“Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.”
Yesterday, March 16, a group of South Korean women organized a silent demonstration to commemorate victims of last week’s earthquake. Let me just copy-paste the article from Xinhuanet:
“The group, composed of the ‘comfort women’ forced into prostitution for Japanese troops in World War II, gathered outside of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, despite cold weather. They have been protesting at the same location every Wednesday for 19 years, demanding an apology and compensation from the Japanese government for the war crime. However, instead of their usual demonstrations, they stood in silent tribute to the victims of the earthquake in Japan. ‘Hate the sin but not the people,’ said Lee Yong-su, a former comfort woman in attendance.’ They also called off demonstration in 1995 after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Kobe, western Japan, killing more than 6,000 people.”
Anyone else asking if Japan deserves this disaster? These women have all the reasons to throw the first stones. But they didn’t. Hearing the report of Saul’s death, David could have rejoiced and sighed relief. But he didn’t. He instead threw off all politics and personal vendetta and ‘mourned and wept and fasted till evening for him. His song was not ‘Beh Buti Nga’ (serves you right). He did not even patronized the revived version. He wrote a lament and ordered that it should be taught to the people of Judah. The lyrics say nothing of Saul’s ill-character or imprudent choices. On the contrary, David urges the ‘daughters of Israel’ to remember him for how he clothed them ‘in scarlet and finery and adorned their garments with ornaments of gold’. If for an enemy, sad posture and funeral songs were alien to us, it was not enough for David. He further honored God’s anointed by making sure justice is served. And so the babbling Amalekite who thought he’ll be rewarded for offering the crown at David’s feet was struck down. I’m sure he was caught by surprise to see David behave otherwise. So were the six hundred. And it moved them to do likewise.
Proverbs 24:17 says, ‘Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice.’ This was written by the wise Solomon. We need not guess where he got this virtue firsthand. The Father in heaven causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. We need not wonder why His Son died for all. And we say we’re children of the Father? The Koreans knew better that justice is not just about correcting a sin. More than that, it is conformity to the principles of righteousness. It’s still justice that moved them to cry with the rest of the world: God help Japan.
And God bless these women.
And God bless these women.
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