a telling reminiscence ~ part 1:
There are people I would like to know...people who I will find, pull up a chair beside and spend a few courses and pots of tea chatting with at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. Any of you who know me, know I will chat with C. S. Lewis, and with Tolkien. There is someone else I plan to get to know there: Gad.
"Gad? Gad who? or ______________ Gad?" I can nearly hear you asking.
NO...not the Gad who was the son of Jacob, the other Gad ~ Gad who was a seer in David's court. Really? Really!!
So, who is this guy? Well first of all, he was a seer. Seers are like prophets only instead of mainly 'hearing' what God has to say, they see what God shows them. And Gad, we are told In 1 Chronicles, wrote David's story. . . and check it out . . . a HUGE portion of the Old Testament is David's story.
1 Chron 29:29-30
As for the events of King David's reign, from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer, together with the details of his reign and power, and the circumstances that surrounded him and Israel and the kingdoms of all the other lands.
NIV
OK...he wrote part of David's story, the 1 and 2 Samuel part. He couldn't have written the 1 and 2 Chronicles part since that wasn't penned until after the captivitiy. And yes, that is why the accounts are so similar yet so different.
I am convinced that Gad was the major author. I know it says"Samuel the seer" and "Nathan, the prophet" too. I think Samuel and Nathan added to the text, but I think Gad wrote the bulk. Why? Well Gad was there with David from the beginning, and we know Samuel wasn't, and Nathan doesn't seem to come into David's story until Saul is dead and David is King on the throne of Israel in Jerusalem. How do I know Gad was with David from the beginning? Well first we are told in 1 Sam 22:1-5:
David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, "Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?" So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.
But the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.
NIV
So, either Gad came to David with his family and the rest of the malcontents (malcontents who were transformed into the "mighty men" by the alchemy of God and the discipleship of David during the wilderness years). Or Gad was with David, perhaps from the time he was in Saul's court. That is what I think is most likely. There is after all a pretty detailed account of all that happened to David from the time he was anointed by Samuel, to when he was Saul's dinner minstral, to when he killed
Goliath, to when he fled to and then from Gath and became King in the wilderness. Perhaps Gad was part of the court of Saul. But, I suspect Gad might have been someone in Samuel's entourage when Samuel came to dinner at Jesse's house and anointed David as king. . . maybe. Perhaps he was there when David came to Samuel at Ramah and then at Naioth (1 Samuel 19...in fact you should turn there now and re-read that story...it's a good one). I suspect that when David left Samuel's, Gad went too and stayed with David through the end of David's life.
Yup! Gad is someone I would like to get to know.
Next I plan to write perhaps one of my favoritest stories in the OT: what I think is Gad's penning of David's reminiscence. (and yes, I did say and mean "favoritest".)
"Gad? Gad who? or ______________ Gad?" I can nearly hear you asking.
NO...not the Gad who was the son of Jacob, the other Gad ~ Gad who was a seer in David's court. Really? Really!!
So, who is this guy? Well first of all, he was a seer. Seers are like prophets only instead of mainly 'hearing' what God has to say, they see what God shows them. And Gad, we are told In 1 Chronicles, wrote David's story. . . and check it out . . . a HUGE portion of the Old Testament is David's story.
1 Chron 29:29-30
As for the events of King David's reign, from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer, together with the details of his reign and power, and the circumstances that surrounded him and Israel and the kingdoms of all the other lands.
NIV
OK...he wrote part of David's story, the 1 and 2 Samuel part. He couldn't have written the 1 and 2 Chronicles part since that wasn't penned until after the captivitiy. And yes, that is why the accounts are so similar yet so different.
I am convinced that Gad was the major author. I know it says"Samuel the seer" and "Nathan, the prophet" too. I think Samuel and Nathan added to the text, but I think Gad wrote the bulk. Why? Well Gad was there with David from the beginning, and we know Samuel wasn't, and Nathan doesn't seem to come into David's story until Saul is dead and David is King on the throne of Israel in Jerusalem. How do I know Gad was with David from the beginning? Well first we are told in 1 Sam 22:1-5:
David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, "Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?" So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.
But the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.
NIV
So, either Gad came to David with his family and the rest of the malcontents (malcontents who were transformed into the "mighty men" by the alchemy of God and the discipleship of David during the wilderness years). Or Gad was with David, perhaps from the time he was in Saul's court. That is what I think is most likely. There is after all a pretty detailed account of all that happened to David from the time he was anointed by Samuel, to when he was Saul's dinner minstral, to when he killed
Goliath, to when he fled to and then from Gath and became King in the wilderness. Perhaps Gad was part of the court of Saul. But, I suspect Gad might have been someone in Samuel's entourage when Samuel came to dinner at Jesse's house and anointed David as king. . . maybe. Perhaps he was there when David came to Samuel at Ramah and then at Naioth (1 Samuel 19...in fact you should turn there now and re-read that story...it's a good one). I suspect that when David left Samuel's, Gad went too and stayed with David through the end of David's life.
Yup! Gad is someone I would like to get to know.
Next I plan to write perhaps one of my favoritest stories in the OT: what I think is Gad's penning of David's reminiscence. (and yes, I did say and mean "favoritest".)
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