My First Bible #2: 2 Samuel 6:21-22
It was probably not long after I familiarised myself with this verse that I was frequently singing that good old 2000s classic, a direct translation from the NIV, whilst jumping up and down with other young people whilst guitars strummed, drums played and lights flashed. Actually, I think there were only lights at few of the events - most weren't that high-tech, just very crowded!
And I'll become (clap clap) even more undignified than this
Some would say its foolishness
And I'll become (clap clap) even more undignified that this
Gonna leave my pride by the side...
I'm pretty sure I'd read the story of David from which this verse comes before I encountered the song (and thought - "ah, yes - that's based on that verse where David is dancing"), and whilst it was great to be dancing with a load of other young people, I knew that this 'indignity', as the NIV puts it, was more than just losing one's inhibitions at a youth event. I was ready and willing for others to think me 'weird' for being a Christian.
I have gladly and willing endured indignities of the trivial kind in the name or youth and childrens' work: been soaked in water fights, had shaving foam squirted on my head so that young people can compete to crown me with the most number of cheese puffs, and danced enthusiastically to all the childrens' songs (although I confess I quite enjoy the last one!). I've given birth and had multiple surgeries, and it's often said that you lay your dignity at the door when that happens!
It's easy to think of the above things as undignified, but to think about this more widely begs the question of what it really is that we should be willing to lose for God.
The cultural implications behind David's actions in 2 Samuel 6 provide us with some food for thought to try to translate into our own situations. Michal's complaint about her husband David was not just that he was dancing, but that he 'uncovered' or 'exposed himself'. This was not about 'indecent exposure' of a gratuitous sexual kind we might think of today. From looking at some various translations, I can see that a) David was wearing 'linen ephod' rather than his royal robes', and b) that he was 'girded' with the same - meaning that he'd probably hoiked it up to his knees in order to dance. The latter is something that anyone needing to run or carry out physical labour would have done (hence our idiom - 'gird your loins' meaning 'ready for action'), and is not something that someone of high status would have done. It's possible that the linen ephod may have denoted his priestly role, but Michal's reaction suggests it was not reflective of his status as King. In clothing terms it would be like the King opening parliament in a pair of flip flops, jeans and a hoodie. But even then, the notions of humility verses prestige don't really translate (we've seen plenty of pictures of the Royal Family in casual dress!). It would be more like the King putting on an overall and cleaning the toilets! But in our post-Christian culture which values humility to an extent, even that would probably earn him some 'man of the people' kudos!
The point of Michal's complaint, however, was David had laid aside all his prestige. It was in this way that he had literally 'uncovered' himself - taken off the identity that make people hold him in high regard. He'd done this in order to join with everyone else in dancing and singing praises to God - to express his joy and his worship. Worship can take the form of singing and dancing, but it goes much further than that:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:1-2a, emphasis mine)And sometimes, or dare I say, usually, it's impossible to do that, to worship by offering your body - you life - as a living sacrifice - with your royal robes on. Not just the royal robes of King Charles III, but the royal robes of David, and all that entailed for a King of the ancient world.
Our 'royal robes' may feel exactly the opposite to David. Maybe our metaphorical outer clothing might be that which causes us to fit in, rather than stand out. David gained human approval by being King - an office and a role - which he 'put off' before God. Ours might be our individuality, it might be status like David, or it might be our conformity. How many have kept silent, or gone along with others, for fear of the indignity of being different? Sometimes being different gets you laughed at; sometimes it gets you scorned; and sometimes it can even make others hate you. In the worst situations, like for our sisters and brothers living in areas of persecution, it can get you imprisoned or killed. Dignity is the is about freedom to live as a human being and be accepted by others. Mild mocking, all the way to imprisonment and death, are a spectrum of ways in which that dignity can be attacked.
Many have their dignity stripped of them through no choice of their own. This is abhorrent and something we should stand against as Christians. However, when we chose to follow Christ, we willingly lay aside that dignity, but choosing to through off whatever 'royal robes' we are wearing that would gain us the approval of others, but that hamper us from worshipping God.
Why can we be willing to lose our human prestige, dignity and honour? Because we exchange that for one that is even deeper. The Bible even uses the imagery of clothes to describe it:
I delight greatly in the Lord;my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
(Isaiah 61:10)
And
Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. (2 Corinthians 5:2-3)
Ever since Genesis 3, when God clothed the naked Adam and Eve, there has been a new dignity on offer - that of being counted as righteousness in God's eyes through the death and resurrection of his son Jesus Christ, and, clothed in the dazzling white robes of the Risen Jesus, being accepted alongside him, as sons and daughters of God. That's something worth taking off our royal robes for.
Previous: Deuteronomy 8:17-18
Next: 2 Kings 6:16
The summer I was 17 years old I read my Bible cover to cover for the first time. I was captivated and completed the whole thing in 4 months. Although I clearly read it at quite a pace, I still jotted down passages that sprang out to me in my still relatively new faith. I still have that Bible, and the scraps of paper are still there, bookmarking each verse. So I decided to go through, 18 years later, and visit each of them. They are from the Good News Bible.
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