Psalm 89:20-37

Pentecost +8 - Year B

Psalm 89:20-37

A youngest son out tending sheep is finally found and anointed. Three ancestresses, foreign and sexually wily, Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth had to be overcome. There is no predicting his ascendency with this background — so imagine the political ads against David. We will, however, grant great importance to his descendants.

There are whole theories about the queen of England being a descendant of David’s along with who knows how many Jews. There are whole organizations of David’s descendants such as the Davidic Dynasty, much like the Mayflower Society and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

There is a drive in us to be among those who are “established forever like the moon, an enduring witness in the skies”. You don’t have any prophetic responsibility to live up to, you’re in like Flynn.

Presumably David’s descendants are as motley and of no account as he was before Samuel came looking. It’s not fair to presume upon your lineage if you are not going to do anything that would honor it. First do what the kings didn’t - protect the weak, lift up the weakened. This is the line to be continued — care-for-all has persistence while looking-out-for-one’s-own eventually leads to division and exile. If the internals are not strong, there will always be a crack for an enemy to exploit.