Skip to main content

Sit or Don't Sit

I do not sit with men of falsehood,
nor do I consort with hypocrites.
 I hate the assembly of evildoers,
and I will not sit with the wicked.
 (Psalm 26:4-5 ESV)
As you can see, I have quoted verses 4 and 5 from Psalm 26.  This Psalm was a part of the daily Bible reading plan that I am working on this year.

Here is the dilemma:  How do we mesh these verses with the concepts promoted by Christ when he reclined at tables with the "tax collectors and sinners" of his day?  Here is one example from the Gospel according to Matthew:
And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
(Matthew 9:10-11 ESV)
Obviously, from the rest of scripture, there were issues with the Pharisees; problems with their interpretation and application of scripture.  But, what is the relationship with the Psalm and Jesus's ministry?  How do they work together?  In other words, how do you sit with but not sit with?

I have my thoughts on this, but the line is still a little hazy.  What do you think?
Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous1/27/2011 4:45 PM

    Of course the simple solution is to just say "David was a Pharisee". His prayer in verse 2 "Test me, LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind" Was granted, and he turned out to be much less righteous than he thought.

    The Psalms always do tend to be a moving picture. Many times David starts in despair, but ends in faith. A man after God's heart is going to be open honest and correctable. I don't know that we can take many of the Psalms as being prescriptive. The fact that David prayed for his enemies teeth to be knocked out does not necessarily mean that is a wise pray for us to embark on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matt Harmless1/27/2011 6:25 PM

    That's really good. I haven't thought about it from that perspective. I am glad you shared that!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Leave a thought of your own.

Popular posts from this blog

The Seed and The Soil of Education (New Learning Project Part 1)

(This is my entry for the first part of my project for my New Learning course that I am taking.) Introduction Corn Fields in Illinois I have lived the majority of my life in the Midwest: mid-state Illinois to be specific. Where I live, farming is everywhere. My grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers. My dad grew up on a farm and owned farmland, well into my own adulthood. But, even if it wasn’t in the family, I still would have been surrounded by farming. You can’t go more than a mile outside of my city’s limits without encountering miles and miles of fields. Most of our highways, and even interstates, are located between acres of farmland.
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

This too shall pass...

Gam zeh ya'avor (Hebrew) "This Too Shall Pass" Welcome!  According to Google Analytics, this is by far the most visited post that I have ever written.  If someone comes here from a search engine, most of the time they are looking for " this too shall pass quote " or simply " this too shall pass " on Google or one of the other search engines. I am sure that most of the time visitors are looking for the originations of this quote, but I have to wonder, why is this quote on people's minds? Why are they pondering the passing of events?   Here is my thought: It is probably because most of us have realized that the adult life is much harder than we ever imagined it to be. There is more pain and more sorrow than we had ever imagined as children, but we have learned that time keeps ticking. And as time continues to flow things pass. In fact, even the really big things and the really hard things will still pass. If you are here because you are thinking ...
53 comments
Continue Reading »

The Minnesota Crime Commission wrote:

Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toys, his uncle's watch, or whatever. Deny him these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He's dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children but all children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in their self-centered world of infancy, given free reign to their impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.
11 comments
Continue Reading »