As I read this chapter I
found myself fixing on verse 16 and pondering David and his fighting men.
Anyone out in the open who touches someone
who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or
anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven
days.
Every battle likely meant
they became unclean. And when they went back through the dead to gather the
plunder, they would become unclean. And then for 7 days they would be unclean.
In order to become clean they would have to go through this cleansing ritual
washing on the 3rd and 7th days. But it is not hard to
suppose that they would be fighting multiple days. Or they would fight, then
advance and fight again, in a day or so.
I thought how difficult it
would be for them to become and remain clean. The more I think about this, the
more I suspect that they didn’t go through the cleansing ritual until they
returned home and the time of fighting was over.
What a life. How hard it
must have been for soldiers to keep the law.
As I typed this last
sentence, I realized how hard it is for anyone to keep the law. This is only the
rule about being cleansed from touching a dead body. Add on top of this the
myriad of other laws. It is impossible for us to keep God’s law! But thanks be
to God, He has given a way apart from the law through which we can live
righteous before God.
Romans 3:21-22: But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has
been made known…. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus
Christ to all who believe.
Oh, God,
thank you for Jesus, for the righteousness that comes through faith in Him. God,
I could never be righteous before you on my own. I couldn’t and can’t do it
myself. Through faith in Jesus, which is a gift from You by itself, I have been
graced with what I could never earn on my own. Thank You. Bless You. Praise You.
Through Jesus, my Lord, I pray. Amen.
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