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Luke Skywalker and King David: The Secret of Winning Wars Against Evil
by Cate Russell-Cole I have been a Star Wars fan since the first movie came out in 1977. I recently bought The Force Awakens, and as nostalgia kicked in, I started to see similarities between Luke Skywalker and the young man, David. Both of their lives were taken up the battle of good against evil and looking deeper into the Star Wars culture, I found more parallels than are immediately obvious. It's simply not enough to be able to pick up a sword and fight a war. Conquering darkness occurs on so many levels and many of them live beneath the surface in emotions, memories and thoughts. Any winningfight isfuelled by positive emotions and empowered by higher spiritual beliefs. Both Luke and David came from menial jobs in backwater towns, which had a poor reputation.While David had a more mature attitude and had been taught about his God since early childhood, both men were quickly propelled into positions of power, with the outcome affecting millions of people.In reading Wookipedia.com, I found this quote which placesLuke and David on very similar footing. "It has been said that anyone who knows the ways of the Force can set her, or himself up as a King on any world where only she or he knows the ways of the Force. Any Jedi could do this. But the Jedi, fools that they are, adhere to a religion in which the Force is used only in the service of others." Palpatine, in "The Weakness of Inferiors" If you chose to, you could liken Goliath and the Philistine armies, to Darth Vader and the Empire; however, the similarity I saw between Luke and David was on a personal level. We see a lot of Star Wars' plot focussing on Luke battling with his impatience, his anger, his fear, and his mixed feelings about his father. When you examine how he reacts to situations which arise and challenge his leadership, David battles the same anger and fear issues as Luke. [David's journey is recorded in1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, 1 Kings and the Psalms] David's anger is a character trait which is shown while he is on the run from Saul. He and his men have been providing security for a man named Nabal, and when the rich, arrogant Nabal makes no effort to pay them, David is ready to run him through with his sword. However, like Luke, he does listen, then heed the wise counsel given by Abigail. Both Luke and David show a willingness to learn in their youth, which is what will ultimately keep them on the right side of evil. [Ref. 1 Samuel 25] There are several other instances where David loses his temper. One occurred when the Ark of the Covenant is being bought into Jerusalem, and the cart it is being carried on slips. An innocent man is killed because he touched the Ark and David explodes. "David was angry because the Lord's anger had burst out against Uzzah. He named that place Perez-uzzah ("which means to burst out against Uzzah"), as it is still called today. David was now afraid of the Lord..." 2 Samuel 6:8-9a (See footnote on the Ark.) Patience and calm were pivotal traitsthat Luke and David had to learn. Without them, both men would havetoo much potential to do great harm. David did learn the lesson and encouraged others to learn it too. "Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper: it only leads to harm." Psalm 37:8 Whether you win or lose a battle depends very much on how you do things, both internally and externally. If you have a short fuse, theoverflow of emotionwillcloud your choices, as if did for Luke when he knew that Han and Leia were in danger on Bespin. If you rush in, like Luke, you lose the battle and you can lose more than that... like a hand. Angeralso directly affects men on the battle field.Fencers (sports), tell us that sword fights are nothing like the Hollywood portrayal of them. A real Jedi versus Sith, or Israelite versus Philistine fight would be over in seconds and who would win? The combatant who kept calm. The second a combatant loses theirtemper and allows emotion to take over, they stop effectively processing what is happening, and become easy to defeat.There is no glamour and glory in war. A man may be able to earn himself a reputation as a skilled warrior, but it's an ugly business. Attacking out of fear and hate only make it more putrid, as the loss of a soul to the wrong source of power is the greatest loss any battle can generate. Fear is the other emotional battle which both men had to strive to conquer. Fear is a natural, protective emotion which is not inherently bad. We need fear to make us question the wisdom of our actions and protect us from danger. The problems set in when, as occurred with Saul, fear makes us paranoid and we take unnecessary risks, become bitter and go to insane lengths to make ourselves safe. In the first three Star Wars movies we see Luke battle with fear as he learns to be a Jedi. At the end of the seventh movie, as Rey begins to beg Luke for help, his fearful reluctance is obvious. You can never completely conquer fear, and if you were to do so, you would do yourself, and others, great harm. David is plotted against many times during his life, you often see him write about fear in the Psalms. "I have heard the many rumours about me, and I am surrounded by terror. My enemies conspire against me, plotting to take my life. But I am trusting you, O LORD, saying, "You are my God!" My future is in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly." Psalm 31:13-15 There is nothing weak or unmanly in admitting fear. What matters in the end is how he chose to deal with it. David turned to the Lord for assistance and deliverance. You could take the good versus evil fight further with David, and considerhow his lust over Bathsheba took him to a dark place where evil gained control. If Luke Skywalker's life is ever shown in more detail, he's bound to have faced a similar challenge too. David's life story is about what happens when God gets hold of an ordinary life. Luke's story is centred on the heroism of just one man.None of us can ever be Luke Skywalker, and while he is an interesting character, he has nothing but a fictional philosophy to offer us which will be forgotten long after David is still remembered; but we can all follow in the footsteps of David, and be spiritually victorious by developing a relationship with God that will changeourselves andother people. David's success is accessible to all of us. Learning about his life points us directly to the Lord, the One who can truly help us overcome all our fears and win all our battles. Wookiepedia References: ~ Jedi Order http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi_Order/Legends ~ The Force http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Force/Legends ~ Jedi: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi/Legends Further Reading: ~ The Trouble With Saul: Mental Illness or Tormented by Fear? http://articles.faithwriters.com/reprint-article-details.php?article=32943 ~ Does Absolute Power Corrupt Absolutely? http://articles.faithwriters.com/reprint-article-details.php?article=32731 ~ Was King David a Megalomaniac? http://articles.faithwriters.com/reprint-article-details.php?article=32067 ~ How Gentle Kings Become Killers: David as a Warrior and Psalmist http://articles.faithwriters.com/reprint-article-details.php?article=32773 Footnote on the Ark of the Covenant: Trying to find the correct manner in which to transport the Ark is not an easy task. It's not that David didn't do his homework. I have tried to find the same information and went around in circles for hours, as every other procedure for caring for the Ark was spelled out except that one! [Ref: Exodus chapters 25-31 and then chapters 35-40] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For more information on King David, please have a meander through the King David Project Facebook page, our web site and our blog, "Masada Rain." The blog houses many useful resources on studying, David plus bits and pieces of information which don't neatly fit into article form. Please ignore dates and use the search feature to find what you want. The web site has resources on David's family tree, life and the Psalms. All content is creative commons and non-profit. Sharing of the project's work would be deeply appreciated. Masada Rain Blog: https://masadarain.wordpress.com The project web site: http://cateartios.wix.com/kingdavidproject Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fromdespairtodeliverance "From Despair to Deliverance: the King David Project," is a non-profit ministry, that seeks to make the life of King David easy to understand and relevant, so that believers gain inspiration and comfort from the life of King David. The project is run by Cate Russell-Cole, a Christian writer from Brisbane, Australia. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This article by Cate Russell-Cole is under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) Written in Australian English. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |