Love Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom, and welcome to Veahavta 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: One of the most godly relationships or friendships in the Bible is between David and Saul's oldest son by the name of Jonathan or Yehonatan. Now, we see in the scripture that they shared a godly love for one another. And this love caused them to be loyal to one another in order that David would not die but rather David would be spared by the help and the assistance that Jonathan gave him.

And this is a beautiful relationship and it is so sad and tragic today that people speak of this relationship in an incorrect, in a disgusting way that misrepresents what the Bible is revealing. So with that said, take out your Bible and look with me to 1 Samuel and chapter 20, 1 Samuel and chapter 20. Now again, we need to remember what is going on here. There is a decision by King Saul in order that he would put David, whom he sees as an enemy but biblically, David is not an enemy of King Shaul.

Rather he is a loyal servant of the kingdom. And he has not done anything in any way that has made himself an enemy of Shaul's, rather he has brought about victory after victory over the Philistines from the moment that Shaul put him in charge of the armies of Israel. So this is a biblical truth that we need to remember. Now, when we look at this scripture we're going to see something. We're going to see how God is moving through Yonatan in order to assist David in bringing about a good outcome and what is that outcome?

Well, we're going to see many times that the word good is used in this passage. And what does good represent? Good represents the will of God. We're going to see that God is going to use Yonatan in order to bring about God's will in the life of David and that is that David is not going to die. So with that said look with me if you would to 1 Samuel chapter 20 and we're ready for verse 10 where it says: “And David said to Yehonatan, ‘Who will tell me or what will your father answer you?’”

And then we have a word that summarizes that response. That response from Yonatan's father, King Shaul. The last word in the biblical text is the word “kasheh” which means harshly. So the question is this: if you don't tell me, Jonathan, what your father is planning against me, who is it that will reveal this to me? And if his answer is not something that is good or relates to peace and what is peace? The fulfillment of God's will.

If this is not what's happening, who is going to reveal to me what the truth is, that is this harsh outcome that your father has for me? This is what's being asked. Look now to verse 11: “And Yehonatan said to David, ‘Go and we will go into the field.’ And the two of them went forth into the field.” Now this is in the open and why is that important? Because Yonatan is telling David, “Let’s go to an open place.” And what is he going to do?

He is going to pledge to him his faithfulness and we'll see that this is going to be found in an establishment of a covenant. Read on now to verse 12 where it says: “And Jonathan said to David, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, for I will investigate my father today,’” meaning at this time, “tomorrow and even on the third day. And behold, if it's good to David,” meaning if the outcome is not something that is against God's will for you, but if it's a good outcome, then he says, “Then I would not send it unto you,” meaning I wouldn't tell you this if it was a good outcome.

“And I would,” notice what he says at the end of verse 12, “and I would reveal it to your ear.” So what he's saying is, “I'm promising you that whatever the outcome is.” And Yonatan thinks that hopefully, it's going to be a good outcome, that his father does not have something harshly planned against David. But Yonatan doesn't know the reality of the situation. But what he is and we'll see this in a moment is a very loyal friend of David.

So he says, “I'm going to investigate my father now at this time, tomorrow, and even on the third day.” What is this telling us? It's telling us that Yonatan wants to be sure that he is going to investigate this matter very thoroughly. And this is an important biblical truth because we do not want to do something halfway, but we want to do it properly, correctly. And this is what Jonathan is promising to do to David and he says, “If it's good, would I not send it to you?” Meaning, reveal it to you and tell you into your ear.

Look now to verse 13: “For thus the Lord will do to Jonathan and thus He will even add. For,” he says here, “if it's good,” meaning in this case it's that same word good but meaning “if my father thinks it's good that he should do evil, evil unto you,” meaning I will reveal it. I will tell you if this is the outcome that comes from my father. He says again, “And I will reveal it into your ear and I will send you,” meaning, “I will send you forth and you shall go and go in peace.”

What's peace? The fulfillment of God's will, meaning my father's desires are not going to be fulfilled, but you will go and it says here, “It will come about that the Lord will be with you just as He was with my father.” Now, this is an important point because Jonathan is confessing something. He knows that previously the Lord was with his father, but because of his father's disobedience, because he would not do what God had commanded him to do, he did not kill that evil king from the Amalek, he let him live, and we're going to see later on that this had some disastrous consequences for the Jewish people.

God's faithful. He delivered them at this time, He delivered them later on, but nevertheless, we see that Shaul's disobedience had some serious implications in the generations to follow. Look if you would to the end of that 13th verse. He says, “You shall go for peace and it will come about the Lord was with you as He was,” just as he says, “just as He was with my father,” but again, the implication is He is no longer with my father.

Look now to verse 14. He says, “And not if I am still alive,” and he goes on to say, “will I not do with you,” and he says “chesed” that is grace. “Will I not be with you when I'm still alive gracious? The grace of the Lord I will give.” And he says, through this grace and here's a perfect example of something. Through this grace of God, we learn something. This word grace is connected to the will of God.

