Love Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom, and welcome to V'ahavta Yisrael, a Hebrew phrase which means "you shall love Israel." We hope you'll stay with us for the next 30 minutes as our teacher, Dr. Baruch, shares his expository teaching from the Bible. Dr. Baruch is the senior lecturer at the Zera Avraham Institute based in Israel. Although all courses are taught in Hebrew at the institute, Dr. Baruch is pleased to share this weekly address in English. To find out more about our work in Israel, please visit us on the web at LoveIsrael.org. That's one word, LoveIsrael.org. Now, here's Baruch with today's lesson.

Dr. Baruch Korman: In this episode, we're going to come to the dramatic conclusion of this battle between the armies of the Philistines and the armies of Israel. And as we've learned, based upon Goliath's request, we're going to see that it's going to be one man against another man. On the side of the Philistines, we have this giant, this man that is excessively strong, this one who is thoroughly experienced, truly a man of war. And in the other army, we find David, this attractive, this handsome, this ruddy-colored complexion individual who has spent most of his life simply as a shepherd.

And we saw last week that the Philistine was angry with David. Why? Because the Philistine sought glory. And if he was only going to fight a young boy, this would not be something that would bring him honor. He wasn't thinking about what is right, what is true, what is just, but he was thinking of his own personal glory. And let's just learn a lesson. When we are motivated by our glory, we're trying to exalt self, that is a sure clue that we are going to be brought down by God, that is, that we are going to be humbled.

Well, with that said, take out your Bible and look with me to First Samuel, chapter 17, and we're now ready for verse 45. Again, First Samuel, chapter 17, and we're ready for verse 45. Now, in this passage of scripture, we're going to see something. We're going to see how David trusted in the Lord, and that is wisdom. If you are going to be used by God, if you are going to accomplish His purposes, you must rely, trust, and depend upon God, His provision, His presence, His power, and to learn discernment that you might have His perspective.

So look with me to that first verse, verse 45, First Samuel 17 and verse 45, where it says: "And David said to the Philistine, You come against me with sword and with spear and with javelin," these three instruments of warfare. But notice what David says: "But I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have disgraced."

And there is this familiar word that we've seen over and over, which literally means to disgrace. Now, that was the objective of the Philistines. They wanted to see Israel disgraced. And as we are in and approaching the end times, we know something. We know that in that same way, there's going to be great anti-Semitism in the world. The world is going to, under the influence of that Antichrist spirit, the world is going to become greatly opposed to Israel. Why is that?

Because Israel is connected to the kingdom of God, and the world doesn't want the kingdom of God. The world doesn't want justice and righteousness. The world does not want an end to war because war can be extremely profitable. So the world wants to continue in this way of evilness. But we're going to see that in the end, just like this scripture hints to, there's going to be victory for the children of Israel.

Move now to the next verse, verse 46. David is speaking and he says: "This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will slay you," now this is this word that speaks of a striking, and it always in the Bible refers to a blow, a strike that ends with death. So look again, he says here: "This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will slay you, and I will remove your head from upon you, and I will give the carcass of the camp of the Philistines this day to the birds of heaven and to the beasts of the earth."

And what's going to happen? "That all the world will know that there is a God in Israel." Now, that's what we should anticipate. As we see God's judgment upon the world, there's a purpose for that. And what is that purpose? God is going to show and prove that He alone is God. And all other gods, let me say it more specifically, all other religions are false. They are a lie. They are counterfeit. There is no God in other religions. There's one God, the God of Israel.

Now, He has revealed Himself as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But we see in this passage, which is very prophetic, there's going to be victory for the armies of Israel. And this victory is going to point to God as the deliverer. Move now to our next verse, verse 47: "And all this assembly," meaning all those who have gathered there, there's a great congregation that has come between the Philistines and the children of Israel.

So it's before this assembly that they shall know that it's not by sword or spear that the Lord will save. For, and notice what it says: "For to the Lord is the war, and He has given you into our hand." Now, what is being said here? God is the source of victory. We can say it differently, as this word also appears in verse 47, the word Yehoshua. What's Yehoshua? That He will save, meaning our God is Savior. We need to acknowledge that always.

