This isn't so much because of loosened mitigation measures, but because of the emergence of a new variant, Omicron B.A2 which is evidently even more contagious than the original Omicron and perhaps a bit better at getting around existing immunity. It's just starting to show up in the U.S. and we may therefore see something of a resurgence in coming weeks.

The good news is that because there is now a much higher level of population immunity than a year ago, the case fatality rate is now comparable to influenza. (This will not be the case in regions of the world with lower levels of population immunity.) Still, if you have a new virus circulating that's at least as deadly as the flu, and more contagious, you've got more than twice the problem you had before. And it keeps mutating, which means that we don't know what could happen next. You can presume you will probably need to keep getting shots, however. 

So we come to a question for which there is no "right" answer. People have had enough of not being able to go to restaurants and concerts and ball games, kids need to be in school, and while we've learned that not everybody has to be in the office every day after all, we do need to get back to fully productive lives. I'm planning on attending my first academic conference in person in June and believe me, that's much more productive than trying to do conferences on-line. (It doesn't work.)

But, there are a lot of vulnerable people who take a huge risk going out in public if we're "back to normal." That includes my cousin who has MS, my neighbor who has rheumatoid arthritis, my sister in law who has an uncommon autoimmune disorder, and it will include me as I grow older. There's also the bad news that it isn't just fatalities we're worried about with this virus, it's the potential to cause long-term symptoms and even substantial disability in a high percentage of infected people. And there's always the possibility of a more virulent strain emerging. 

Unfortunately I don't think we're going to end up striking the balance I would like. That doesn't mean I'm necessarily the gold standard. This is a difficult problem. Anyway, stay boosted and try to avoid indoor crowds. We can keep improving ventilation in schools and continue masking in high risk settings such as meat packing plants. There are other relatively painless measures. But we might need more painful ones again if we get cavalier now.

The Party of Dumbness

Herschel Walker, former NFL running back and the candidate for U.S. Senate from Georgia endorsed by Ronald T. Dump, thinks he's smarter than all those egghead scientists. Yep, he's come up with a real gotcha question for us Satanic believers in evolution.

The Republican front-runner for a Senate seat in Georgia, Herschel Walker, last weekend expressed doubt about evolution, citing the existence of apes as his reasoning for doubting the scientific theory.

“At one time, science said man came from apes. Did it not?” Walker said while speaking to the lead pastor of Sugar Hill Church in Sugar Hill, Ga.

“Every time I read or hear that, I think to myself, ‘You just didn’t read the same Bible I did,' ” responded the church's lead pastor, Chuck Allen.

"If that is true, why are there still apes? Think about it," Walker said, posing the question to Allen and the crowd.

Yep, for a Republican it's a feature, not a bug, to be so stupid you couldn't find your own ass with a compass and a map. But if elected, he will actually not be the stupidest Republican senator. That's a dead heat between Ron Johnson and Tommy Tuberville, both of whom probably think Walker just came up with a brilliant demolition of cultural Marxism. It is profoundly disturbing that people actually vote for these morons to be U.S. Senators.

Wednesday Bible Study: King Me!

The Book of Kings (which is one book in the Tanakh but has been divided in two in the protestant Bible) is the last book of the Deuteronomic History. Remember that Deuteronomy, although it is considered the last book of the Torah, was actually produced separately from the first four books and is thought to have the same authorship as these subsequent ones. The overall purpose of the Deuteronomic History appears to be to reestablish orthodoxy and the exclusive worship of Yahweh at the beginning of the Second Temple period. 

 

The Book of Kings to some extent reverts to the Groundhog Day pattern of Judges, with the kings, like the judges, retaining Yahweh's favor while they are faithful to him but losing it when they stray toward other gods. In Samuel Saul and David, although they displeased Yahweh at times, were never apostate. Kings is also extremely bloody, a relentless torrent of murder and slaughter. What else is new? 

The first chapter describes David's decline with age and the struggle for succession. By grabbing the horns of the altar at the end of the tale, Adonijah is claiming sanctuary. Solomon honors the sanctuary in this case, but later he will not.

1 Now King David was old and advanced in years; and although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. ² Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young maiden be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait upon the king, and be his nurse; let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may be warm.” ³ So they sought for a beautiful maiden throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Ab′ishag the Shu′nammite, and brought her to the king. ⁴ The maiden was very beautiful; and she became the king’s nurse and ministered to him; but the king knew her not.

