michael jackson was the king of pop. michael jackson was a multi-talented showman. his hit album “thriller” was on the verge of being permanently number one on the pop chart.
something happened.
there was new royalty. a prince. with a “purple rain.” the album “purple rain” took down the king of pop. prince, while a talented performed, was an exceptionally talented musician. his music was full of emotion and meaning. this was the beginning of a purple reign.
purple has long been held to be the color of royalty. recently, “Israeli archaeologists have recovered scraps of fabric dyed in royal purple, also known as true purple, dating back to the era of the biblical king david.” jns
as with michael jackson and prince, who were both royalty within the music field, and who differed in such profound ways, moses and king david are part of the bible’s royalty. they, however, are important for profoundly different reasons.
moses was god’s scribe. he reduced god’s words, statutes, ordinances, commandments, etc. into the torah. moses’ speech difficulties may have made him the perfect for the task. moses’ limitations may have allowed for the purity of the dictation. he knew that god’ words were more important than his own. he was the leader, the scribe, the teacher, and the judge of a fledgling nation.
david played a different role.
david was a communicator. david was a warrior, david was a poet and musician. david’s story is complicated. it is about power struggles. it is about loyalty. it was about confronting nepotism. it is about desire and sin. it is a about a shepherd who rose to lead a country.
while moses was responsible for god’ communication of torah to humanity, david provided humanity’s response to god. he did so in the form of poetry and song.
david is credited for having written the book of psalms.
the book of psalms is a collection of prayers, poems and songs that address the relationship between god and humanity from humanity’s perspective.
these communications embrace the acceptance of the torah. the ponders upon issues such how a torah based universe functions for righteous in a world occupied by wickedness.
david also communicated songs of joy and praise towards god. david made popular and eternal the world halleluyah. this word become the title of leonard cohen’s hit song.
psalms continue to play a role in humanity relationship to god. for anyone who has ever attended a christian or jewish funeral, the poem starting with the words “the lord is my shepherd….” was surely spoken. this is psalm 23.
in sum, the world has many important roles for many people
be well!!
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