Snakes in the Garden

I just heard a sermon by the pastor of Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia in a live broadcast of   church today use the term "snake in the garden" referring to King David allowing his wickedly ambitious son Absalom back to Jerusalem from exile in Syria from murdering his brother Amnon in a case of palace intrigue of the most dysfunctional and sinful. Amnon, Absalom's half-brother, had raped Tamar--his half-sister and Absalom's biological sister--and then Absalom using this as a pretext to murdering Amnon, not for justice's sake, but to remove the first heir to aging David's throne. Who is next in line. Guess? It is Absalom. How coincidental and convenient.

Jerry Springer or Maury Povich or any of these other bottom feeders of humanity have nothing on the Scriptures. Absalom starts a literal fire and then a political fire trying to drive David from the throne. The David who is himself guilty of adultery and murder. God has forgiven David, but the scars of consequence remain and live on in the lives of his children and himself. We can trust that God's grace removes our guilt and He does judicially if we repent (not just regret). Yet practically, there is often still hell to pay and David is going to have to dole it out. David acts ambivalently and warily towards Absalom, probably feeling neutralized as the lawgiver by his own lawbreaking. He is compromised in conscience and this leads to inaction. Absalom's inordinate ambition for the throne is not extinguished. Instead it first smolders, then burns, then blazes.

There are many lessons in this story. None of them easy.  I have perhaps an unusual application and it goes back to the original usurper, the Serpent in the Garden. Satan himself, a created master angel now fallen because of pride. Wanting to slither onto the throne of God, using humanity to cooperate in the rebellion. Unlike David who has blood on his hands, God is innocent of all sin, so how Satan thought he could win the wager reveals his lack of Deity. Wanting to be God was all it was. A want.

Remember what Satan told Eve. "Did God really say?" I have to comment that here in the 21st century we have more and more "church" (I use the small "c" leaders intentionally) attacking and reinterpreting the Scriptures in the most unorthodox and heterodox manner, openly repudiating 2,000 years of orthodoxy. There are some matters that are unclear, such as resolving free will vs. predestination, but there are many moral teachings that are quite clear and woe to he or she who muddies the clear waters. Assuming such teachers are not overtly and out and out intentionally satanic, I have to think that such parties are deceived by the bright, shiny one himself, who masquerades as an angel of light. That these people could be so incautious and reckless really shocks me.

I hardly want to debate such authorities. Debate gives them a legitimacy that they do not deserve. When I have a child who questions a legitimate decision of mine at school just to be pain, I typically tell them that it is the end of the discussion. If they have a legitmate concern, first have a legitimate cause. Othewise, listen and obey.