Armor and Sabbath

Reading Leap Over a Wall by Peterson again. Reading about David and Goliath going over the passage before the famous battle.

Saul answered David, “You can’t go and fight this Philistine. You’re too young and inexperienced—and he’s been at this fighting business since before you were born.”

David said, “I’ve been a shepherd, tending sheep for my father. Whenever a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I’d go after it, knock it down, and rescue the lamb. If it turned on me, I’d grab it by the throat, wring its neck, and kill it. Lion or bear, it made no difference—I killed it. And I’ll do the same to this Philistine pig who is taunting the troops of God-Alive. God, who delivered me from the teeth of the lion and the claws of the bear, will deliver me from this Philistine.”
Saul said, “Go. And God help you!”

Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge.
David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off.

 from 1 Samuel 17 (The Message)

While pondering this passage it struck me that there are parallels in the Gospels.  From the end of Mark 2 for instance:

One Sabbath day he was walking through a field of ripe grain. As his disciples made a path, they pulled off heads of grain. The Pharisees told on them to Jesus: “Look, your disciples are breaking Sabbath rules!”
Jesus said, “Really? Haven’t you ever read what David did when he was hungry, along with those who were with him? How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, with the Chief Priest Abiathar right there watching—holy bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat—and handed it out to his companions?” Then Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made to serve us; we weren’t made to serve the Sabbath. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath. He’s in charge!”

Seems to me both Saul and the Pharisees were working out accepted wisdom, you needed armor to fight, you needed detailed rules to keep the Sabbath.   Yet both were subverting the thing that they were trying to protect.  David wouldn't have won in a traditional armor based fight.  The Pharisees had turned a blessing "take one day a week off -" into a curse.

Do our systems and traditions serve us or do we serve them?  Is Christmas a blessing or a curse?  Does the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution serve it's people or do they offer sacrifices to it?

Just what's running through my head.

 - Peace