There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master.  (Nabal to David’s servants when they asked for food and supplies)

A lot of people talk like revolutionaries or they toe the line of the status quo, and the former was the case when David, waiting in the wings to be king of Israel,  asked for support from a man called Nabal. Some people are even impressed by the chaos that comes out of revolutionary conflict, but they do not stand for the ideas of a just and caring society.  Nabal’s insult to David ended with him losing his life without a sword being lifted.

David the armed rebel

David is clearly a figure that fits the changing times.  The people of Israel picked their first king  because of his looks and his stature, but God picked David because of his heart.  God also built into David’s experience the form of the ultimate monarchy and the design for a combined governance of priest and king.  Of course, Nabal did not get the memo.

People in the modern era can idolize Fidel Castro, Lech Walesa, Muammar Gaddafi, Haile Selassie, Nelson Mandela or even Harry Sussex, but real page turners are hard to find.  John the Baptist was just a herald, announcing the imminent kingdom of God, but his own task was revolutionary in its own right.  Then comes Yeshua, unmistakably new and fresh when compared to Israel’s prophets, priests and kings.  His clashes with the intelligentsia and leadership of Judea are pattern setting, but when you take his donkey ride into Zion you have an entirely iconoclastic horizon. Compared to Christ the people in charge of Moses’ legacy did not know justice.  Most of us want to be in the safe lane and be at the same time recognized as revolutionary-minded.  Yeshua rocked the boat so distinctly that people thought he was just intent on crashing the Jewish tradition.

17) Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18) For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18, NASB)

Perhaps when people begin to think that we are destroying the ancestral traditions we will know that we are in the lane of the true revolutionary.  When our actions appear in defence of the new and bold without destroying the old we will be standing with the brave and visionary.