Materials
Eucharist #4
The Table for All
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
by R. Todd Bouldin
Today
we close the curtain on our David series and put David to rest – literally – today we come to the moment of his death and we become more aware of the richness of his life. In fact, that’s what death does. It puts limits on us so that we can see life for what it really is. It’s in death that you may find your life.
Prayer - O God, our Redeemer, we know that in life and in death, nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In His Name, Amen.
The first two chapters of Kings would seem to belong at the end of II Samuel. These two chapters are the final chapter of David’s life. They are the grand finale of his story. David is at the end of his journey, and he now sits freezing in his death bed day after day, waiting for the dreaded moment to come. It is a time we will all face at some point if the Lord tarries.
I was reminded this week of a minister who was trying to emphasize the importance of faith to the end. He said to his congregation, "All of you in this congregation one day will die." He paused for dramatic effect, then repeated again: "All of you in this congregation one day will die." There was one man, near the front, who was laughing. It's difficult to make a serious point when someone is laughing. The minister stopped, turned to the scoffer and asked him what was so funny. The man replied, "I don't belong to this congregation!" I think that was Jack Burch. I want to make it clear that whether you are a visitor today or not, no matter who you are, you will die. Dying is just part of a life that is lived fully before God. It is normal.
But birth and death serve as bookends on our lives. Death causes us to ask tough questions. What will be the measure of the contribution we have made? Will it be said of us that our lives exhibited the quality of eternity? Will it be said that our lives counted for God? For anything?
The story of David's last days are fascinating. I am tempted to enjoy the story with you before I bring some principles to bear on it. The story may cause you to giggle, or even to cry. It begins in I Kings 1:1: When King David was old and well advanced in years, they put covers on him but he could not get warm. The writer is emphasizing that David was very old. (We learn from Chronicles that David was around 70 years of age, but in those days that was considered old.) He couldn't keep warm with the blankets, the skins, and the cloaks they put on top of him. The poor old man was propped up on his couch, his hands and feet like ice, and his lips blue. If you’ve ever been sick with the chills, you get the idea. He was miserable. It's a sad picture. David was running out of steam. If only they had had an electric blanket, a metabolic stimulator -- they might have worked to stop the cold and comfort him at the end of his life. Unfortunately, those things were still 3,000 years away from the market. Where were his wives? That’s an interesting question.
The servants stood around wondering, "How can we make the king warm?" One began to smile to the other. Remember that this is a real book. I'm not making this up! The servants knew David and knew what got his blood boiling! "Too old to keep warm," they thought, and perhaps they chuckled as they realized what might work. "Let's get him a babe to lay beside him. The dirty old man will like having a girl in bed to warm him." Verse 2 reads: So his servants said to him, "Let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king can keep warm. David was too old to keep warm, but surely not too old for a little romance! So they held what I believe to be the first beauty pageant in the world. A woman from the East Jezreel Valley won the title of Miss Palestine! She was a Shunammite and her name was Abishag. She was very beautiful (verse 4). Remember when the Bible declares a woman beautiful, she was fabulous. And the Bible says that she was very beautiful, was breathtakingly gorgeous.
Such was Abishag. She took care of the king and waited on him. But look at what it says at the end of verse 4: the king had no intimate relations with her. The servants probably marveled at that, thinking, "My, the king is old! He's as good as gone!" Viagra could have helped. But that wasn’t what David needed. He just needed someone to be near him while he died.
At the same time, Adonijah, David's son realizing that his father was too old to keep warm, and too old to make love, also reasoned that his father was probably too old to have given thought to his successor. There was an ancient belief in the Near East at that time that if a king lacked sexual potency, he was no longer able to rule. Adonijah declared himself the king and seized the throne before his brothers could possibly do so. Adonijah knew that David was indecisive in his dealings with Amnon and Absalom.
As a result, we read in verses 5 and 6: Adonijah, whose mother was Hagith, put himself forward and said "I will be king"; and he prepared himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. (And his father never interfered by asking, "Why do you behave as you do?" He was also a very handsome man. His mother had borne him after Absalom.)
