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by Kevin Pauley
"Show loyalty to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite and let them be among those who eat at your table because they supported me when I fled from your brother Absalom. "Keep an eye on Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim who is with you. He uttered malicious curses against me the day I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, and I swore to him by the LORD: 'I will never kill you with the sword.' So don't let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man. You know how to deal with him to bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood." - 1 Kings 2:7-9a HCSB
Because nested within loyalty are all the other desirable character traits, down through the eons, Natsar ‘Adam[1] has been looking for a few loyal humans.[2] A loyal person will humbly consider others as more important than himself; will faithfully serve and actively look for ways to express their love through acts of kindness; will be honest with the object of his love. Thus, loyalty (rightly placed) is the ultimate expression of righteousness. This is why Adam’s betrayal was so painful to Hashem and why He is so delighted when He finds that rare loyal jewel amid the jostling crowds of traitorous humans.
One of those rare jewels was King David. David’s zeal towards the Lord and his fellow man compelled the Lord to refer to David as “a man after My heart.”[3] maintained long-term memory of those who were faithful to him and urged his son to be loyal to them.[5] However, David’s loyalty was equally expressed in a long-term memory of those who had done him wrong.[6] Loyalty was supremely important to David and its lack caused him great grief.[4] He
David was imitating God’s own behavior in this! Faithful God keeps His gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands. But He directly pays back and destroys those who hate Him.[7]
David’s loyalty toward Hashem caused him to be offended by Goliath’s challenge and cry out, “Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”[8]Israel, engendered by this giant. He hated the lack of loyalty towards God who had delivered whole nations into their hands before. So he picked up a stone, advanced on the enemy and said, “You have the weapons but I have the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel’s armies. He is the one you have defied and so I will strike you down, cut off your head and feed you to the birds. Today, all the world will know that Israel has a God and that the battle is His. He will hand you to me.”[9] He hated the fear that he saw in the eyes of the people of
David threw, God smiled and Goliath fell.
[1] Watcher of Mankind; Job 7:20
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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