Second Episode of The Bible

The second episode of The Bible (History Channel) featured Samson, Saul, and David.  David, the young Israelite, faces Goliath, the monstrous Philistine who has killed many and probably believes he is invincible.

When David, the sole Israelite to step forward, announces that he will fight Goliath, the crowd laughs and jeers believing that this will be like a human's foot squashing an ant.  But David who was already anointed to be King and was in waiting, was not afraid.  As a shepherd, David had to face the fierce wolves which would happily make off with the lambs if they could.  He was not armed with a spear or protective coverings; he had a slingshot.  Thus, he had practiced long and hard to achieve some expertise with this primitive tool.

Goliath, in fact, believing himself to be unbeatable, removes his helmet and exposes his bare head.  David gets a rock out of his pocket, places it in the leather and pulls as hard as he can.  When the rock hits Goliath squarely in the head, he goes down fast and hard.  We would call it "blunt force trauma."

So who were the Philistines who seem to be such a thorn in the sides of the Israelites?  I wanted to know too, so I looked it up.  They were considered to be among the "sea people," and lived in an area of Canaan near a lake.  They were first known to occupy that area more than 1000 years before Christ.  Some believe that they came from Greece or the coast of Asia Minor.  They adopted the Canaan language and ruled over five city states that included Gaza (which is the highly contested area that the Palestinians occupy near Jerusalem). They were, in fact, the most tenacious and deadly enemy of the Israelites. 

Goliath boasts that if David beats him, the Phillistines will be the slaves of the Israelites.  But when Goliath goes down, the Phillistines have no intention of being anyone's slaves and they fight. 

I enjoyed this second of five episodes very much.  It kept my attention, and made me curious to know more.  After all, this is not mere history or stories.  This is the Word of God.

You may have heard that Bill O'Reilly is working on a third book, Killing Jesus.  They are in the research portion of the project at this time, and he mentioned the other day on his show that the killing of Caesar has important implications in the death of Jesus.  The one thing that I always try to remember, though, is that Jesus wasn't put to death on the cross.  He GAVE his life.  It was his choice.  And he gave his life for us while taking on the sins of the world.  We cannot in our minds conceive of such a burden, such a pain, as what he endured.

I hope that even if you didn't start watching The Bible,  you might give it a try tomorrow night.

Have a great weekend, and I'll be back with you on Tuesday.