Tuesday November 20, 2007

Text for the Day -- II Samuel 21:1-2
----------
Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year
after year; and David inquired of the LORD. The LORD said, "There is
blood-guilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites
to death." So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now
the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant
of the Amorites; although the people of Israel had sworn to spare
them, Saul had tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the people of
Israel and Judah.)

Devotional
----------
A three year drought tempts David to inquire, "Why," from the Lord.
The cause of the drought appears to be a judgment put on Israel
because king Saul had wiped out the Gibeonites, a remnant of the
Amorites. The people of Israel had sworn to protect the Gibeonites
originally, but Saul had them slaughtered because of a high
intolerance for non-Israelite peoples. Such intolerance reaps its
rewards.


Prayer
---------------
Give me a heart for the whole world, gracious God, and not just my
own kind. Amen