In other words, Adonijah was a spoiled brat. No one had ever corrected him, least of all his father. David could have learned a lot from our upcoming parenting class. Absalom had almost succeeded in pulling the throne from David--almost but not quite. Unlike Absalom, Adonijah would not have attempted to claim the throne when David was full of vigor. But David was old now--too old to keep warm.
In verse 7 we read that Joab and Abiathar lined up with this 'Adonijah for king' idea. After all, they reasoned David was as good as dead. David was a lame duck, so there was no way this could come back to bite them. Joab's lining up with Adonijah placed the entire army at Adonijah's command. And with Abiathar aligning himself with Adonijah, the priesthood would be behind the young prince. The coup was set. A pre-coronation banquet was arranged at Ein-Rogel a short walk from Jerusalem. Adonijah invited officials and VIP's from all over the land to celebrate. He sacrificed sheep, cattle and calves. He invited his brothers to attend. But he did not invite Nathan. He didn't invite Bathsheba or Solomon. Did he remember David’s promise to Bathsheba that Solomon would succeed him? Interesting that Solomon didn’t make the guest list.
Adonijah was toasted as the future king of Israel. The champagne flowed and the party was in full swing, all the while, David lay not too far away inside the city walls. Nathan hadn't been invited, but he knew that if David had his choice, he would have preferred Solomon to succeed him. So Nathan burst into the chamber of Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, saying "Adonijah is planning a coup. We need to act quickly to stop it. I suggest you go to David and remind him of his promise that Solomon would be king. Remind him that if Adonijah becomes king, Solomon and you both would die. Quick--it's our only chance!"
Bathsheba knew how to pretty herself up just right and entered the king's chamber in a way that only she could, bowing low toward the king without a hint of groveling. She was old too, but she was still Bathsheba--proud, graceful and beautiful. The entrance was magnificent. There was David. At the end of the room, David lay on his couch, too old to move but he was not too old to forget Bathsheba.
The story is picked up in verse 15: Bathsheba went to see the old king. The king was very old and Abishag the Shunammite was attending him. And Bathsheba bowed low, knelt before the king. The king said, "What is it you want?" Bathsheba said to him, "My lord, you yourself swore to me by the Lord your God that Solomon your son should be king after you but now Adonijah has become king and you do not know about it. He has sacrificed all these things and has ascended the throne of my lord and king after him. If you don't act, then Solomon my son and I will both be treated as criminals.
In verse 22 we read that Nathan arrived. Hollywood would have been proud of Bathsheba and Nathan that day. The timing was marvelous, the production wonderful, the characters' lines exquisite and the drama was excellent. They did not miss a cue. They pulled it off very, very well. But poor old David was so pathetic, and helpless. What could he do? What a cruel end to such a splendid life. But there were still some surprises left in this story.
David was a fighter. Remember that poor little despised eighth son in that sad home? The only way he survived was by fighting. He fought lions and bears to protect his sheep. He fought the giant Goliath. He wielded a scepter that dominated the ancient world. He survived only because he was a fighter. So when news came that Adonijah was celebrating a coup d'état, his face flashed with sudden anger, passion and strength. Verses 28-31 state: David said "Call in Bathsheba." So she came into the king's presence and stood before him. And the king then took an oath: "As surely as Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress, just as I swore to you by the Lord God in Israel, saying, 'Assuredly Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,' so I certainly will do this day. Then Bathsheba bowed her face to the earth, and bowed before the king and said, 'May my lord King David live forever!'
What a great production! Was it not marvelous? David beckoned to the courtiers; "Quick! Get Nathan back in here and Zadok the priest! Bring Benaiah the son of Jehoiada! Run!" So much for David's circulatory failure, or his metabolic deficiency! He was sitting bolt upright, snapping out orders left and right.
Capture the mood of verse 33: He said to them, 'Take your lord's servants with you and set Solomon on his own mule, and take him down to Gihon. There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel.' So Zadok and Nathan did just that, and they blew the trumpet and shouted "Long live King Solomon!"
