“Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion…”                                                                                                                                         (2 Samuel 5)

“…[A]s [Elisha] was going by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked [Elisha]…And he turnedback, and cursed them in the [N]ame of the LORD. Anfd there came fprth two she bears… and tare the forty and two children of them.”

 

When persons read the recorded event, as recorded in, 2 Samuel 5, (from above) they might feel like King David did when God slayed Uzzah for touching the Arc of the Covenant. They may feel afraid or that Gpd was too harsh or severe.  This reader, is pure sentiment and emotion. Of course their sentiment is understandable. However, one must decide how they will approach the ways of God. Should a person think God is like them, (Psalm 50) they will be shocked and put off by some of the mighty and magnificent acts of the Godhead.  If, however, we approach God and realize He is an Other, Who is Higher than we and His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts, we may not be so surprised by what He does.

The enemies of David and of God, set at the front lines, the blind and the lame.  Their thought was David would be too kind to mow over the blind and the infirm. However, we read that David took the city. We are too, it seems, to accept that David went forth, inspite of the blind and lame. There appears to be some of the blind and lame that survives as david denies them entance into the city after he had taken it.  This would lead us to realize the blind and the lame were not innocent in the matter but they were there, not against their will, but in support of their king. David, loving God and hating those that opposed God’s will, went forth, in spite of the blind and lame, and took the city in God’s Name abd according to God’s will and purpose.

If we, accept God’s view of man as depraved, who’s imagination is evil all the time, we may not be so surprised by God’s actions or mans.”  God, as far as the Arc was concerned, warned that it must not be touched and that it must be carried with the two (2) staves or long rods.  Uzzah, as noble as his intentions may have been, disobeyed God’s long standing rule.  Uzzah also demonstrated a lack of trust in God. could God not protect His arc without man’s help?  We also see David put God’s will and purpose ahead of the blind and lame.  God’s will is above all else…our pleasure, our sentiment, our feelings, our love for others, our ways and thoughts, our understanding or right and wrong.

We also have the recorded event of Elisha and the forty-two (42) irreverent and God-hating children.  Elisha was walking in God’s will and a large group of children can forth and began to mock the man of God and therefore God Himself.  Elisha, recognizing these children as future adult haters of God and threats to Israel, “turned back…and cursed them in the [N]ame of the LORD.”  The immediate sequel to the actions of the children and the prophet of God cursing them in God’s Name, two (2) she bears came from the forest and killed the 842) forty-two children.
Upon reading this, many sentimental readers might think God was harsh and severe.  However, we are not told of what age these children were. These children could very well have been older teenagers and therefore accountable for their actions.  These children were the offspring of God’s enemies. We might conclude, therefore that these youth are being raised in the ways of their parents and nation, who were enemies of God.  This is why God ordered His chosen nation, Israel to destroy the young as well as the adults when they took a city…the youth, if left alive, would await the day they might avenge their families.
Research Haman, who was an Agagite, who sought the destruction of Israel. Samuel had told King Saul to destroy all the Agagites but Saul kept the King alive and some how this king must have procreated with a woman as Haman was a surviving member of the Agagites and he sought the genocide of the Jews, this can be studied or researched in the book of Esther.

Reader, we must not be deceived by wolve’s in sheep’s clothing even if that sheep’s clothing takes the form of a handicap or an age that would cause us to put down our guard or our whole armour of God.

Sentiment must never get in the way of Christ-ian duty or our loyalty to God and that which He deems right, good, and true. Handicaps and age does not change a person’s carnal or sinful nature. It is God, Alone that can change a person’s nature and make all things new.  Revelation states, “Let him that is filthy be filthy still.”  Nothing can cleanse a person other than the Blood of Christ. Handicaps, infirmities, and age does nothing, in terms of changing a person in their relation to depravity or their standing with God.

The handicapped, the infirm, and the aged, will remain handicapped, infirm, and old if they are brought before Christ as part of the resurrection of the condemned and they will be cast away in their feeble condition and be outside the mercy of God forever, having never loved the Son of God.

Gpdspeed.