Look now at verse 48: "And it came about that as the Philistine rose up and he went and he drew near to meet David," what happened? David wasn't afraid. He had confidence. "David hurried and he ran towards," and we have a word here which means basically the lines of war, "to meet the Philistine." So David wasn't intimidated, David wasn't fearful. He knew something: that the Lord of hosts, that is the God of armies, that's what the word Sabaoth or hosts means, armies, that the Lord of hosts was with him.

And it says here that he went forth to this battle site in order to meet the Philistine. Verse 49: "And David stretched forth his hand into his vessel," why is he doing that? "And he took from there a rock," one rock, and his slingshot. And what did he do? "He struck the Philistine upon his forehead, and the stone was sinking into his forehead," and notice what it says: "and he fell upon his face towards the ground."

Now, what is that? Well, you have to understand what this means biblically. When we look at this passage, we see that over and over, what did Goliath do? He wanted to disgrace or bring shame upon the nation of Israel. Now, that nation was in a covenant with God. And God is not going to leave or forsake. That word forsake means He's not going to be careless. What is God going to do? Well, as we've already said, the war belongs to God, and God will save.

And He saved through one man, David. And we're going to see later on that God is going to save again, but not a physical saving, not over a war, but He's going to save us from another enemy, and that is sin. And how's He going to do that? Through redemption. So notice what this scripture is saying, verse 49: "And David stretched forth his hand into his vessel, and he took from there a stone and the slingshot. And he struck the Philistine upon the forehead, his forehead, and that stone was sinking into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the ground."

Now, why is that important? Because to fall upon your face towards the ground shows shame. And why was that? Because this Philistine wanted to defy, to disgrace, to shame the people of God. And God was not going to allow it. David knew it, and David had confidence because he understood the character of God. Look now to verse 50. Now here again, translators don't always translate because when we look at this word, it is a word Hazak, which means to be in strengthen.

And this is what it says: "And David was strengthened from the Philistine with that slingshot and with the stone." And what happened? "He struck the Philistine and he killed him." And it says: "A sword, there was not in David's hand." What does that mean? It tells us that this victory was from God. It wasn't based upon warfare, it wasn't based upon being skilled with a sword. David was victorious. And what happens? There's no sword in his hand. All of that is to tell us that the battle belonged to the Lord. He was the source of this victory.

And what was David? As it says here: "Vaye-hazak," he was in strengthened because of the Philistines with that slingshot and stone. He slew the Philistines and killed him, and there was no sword in the hand of David. Look now at verse 51: "And David ran and he stood over the Philistine. And he took his sword and he stretched it out from its sheath where the sword was." And it says: "and he killed him and he cut," it says here, "his head from this man."

And notice the outcome of that: "The Philistines, they saw that their hero," and there's the word hero. Now, some might say champion, that's fine. It's a different word than we saw other times that the Bible translated as a champion or hero. This is the word Gibbor, not an Ish Benaim, meaning a man from among them, that's how it's normally said. But here, it says: "for their hero was dead." And what did they do when they saw that? They fled.

Look now to verse 52. Based upon this wonderful victory that David did for the children of Israel and for the God of Israel, look at verse 52: "And the men of Israel and Judah," notice that, a very significant phrase. Why is that? Well, if you know prophecy well, when we talk about the last days, it's not just about Judah, but it's Judah and Israel. And why is that? Because there's a prophecy. In the last days, there's going to be a reunification between Israel and Judah.

Now, Judah was the southern tribe. It endured the longest because Israel was taken into captivity by Assyria. And for approximately 150 years after that, we find that Judah endured. But in the end, both Israel, that northern kingdom, and Judah, that southern kingdom, they both went into exile. Why? For the same reason, because of idolatry. God cannot tolerate when we are walking between two opinions, when we say that we serve the God of Israel, but in reality, we worship other gods. That is unacceptable to God.