I believe it was Joab who was the first to hear it. In the midst of the revelry he must have perked up his ears. "Listen," he said, "Shhhhh, stop! Is that the sound of a trumpet?" The shock could be seen on his face immediately. The sound of feet running culminated in someone crashing through the door. It was Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest. Out of breath, he communicated the news: 'Our lord King David has made Solomon king.' There was an immediate hush over the crowd as they were reduced to a state of utter terror. He told them of David's brilliant coup, a coup that had out-couped the coup of Abiathar! It was masterful. Don't give up on David. He might be too old to keep warm or make love, but he wasn’t too old to fight for his promise. And in one last great act of compassion, David saved Abiathar’s life, even though he had betrayed him. Just when you think David is going to disappoint you again, he shows some extraordinary measure of faith and compassion that can only come from a life of learning to trust God.
Peter Marshall once said that the measure of a life is not in its duration, but in its donation. That's David's story. What was it about David's life that made him so special? What was it about his life that has impacted literally millions of people? What set him apart?
For David, life was always full of meaning and direction. It was always full of purpose. For David, God was always the Lord of Hosts. To David, the man of the world, God was the maker of heaven and earth. To David the great king, God was altogether the King of Kings and God of Glory. To David the wretched sinner, God was The God of loving kindness, mercy and forgiveness. This man was God-focused. Even when he forgot God, God pursued him and David always came back to prayer and submission once again. With intentionality, he embraced his understanding of who God was and was passionate in his conviction. He was certainly a man of unbridled passion at times, but a man passionately in love with God. That's what made him distinct. His life was utterly God-related. That was the remarkable thing about him. His life was involved in God moment by moment, with every part of life lived in the presence and love of God.
As we look at David's life spanning a huge amount of Biblical material, it is not David’s life that I want. It is David's God that I want. He is who I desire. He is all that I need. How to find Him, how to know Him, is the real purpose of life. David teaches us that, perhaps better than any other.
David’s death wasn’t exactly an easy one. There is no record of anyone lamenting him. He died in the middle of a family squabble. We are not told about any funeral. His wife was so busy protecting the throne that she didn’t have time to even be near him in death. Even some of David’s last words were graceless and harsh. He ordered his old enemy, Shimei, whom he had pardoned generously before, “Bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.” (I Kings 2:9). Even in death, we still find this man of great contrasts. David’s life before God was not perfect – it was at times perverse, cruel, violent and raw.
But that wasn’t all of the story. For most of us who seek God, our old sins and habits may even accompany us all the way to death. But thanks be to God, that’s not all of the story. Look at the very last recorded words of David, given to Solomon, found in I Chronicles 28:9: And you my son, acknowledge The God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind. For The Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you. When you look at the whole of David’s life, that’s who he essentially was. What a great benediction to pass on! What statement could summarize your life? What will your final words be? There’s nothing like death to make you think about your life.
Mom has been working on our family history. While she was visiting, she asked me to help her with my profile. She wanted a summary statement from me about what was important to me and who I am. It kind of took me off guard. I wasn’t prepared to write my funeral or my epitaph. What was it that I wanted to say? If I said it, would it be honest to who I am? Final words bring a laser sharp direction to life.
One day we all will say our final goodbyes. What we say will stem from the life that we have lived. Frank Sinatra’s signature song was “My Way.” You remember the song: “Now the end is near. I face the final curtain.” What do you say when that moment comes? Frank Sinatra wanted us to know he did it his way. But when the moment of death came, his final words were, “I’m losing it.” Loss always is the result of a life lived your way. There is another way – another way in which death enlarges life and where everything is gained and not lost.
Let me encourage you from Philippians 3:10, in the Amplified Version, to give you the full effect of these glorious words that the Apostle Paul lays on our hearts:For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly. And that I may, in that same way, come to know the power, out flowing from His resurrection which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit into His likeness, even unto His death.
In Jesus Christ, death is transformed from the moment we dread to the moment we embrace. It is in expecting death that we live life more fully, and it is in embracing death that we enter into the fullness of the life God has for us in Jesus Christ. You may not go out with a lot of fanfare – your death may be even less than desirable. It is never a good time to die. But you can know that in life and in death you belong to God. In the moment of quiet intimacy, as his life drew to a close, the man after God's own heart, turned to his son and told him that his desire was that he acknowledge The God whom he loved, and serve Him with all his heart and with a willing mind. That's the secret to a real life – that is what it means to be human. David’s legacy was in being human before God in such a way that he was fully alive. What is your legacy?
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