John Goldingay

The Last Words of David 2 Samuel 23: 1- 38 Even when one makes allowance for the way it can pour, living in Southern California of course spoils you. My son and his family from England have just stayed with us for a week, and they laughed when I apologized that it wasn’t so warm.…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - I Have Kept Yahweh's Ways

by SPCK - John Goldingay

I Have Kept Yahweh’s Ways? 2 Samuel 22: 21- 51 Last night I was talking to one of our students who served in the U.S. forces in Iraq as an antiterrorism operative. Like many soldiers, he came home with trauma that he has subsequently had to try to talk through over a period of ye…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The God of the Storm

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The God of the Storm 2 Samuel 22: 1- 20 The song says, “It never rains in Southern California,” but it goes on to say that they never warn you that it does sometimes pour. I myself never needed galoshes in Britain, where we usually have only gentle rain, though we have it rather …

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Leaderly Calculation and Mother Love

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Leaderly Calculation and Mother Love 2 Samuel 19: 41- 21: 22 We care about what happens to the bodies of our loved ones. My wife and I long ago agreed that we would be cremated and then have our ashes scattered in the valley where we had spent the first night of our honeymoon. No…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Wise Advice Treated as Folly

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Wise Advice Treated as Folly 2 Samuel 17: 1- 19: 40 In the 1990s there was a political crisis in the state of Israel over King David’s good name. The Foreign Minister had been accused of slandering David in a parliamentary debate, and his words prompted three motions of no confid…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Absalom's Coup

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Absalom’s Coup 2 Samuel 14: 25- 16: 23 When I was an assistant pastor, a leading political figure in the Church of England came to speak at a conference at our church, and talked about policies for which he was working in the Church of England. It was clear that the man was a ski…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Grief of a Sister and the Strife Between Brothers

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Grief of a Sister and the Strife between Brothers 2 Samuel 13: 15- 14: 24 I once knew someone who was sexually abused on an ongoing basis by a family member when she was a young girl. She never told me the details of what happened, and to be honest I never wanted her to do so…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Price the Family Begin to Pay

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Price the Family Begins to Pay 2 Samuel 12: 15b- 13: 14 At a concert last night a singer was telling us the background to a song about her grandfather. He was French-Canadian, spoke mostly in French, and died when she was a child. For both reasons she feels she never really g…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Man Who Has Learned How To Be A Prophet

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Man Who Has Learned How to Be a Prophet 2 Samuel 12: 1- 15a A pastor once came to talk to me because he had had an affair. He had actually “got away with it.” He thinks his wife never realized, but he knew he had behaved in a way that was both wrong and stupid, and he knew he…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - But the Thing David Had Done Was Displeasing in Yahweh's Eyes

by SPCK - John Goldingay

But the Thing David Had Done Was Displeasing in Yahweh’s Eyes 2 Samuel 11: 1- 27 There is a news item today about a state governor who had to resign because of a sex scandal a couple of years ago but is now trying to rehabilitate himself in the eye of the public. As governor, one…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Peak of David's Achievement

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Peak of David’s Achievement 2 Samuel 8: 1- 10: 19 I’ve just started reading a social history of Britain since the end of the 1939–1945 war. It thus begins with the celebration of the allies’ victory over Nazi Germany, personalized as Winston Churchill’s victory over Adolf Hit…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - A House and a Household

by SPCK - John Goldingay

A House and a Household 2 Samuel 7: 1- 29 One of my colleagues likes to remind people that Jesus never talks about our establishing God’s kingdom or furthering it or building it or extending it. In the Gospels, the only things we do to God’s kingdom are wait for it, see it, enter…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Little Thing Can Have Terrible Consequences and Foreshadow Tragedy

by SPCK - John Goldingay

Little Things Can Have Terrible Consequences and Foreshadow Tragedy 2 Samuel 6: 1- 23 I write this during Holy Week. In my Bible study group this week someone was expressing his unease with the way we speak of God’s sending his Son to be crucified. Is God some sort of masochist? …

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - On Following Up Your Good Ideas but Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously

by SPCK - John Goldingay

On Following Up Your Good Ideas but Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously 2 Samuel 5: 1- 25 I am coming to the end of my fortieth year as a professor. On Sunday evening, the day before yet another new quarter started, a friend asked me a question that unintentionally made me feel rat…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Struggle for Power

by SPCK - John Goldingay

The Struggle for Power 2 Samuel 3: 1- 4: 12 One of my colleagues holds a Bible study at his house for men he got to know through an organization that seeks to provide accommodation for homeless people in our city; they are typically people who have prison records and/or who have …

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How Are The Mighty Fallen

by SPCK - John Goldingay

How Are the Mighty Fallen 2 Samuel 1: 1- 2: 31 The day before yesterday was Education and Sharing Day in the United States, a day established in honor of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died in 1994. During his lifetime some of his followers believed him to be the messiah, …

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - A Last Act of Loyalty to Saul

by SPCK - John Goldingay

A Last Act of Loyalty to Saul 1 Samuel 30: 1- 31: 13 When I first came to California, students would sometimes ask how long I would be here, thinking it might just be for sabbatical. At first I would reply, “I want to die here,” which was a way of saying, “I am here permanently,”…

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1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - What Do You Do When You're Desperate

by SPCK - John Goldingay

What Do You Do When You’re Desperate? 1 Samuel 28: 3- 29: 11 This coming Sunday is the nine-month anniversary since my wife died. I think about her a lot and dream about her, sometimes in her wheelchair as she was for years but sometimes fit and able to live a normal life, as she…

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