So what happens? The men of Israel and Judah, they rose up, and what did they do? They shouted and they pursued the Philistines unto the coming of the valley, unto the gates of Ekron. And notice what happens, it says here: "And the corpses of the Philistines fell upon the way of Sha'arayim," this is another location in Israel, and not just there but also unto Gath and unto Ekron.

Now, we know something. Biblically speaking, there are five Philistine cities, and we've seen a few of these. We've seen Gath, we've seen Ekron, we also know of Ashkelon, Ashdod, and of course Gaza. These are the five cities again: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath. And what we see here is that there's judgment from the children of Israel on several of these locations. Look now to verse 53: "And the children of Israel turned," now there's a very interesting word.

Now, when I look at this, if you know modern Hebrew, we're talking about the same root for the phrase gasoline, Dalak in Hebrew of today. And what is that? Well, gasoline, you put in your car, and when you turn on the ignition, it burns. And what this is saying is that the children of Israel, I realize that most Bibles will say pursue, but it pursued as a fire, that's what the children of Israel did after the Philistines. And notice what it says. It says here that they did something, that they overtook them at their camps, meaning where the soldiers were. They had victory, they plundered them, in other words.

Verse 54: "And David took the head of the Philistine and he brought it to Jerusalem." Why? Well, first and foremost, Jerusalem is a place of worship. And David did something, he knew that this victory was not based upon himself, but God. Remember what we learned? The war belongs to God, the battle is His. And therefore David took the symbol of this victory, the head of Goliath, he took it to Jerusalem, this place of worship, acknowledging that God was the source of this victory.

Look again: "And David took the head of the Philistine and he brought it to Jerusalem. And all," now notice, it says here, "the vessels, his vessels, there, and he set in the tent." Now, we're not sure what tent. It says his tent. So perhaps David went there and set up his tent. But others see it as a symbol of worship.

Look at verse 55: "And when Saul," this is King Saul, King Sha'ul, "saw David going forth to meet the Philistine, he said unto Abner," who's Abner? The head of the army. He says: "Whose son is this, this young man?" And we have that same word Na'ar. "And Abner, he said, As your soul lives, O King, if I should know," meaning he doesn't know whose son it is.

Verse 56: "And the king said, You inquire whose son this is." And then we have a word, "young man." Now, this is a unique word for young man. It speaks about someone who has some eternal significance. If we look at this, it is the word Ha-Alem. Now, the word Olam speaks of all of world or all of time. And again, the rabbinical scholars, they see something significant. We're asking about who is this one? Well, we know who we're talking about. We're talking about David, this young man. He's still very young, probably around 14, 15, 16, 17 years of age at most. And no one really knows anything about him, other than, and it's emphasized, that he is young.

Look now to verse 57: "And when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine," meaning killing Goliath, it says, "Abner took him and brought him before Sha'ul, and the head of the Philistine was in his hand." Now, we see here David was brought and he was still holding onto that head of Goliath. Why? It was a symbol of victory.

And that's what God does. We need to realize something. The God that we serve is a victorious God. He's the one and the only one that can take what would be a sure defeat, because if we look at the children of Israel, they were not more numerous. In fact, Israel, as the Jewish people are, a very small group of people. Israel is a small nation. But we see something. You can look at Israel today and see how many people are achieving. We have those different types of awards that Israelis earn, much more than proportional. Why? The blessings of God.

So we see over and over and over, when we look at what God is doing with the Jewish people, we can see His hand upon them. And what is that a sign of? The future, that God is going to bring victory for all of Israel. Doesn't say that in the Bible? For that remnant. Over and over, there's a remnant. And what we need to realize is that that remnant is going to come from every nation, every people, every tribe, and every language. Why? Well, God is going to save a remnant. Does He want to save the world? Of course. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. But we need to realize that with Israel and with every other nation and every other people and every other language or culture, there's only going to be a remnant that is saved.

