2 Samuel 8-10 & 1 Corinthians 5

The implication of 2 Samuel 8 is that David is blessed in battle by God and is victorious over all the nations around. Grab a map and look how far ranging the victories are: from the Euphrates to Damascus to Edom to the Mediterranean. Clearly, David is the anointed. The empire has expanded, and so it needs to be governed properly. The end of the chapter begins to lay out the structure that David establishes to justly rule this land.

But David's victories are not just militarily, he also is successful in politics. If there are any Saulites left who are wavering, David demonstrates his love for Jonathan by giving shelter and land to Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9. The covenant between Jonathan and David still is strong, in it David demonstrates his hesed, loyalty.

2 Samuel 10 yet shows another side of David. When he sends messengers to Ammon, to the new king, they are set upon and humiliated. Obviously David gets wind of this and meets the messengers as they return home before they come to Jerusalem. He tells them to remain in Jericho for their beards to grow back and their humiliation lifted from them.

Meanwhile, David now will right the humiliation done to him and all of Israel, actually Joab will first deal with it. Joab defeats a combined army of Ammonites and Arameans, then David leads an army into the field against a greater military threat of the Arameans, and he too is successful. David's hesed is seen in his care for Israel.

1 Corinthians 5

Sex in the bible! Sex in the bible!

Now that I have your attention, Paul continues in his broadside against the church in Corinth. Not only are they boastful, but they are immoral. There are those in the community who are not living up to the covenant standard that God established with Israel. The example given is that of a man living with his father's wife, which is incestuous. Not only is this behavior tolerated but no one in the community has done anything to address the issue.

Because of the covenant, the whole community is responsible. They have become unclean, and need to remove this impurity, much like Israel needs to remove impurities from among Israel. How can they boast, when they have failed to live up to this standard established by scripture? It is one thing to live with those who practice impure lives who are not a member of the community of Christ, but it is quite another to live with one within the community who is impure. The person must be removed from the community so that others are not infected with the sin.The person must be given over to Satan, to be removed from the church.

At this point, it is important to realize that Paul likely thought that Christ's return was imminent so he saw the need for the church to remain pure as being a priority. If one is sinful, they must be plucked out from the community for the sake of the community's salvation when Christ returns.