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2 Samuel 23
8 These are the names of David’s warriors:
Ishbosheth[d] the son of Hachmon[e] was the leader of the Three Warriors.[f] In one battle, he killed eight hundred men with his spear.[g]
9 The next one of the Three Warriors was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite. One time when the Philistines were at war with Israel, he and David dared the Philistines to fight them. Every one of the Israelite soldiers turned and ran, 10 except Eleazar. He killed Philistines until his hand was cramped, and he couldn’t let go of his sword. When Eleazar finished, all the Israelite troops had to do was come back and take the enemies’ weapons and armor. The Lord gave Israel a great victory that day.
11 Next was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. One time the Philistines brought their army together to destroy a crop of peas growing in a field near Lehi. The rest of Israel’s soldiers ran away from the Philistines, 12 but Shammah stood in the middle of the field and killed the Philistines. The crops were saved, and the Lord gave Israel a great victory.
13 One year at harvest time, the Three Warriors[h] went to meet David at Adullam Cave.[i] The Philistine army had set up camp in Rephaim Valley 14 and had taken over Bethlehem. David was in his fortress, 15 and he was very thirsty. He said, “I wish I had a drink from the well by the gate at Bethlehem.”
16 The Three Warriors[j] sneaked into the Philistine camp and got some water from the well near Bethlehem’s gate. But after they brought the water back to David, he refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as a sacrifice 17 and said to the Lord, “I can’t drink this water! It’s like the blood of these men who risked their lives to get it for me.”
The Three Warriors did these brave deeds.
Hosea 8
8 Israel, you are ruined,
and now the nations
consider you worthless.
9 You are like a wild donkey
that goes its own way.
You’ve run off to Assyria
and hired them as allies.
10 You can bargain with nations,
but I’ll catch you anyway.
Soon you will suffer abuse
by kings and rulers.
11 Israel, you have built
many altars
where you offer
sacrifices for sin.
But these altars have become
places for sin.
12 My instructions for sacrifices
were written in detail,
but you ignored them.
13 You sacrifice your best animals
and eat the sacrificial meals,[c]
but I, the Lord,
refuse your offerings.
I will remember your sins
and punish you.
Then you will return to Egypt.[d]
14 Israel, I created you,
but you forgot me.
You and Judah built palaces
and many strong cities.[e]
Now I will send fire to destroy
your towns and fortresses.
The Toil of God as He Tries to Raise up His Beloved Children
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
October 11, 1959
God created Adam and Eve as the heroes who could govern all things of Heaven and earth. God is the motive of love and the origin of love. He created Adam and Eve to invest all His love in them.
God did not create human beings to have them rule the entire universe. We have to understand that God created human beings to give them His love.
If God’s love is the power that motivates all things of the universe, why did God create and bless Adam and Eve? God created Adam and Eve as the people to whom He would give all the love which flows in Heaven and earth. You have to understand that God created our ancestors centering on that love.
God, who established the ideals and created the universe, must have rejoiced when He thought about how the creation of the universe would reach a finale with the creation of Adam and Eve. Moreover, God must have been indescribably happy as He watched Adam and Eve grow up. He looked at Adam and Eve with incredible joy and happiness. Don’t you think this is how it was? That was Adam and Eve.
God wanted to love Adam and Eve to the extent that He forgot about His dignity as the Creator, He forgot about all His powers and His omnipresent existence. You have to understand, then, how it must have been for God to look at Adam and Eve after the Fall.
Although you are children born of Satan’s lineage, you still love infinitely. You know how to love your beloved without limits. If human beings had not fallen, and good children rather than evil children had multiplied on the earth, then you could have looked at your children and felt the same intense feeling of love that God felt toward Adam and Eve after He created them.