Let's go to our last verse, verse 58: "And Saul said to him, Whose son are you, O young man? And David said, The son of your servant Jesse." And then we have a very important term: "Bet Ha-Lahmi." We have this term Bet Ha-Lahmi, which means that Jesse, the father of David, who we call Jesse, is from what place? Bethlehem.

Now, what do we learn about Bethlehem? We learned that Bethlehem is a place of provision. Why does this chapter conclude with a reference to Bethlehem? To remind the reader, that means you and me, that this victory came about not through natural means, but in the same way that Bethlehem, Beit Lechem, the house of bread, the house of God's provision, in the same way that Bethlehem is known for a place of resources, provision, what the scripture is telling us: that this wonderful victory that only God could bring about, it wasn't orchestrated by man. It didn't happen because David was with a sword. It happened because of God's faithfulness.

Our God is always faithful. And if we want to experience His faithfulness, there's only one way to do so. And that is when we submit. We recognize God's absolute authority. He is sovereign. That we recognize His authority over us, and that we bring every thought, every word, every action into obedience to the purpose, the plan, the will of God. When we do that, we can be assured of something. And that is that God is going to move mightily in our circumstances.

And we need to find out here, if we looked at it in the flesh, what would you think? Well, the Philistines were a major force in that part of the world. They were conquerors. But they could not conquer Israel. Why? Because of that living God, the God of Israel. And what the world is going to learn, this is a great example of it, but what the world is going to learn in the last days is that God is going to bring victory. What type of victory? Eternal victory to Israel and all those who are in a covenant with God, the God of Israel.

And what is the best covenant to be in? We're talking about the new covenant, the Brit Ha-Hadasha in Hebrew. It is a covenant of forgiveness where God has promised to forgive all of our sins. And not only that, God has also promised to forgive and forget all of our sins. Why do I say that? Well, how does that new covenant end? He says, and your sins I will remember no more.

We can have assurance that when we go before God, all of our sins are forgiven, and all of our sins are forgotten. And what else? Well, when God looks at a believer, what does He see? No sin, no iniquity, no transgressions, no evil. What does He see? He sees the righteousness of His Son. That's the good news of the gospel, that we who are historically unrighteous in the flesh, that we are made righteous in the sight of God.

And what is that element that does that? It is the power of the blood of Messiah, a blood that gives us, and here's that key verse, Hebrews 9, verse 12, that blood gives us eternal redemption. And what is redemption? Well, if you do a good study of that word, you will find a connection between redemption and restoration. If you want to be restored to God's will, if you want to be a recipient of His blessings and His promises, there's only one way. You have to be redeemed.

And when you are redeemed by God's grace, through the blood of His only begotten Son, all of our sins are forgiven, all of our sins are forgotten, and you are going to be restored back to the will of God. And what's good? God's will. He wants to bless you, He wants you to be a recipient of His promises, He wants you to know the goodness of God. Our God is a good God.

What does He do? Well, let's conclude. When we look at this 17th chapter of First Samuel, it's all about one thing. What is that? Well, on that day, the children of Israel had victory. They were able to pursue their enemies, overtake their enemies, and bring judgment, God's judgment upon these Philistine cities. And what do we know? Well, this is exactly what God's going to do in the future where He is going to bring a hot wrath upon the enemies of Israel.

So we need to get it right. We need to have the same type of faith that who had? Ruth. That she says: "Your people are my people, your God is my God." There's wisdom there. If you hate the Jewish people, you hate the people of God, you also will hate the God of Israel. We need to see that Israel is foundational for us understanding the purposes, the plan, and the will of God so we might experience eternal victory. Until next time, Shalom.

Guest (Male): Well, we hope you will benefit from today's message and share it with others. Please plan to join us each week at this time and on this channel for our broadcast of LoveIsrael.org. Again, to find out more about us, please visit our website, LoveIsrael.org. There you will find articles and numerous other lectures by Baruch. These teachings are in video form. You may download them or watch them in streaming video. Until next week, may the Lord bless you in our Messiah Yeshuah, that is Jesus, as you walk with him. Shalom from Israel.