Yep, after keeping up with a dozen wives and twice as many concubines, he can no longer unsheathe the sword.

⁵ Now Adoni′jah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king”; and he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. ⁶ His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?” He was also a very handsome man; and he was born next after Ab′salom. ⁷ He conferred with Jo′ab the son of Zeru′iah and with Abi′athar the priest; and they followed Adoni′jah and helped him. ⁸ But Zadok the priest, and Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shim′e-i, and Re′i, and David’s mighty men were not with Adoni′jah.

⁹ Adoni′jah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fatlings by the Serpent’s Stone, which is beside En-ro′gel, and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the royal officials of Judah, ¹⁰ but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benai′ah or the mighty men or Solomon his brother.

¹¹ Then Nathan said to Bathshe′ba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adoni′jah the son of Haggith has become king and David our lord does not know it? ¹² Now therefore come, let me give you counsel, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. ¹³ Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your maidservant, saying, “Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne”? Why then is Adoni′jah king?’ ¹⁴ Then while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words.”

¹⁵ So Bathshe′ba went to the king into his chamber (now the king was very old, and Ab′ishag the Shu′nammite was ministering to the king). ¹⁶ Bathshe′ba bowed and did obeisance to the king, and the king said, “What do you desire?” ¹⁷ She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your maidservant by the Lord your God, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne.’ ¹⁸ And now, behold, Adoni′jah is king, although you, my lord the king, do not know it. ¹⁹ He has sacrificed oxen, fatlings, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, Abi′athar the priest, and Jo′ab the commander of the army; but Solomon your servant he has not invited. ²⁰ And now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. ²¹ Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders.”

²² While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. ²³ And they told the king, “Here is Nathan the prophet.” And when he came in before the king, he bowed before the king, with his face to the ground. ²⁴ And Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adoni′jah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne’? ²⁵ For he has gone down this day, and has sacrificed oxen, fatlings, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king’s sons, Jo′ab the commander^[a] of the army, and Abi′athar the priest; and behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, ‘Long live King Adoni′jah!’ ²⁶ But me, your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada, and your servant Solomon, he has not invited. ²⁷ Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king and you have not told your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

The Accession of Solomon

²⁸ Then King David answered, “Call Bathshe′ba to me.” So she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king. ²⁹ And the king swore, saying, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every adversity, ³⁰ as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead’; even so will I do this day.” ³¹ Then Bathshe′ba bowed with her face to the ground, and did obeisance to the king, and said, “May my lord King David live for ever!”

³² King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada.” So they came before the king. ³³ And the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon; ³⁴ and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel; then blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ ³⁵ You shall then come up after him, and he shall come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead; and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.” ³⁶ And Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada answered the king, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, say so. ³⁷ As the Lord has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.”

³⁸ So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada, and the Cher′ethites and the Pel′ethites, went down and caused Solomon to ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. ³⁹ There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent, and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” ⁴⁰ And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise.

⁴¹ Adoni′jah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished feasting. And when Jo′ab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “What does this uproar in the city mean?” ⁴² While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan the son of Abi′athar the priest came; and Adoni′jah said, “Come in, for you are a worthy man and bring good news.” ⁴³ Jonathan answered Adoni′jah, “No, for our lord King David has made Solomon king; ⁴⁴ and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benai′ah the son of Jehoi′ada, and the Cher′ethites and the Pel′ethites; and they have caused him to ride on the king’s mule; ⁴⁵ and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon; and they have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you have heard. ⁴⁶ Solomon sits upon the royal throne. ⁴⁷ Moreover the king’s servants came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘Your God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours, and make his throne greater than your throne.’ And the king bowed himself upon the bed. ⁴⁸ And the king also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has granted one of my offspring^[b] to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it.’”

⁴⁹ Then all the guests of Adoni′jah trembled, and rose, and each went his own way. ⁵⁰ And Adoni′jah feared Solomon; and he arose, and went, and caught hold of the horns of the altar. ⁵¹ And it was told Solomon, “Behold, Adoni′jah fears King Solomon; for lo, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not slay his servant with the sword.’” ⁵² And Solomon said, “If he prove to be a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the earth; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” ⁵³ So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and did obeisance to King Solomon; and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

Footnotes

1. 1 Kings 1:25 Gk: Heb commanders
2. 1 Kings 1:48 Gk: Heb one