{"id":766631,"date":"2012-07-08T15:19:51","date_gmt":"2012-07-08T15:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/episcopalchurch:8888\/bible_study\/bible-study-proper-9-b-2012\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T20:15:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:15:03","slug":"bible-study-proper-9-b-2012","status":"publish","type":"bible_study","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/bible_study\/bible-study-proper-9-b-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Bible Study: Proper 9 (B) &#8211; 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><hr>\n<h4><strong>2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n<p>In last week\u2019s reading from the Hebrew scriptures, we heard how David mourned over the death of Saul, his predecessor, friend, mentor and finally enemy. We then skip forward over most of four chapters until we hear how David had been king of the tribe of Judah (one of the twelve tribes of the Israelite people) for seven and a half years when the rest of Israel asked him to be king as well. It all sounds very civilized and genteel. However, those four chapters we don\u2019t hear in church tell the story of a civil war, a false accusation, a betrayal, and two assassinations, plus a sneak attack on a walled city. Read all about it&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=207578482\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n\t<li>What details were omitted between last Sunday\u2019s reading and this week\u2019s? Why do you suppose they were not included? What portions of 2 Samuel 1-5 would you have included over these two Sundays? Why those?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4><strong>Psalm 48<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n<p>In the reading from the Hebrew scriptures (semi-continuous option, above) for this week, we heard how David \u201coccupied the stronghold, and named it the City of David.\u201d The text actually refers to Jerusalem, the capital of united Israel under the reigns of her two greatest Kings, David and his son Solomon. This psalm is one of several that speaks of Jerusalem, or its other name, Zion. Other of the 56 total references to Zion in the psalms can be found in Psalms 2, 84, 87, 122, 125 and 137.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n\t<li>Look up some of these other psalms. What do they say about the importance of place in the minds of the people? How important are places \u2013 physical, stable, brick-and-mortar \u2013 to you in your spiritual life? To your community of faith? How do the \u201csongs of Zion\u201d (Ps 137) inform your sense of sacred place?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4><strong>2 Corinthians 12:2-12<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n<p>In this passage, the apostle Paul continues a long argument what it\u2019s OK to boast about, and what to be humble about. Although the text makes it appear that he is talking about someone else, in reality, Paul is talking about ecstatic visions he himself experienced in the course of his life. Remember that the Corinthians had asked about spiritual gifts such as these (1 Corinthians 14). Now Paul admits he has had them too, but then immediately goes on to talk about a \u201cthorn in his flesh\u201d to keep him from getting too proud. No one knows what it was specifically, but whatever it was, caused Paul in his reflections and prayers to say that \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you; power is made perfect in weakness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n\t<li>What do you think of this? Do you think God deliberately inflicts such challenges on people? Is it appropriate to call attention even to one\u2019s sufferings, or better to be quiet about them? How might you use this passage to inform the challenges of your own life?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4><strong>Mark 6:1-13<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n<p>In this story, Jesus is back in his hometown, but no one takes him seriously. He apparently can\u2019t even enact his usual ministries of teaching and healing. \u201cAnd he was amazed at their unbelief.\u201d The word here really is more like \u201cun-faith\u201d or \u201cun-trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n\t<li>Can you think of other times when people didn\u2019t seem to believe Jesus and his ministry and teaching? How does this contrast, for example, with Jesus\u2019 calming of the storm from two Sundays ago? Does Christ only wait to be asked before he acts? Is faith required first in order to experience the love of Christ? What does that mean for your own faith and practice?<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 In last week\u2019s reading from the Hebrew scriptures, we heard how David mourned over the death of Saul, his predecessor, friend, mentor and finally enemy. We then skip forward over most of four chapters until we hear how David had been king of the tribe of Judah (one of the twelve&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201221,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23,52,33,3],"tags":[375],"class_list":["post-766631","bible_study","type-bible_study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-studies","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-proper-9b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":23,"label":"Bible Studies"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":375,"label":"Proper 9B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bible_study"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952360,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766631\/revisions\/952360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}