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From: 2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10

David is Anointed King of Israel at Hebron

[1] Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. [2] In times past, when Saul was king over us. it was you that led out and brought in Israel; and the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’” [3] So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. [4] David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. [5] At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

Capture of Jerusalem

[6] And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” [7] Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. [10] And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him.

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Commentary:

5:1-5. David’s consecration as king of Israel is told quite simply but the account emphasizes details of primary importance in salvation history: the tribes of the North and the South are all brothers: “we are your flesh and bone” (v. 1); the images of the shepherd (v. 2), David’s original profession, conveys the notion of a ruler and king who governs not for his own advantage but for the welfare of his subjects; David’s covenant with the leaders (v. 3) is in line with the general doctrine of covenant which is the basis of God’s relations with his people, and of those between Israelite and Israelite; the figures given for David’s reigns (seven as king of Judah, forty as king of Judah and Israel) are symbols of plenitude. Even in the New Testament the numbers seven and forty have the same connotation (cf. Mt 4:2; 18:22; Rev 1:11; Acts 4:22; etc.). Hebron, the place where David was also anointed king of Judah, was the main city of the South; within it was the cave of Mach-pelah (cf. Gen 25:9) and close to it was the sacred oak of Mamre. However, it was replaced by Jerusalem perhaps to show that a new kingdom warranted a new royal base.

David is a figure of Jesus Christ on many counts, but they all derive from the fact that he is king: Jesus Christ, too will be acclaimed King of Israel. “But what did it mean for the Lord to be acclaimed the King of Israel? What did it mean to the King of all ages to be recognized as the king of men? Christ did not become the King of Israel in order to demand tributes or to raise armies and make war against the enemies [of Israel]; he became the King of Israel to reign over souls, to give counsel that leads to eternal life, to bring those who were filled with faith, hope and Love to the Kingdom of heaven” (St Augustine, “In loannis Evangelium”, 51, 4).

The liturgy of the Church uses this passage from the hook of Samuel for the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, together with the passage about the crucifixion (Lk 23:35-43). Jesus won his kingdom through his obedience, which has its climax in death on the cross, bringing about the definitive salvation of all mankind.

5:6-8:18. After being consecrated and acknowledged as king of all the tribes of Israel, David devotes himself to building up a true kingdom with institutions, capital and frontiers. In these chapters we are told first of how he won Jerusalem and chose it to be the political capital (5:6-12). The account goes on to deal with the setting-up of the ark in Jerusalem (which makes it the religious capital: 6:1-23), theinstitution of dynastic succession, to ensure the permanence of the monarchy (7:1-29), and, finally, the pushing out of frontiers thanks to territory taken from the Philistines, thereby bolstering the country’s security (8:1-18).

In addition to dealing with social and political matters, this section is imbued with religious teaching: Jerusalem, now established as the capital, becomes the sign of divine protection (chap. 6); Nathan’s prophecy guarantees that dynastic succession is part of God’s salvific plan (chap. 7); and victory over the Philistines means that God will ensure that peace reigns within the new frontiers.

5:6-12. Jerusalem was to be the capital, the center of national life, and also the religious and doctrinal center up to New Testament times. In that city the Church will be born, and from there its message will radiate.

As regards contemporary extra-biblical sources, the city is mentioned in Egyptian texts of the nineteenth to eighteenth century BC as being a place hostile to Egypt and letters from the fourteenth century BC found in El-Aniama, in northern Egypt, mention it along with Gezer, Ashkelon and Lachish all Canannite cities but of no great importance.

The Jebusites considered the fortress: unassailable (cf. Josh 10:1-15; 15:63; Judg 1:21) so much so that they thought it could be defended even by the blind and the lame (vv. 6 and 8). But David somehow managed to take it (see the RSVCE note). He developed it (vv. 9-10), built his palace there, and declared it the city of David, that is, the capital of the kingdom.

Its geographical position on the border between the north and south meant that Jerusalem was strategically well situated, and it showed David was lord of all the land, as God willed. To take Jerusalem he had first to overcome the Philistines (vv. 17-25), but the sacred writer, by bringing forward his account of the conquest of Zion and putting it in here, is using literary licence to emphasize that David’s main militaryachievement was the taking of Jerusalem and the establishment there of his court.

From: Mark 3:22-30

Allegations of the Scribes

[22] And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He (Jesus) is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons He casts out the demons.” [23] And He called them to Him, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? [24] If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. [25] And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. [26] And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. [27] But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.”

Sins Against the Holy Spirit

[28] “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; [29] but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—[30] for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

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Commentary:

22-23. Even Jesus’ miracles were misunderstood by these scribes, who accuse Him of being a tool of the prince of devils, Beelzebul. This name may be connected with Beelzebub (which spelling is given in some codexes), the name of a god of the Philistine city of Eqron (Accaron), which means “god of the flies.” But it is more likely that the prince of devils is called Beelzebul, which means “god of excrement”: “excrement” is the word Jews used to describe pagan sacrifices. Whether Beelzebub or Beelzebul, in the last analysis it refers to him to whom these sacrifices were offered, the devil (1 Corinthians 10:20). He is the same mysterious but real person whom Jesus calls Satan, which means “the enemy”, whose dominion over the world Christ has come to wrest from him (1 Corinthians 15:24-28; Colossians 1:13f) in an unceasing struggle (Matthew 4:1-10; John 16:11). These names show us that the devil really exists: he is a real person who has at his beck and call others of his kind (Mark 5:9).

24-27. Our Lord invites the Pharisees, who are blind and obstinate, to think along these lines: if someone expels the devil this means he is stronger than the devil: once more we are exhorted to recognize in Jesus the God of strength, the God who uses His power to free man from enslavement to the devil. Satan’s dominion has come to an end: the prince of this world is about to be cast out. Jesus’ victory over the power of darkness, which is completed by His death and resurrection, shows that the light has already entered the world, as our Lord Himself told us: “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” (John 12:31-32).

28-30. Jesus has just worked a miracle but the scribes refuse to recognize it “for they had said `He has an unclean spirit’” (verse 30). They do not want to admit that God is the author of the miracle. In this attitude lies the special gravity of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—attributing to the prince of evil, to Satan, the good works performed by God Himself. Anyone acting in this way will become like the sick person who has so lost confidence in the doctor that he rejects him as if an enemy and regards as poison the medicine that can save his life. That is why our Lord says that he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not forgiven: not because God cannot forgive all sins, but because that person, in his blindness towards God, rejects Jesus Christ, His teaching and His miracles, and despises the graces of the Holy Spirit as if they were designed to trap him (cf. “St. Pius V Catechism”, II, 5, 19; St. Thomas Aquinas, “Summa theologiae”, II-II, q. 14, a. 3).