So when we receive God's grace and that's what the Gospel provides us, that grace is going to work in our life in order that we are moved into the will of God so that we can do the will of God. So David here and Yonatan is affirming this, David wants Yonatan to be gracious unto him. Why? What is he desiring? He's desiring one thing and what is that? That he might experience the will of God in his life. That's what David wants.

He wants to serve God, he wants to be faithful to God, he wants to play a part in God's will being achieved through him. So he says here, “That you or David is speaking and I will not die.” Look now to verse 15. He says, “But it shall not be cut off your grace from my house forever.” So now we see something. We see this commitment that Yonatan has that this grace is not going to be cut off from my house forever.

And then he goes on to say, “And the Lord will not cut off, the Lord will He not cut off the enemies of David.” Now this is a promise. And this is saying what God's will ultimately is and that is this: that the enemies of David will not God cut them off. And it says here “a man” meaning “no man will be left upon the face of the ground.” So what is this speaking of? Well, we're talking about David, but the implication is this promise and this promise has to do with the son of David.

What does that term mean, son of David? It means the Messiah. That in the end, there's not going to be any enemies of Messiah left. We have this being prophetically taught to us in the life of King David and it's going to be fulfilled completely later on and that's why we have that term in the middle of verse 15 “ad olam” meaning forever. So God is at work. Look now to verse 16. And it says, Yonatan, he did something, he cut.

Now I've made mention before that this word for cutting is always used in regard to establishing a covenant and that's what's happening at this time. Look again at verse 16: “And Yonatan, he cut with the house of David,” and it says that the Lord, that He will seek from the hands of the enemies of David, meaning that He is going to act against those who are against David's household, David's call, David's purpose and ultimately that is referring to a messianic fulfillment.

The enemies of Messiah are not going to triumph, in other words. Look now to verse 17: “And Jonathan again caused David to take an oath,” that is to make a promise, a solemn promise. And it says here, he did so how? “In the love that he loved him for he loved him with his soul.” That's how he loved him. Now again, all of that when we understand the biblical language, something's being taught. What's being taught?

Well, very simply, this love that Jonathan has for David, it is a righteous love. It is a pure love. It is a covenantal love. And what's the purpose of a covenant? Well, we talked about this earlier where we mentioned that the primary purpose of a covenant is to bring purity and to maintain that relationship. And that's why Yonatan caused David again to come into this covenantal relationship with him because it was out of love, a commitment that Yonatan had for his friendship with David and that this is going to produce some good outcome.

Look if you would to verse 18: “And Jonathan said to him,” that is Yonatan is speaking to David, and he says, “Tomorrow is hodesh,” meaning the new month, “and your place will be missed for your place,” meaning where you sit, “will be vacant.” So you're not going to be there. And then he goes, look at verse 19 now, and he says, “And on the third day you shall utterly go down, go down and you shall come to the place where you hid there on the day of the deed.”

Now again, we're going to be getting into a few things that we really don't know based upon the biblical text what is being addressed, what is being alluded to in this passage. It says “beyom hamaseh,” most Bibles will say “in the day of the action,” that deed, that occurrence. It says, “When you set where? When you set near this stone of Hazal.” So again, this is the place where it's mentioned and we don't have any other reference to know what we're talking about here.

But most scholars will say this: this must be a place where God had moved mightily in David's life previously and some will say the stone was set up as a monument, as a testimony to God's faithfulness. And again, what is being said? Well, as always, God is faithful. God can be trusted. You can depend upon God. And at the heart of what's being taught here are these biblical truths. A truth that God is righteous and holy and pure and therefore when we are committed to the things of God and we are living in the character of God and we're walking anointed through the grace of God, then what's going to be the outcome?

Very simply, God's will is going to be done. Let's press on to verse 20 where he says, “And I, three arrows I will shoot to the side as one shoots as a target.” So as I shoot at a target, I'm going to do this. Look now to verse 21: “Behold,” this is something important, “Behold I will send a young one,” meaning an attendant, a young servant, this would be probably someone in the age of 14, 15, 16 years of age that attends to Yonatan.

And he says, “Go and find the arrows. And if I should say to this young one, ‘Behold the arrows are from you,’” meaning are closer to you, “behold, go and take and bring. For,” now if this happens, so they're in the field and what's happening? Well, we find that Yonatan is going to shoot three arrows out. And he says, “If at the end of this I say to this young man that the arrows are closer, go and take them and bring them to me, that is a sign to David that everything is well for him, that there is no harsh words or evil intent from King Shaul to put David to death.”

But there's another possibility. Look if you would to verse 22: “If thus I should say to the young man, ‘Behold the arrows from you are farther,’” meaning that you need to go further, he says, “for the Lord has sent you.” Meaning if that's the case, this is a sign that God is sending you away, that you need to leave, that you need to depart because in reality there is this plot in order to put you to death from my father.

Now, there's no question that Yonatan is sincere. He is operating out of love and he's made this love within a covenantal relationship. He's using biblical things and biblical terms in order to express this commitment, this loyalty, this friendship with David. And it just grieves me and as I said earlier, it disgusts me that people can take this relationship and portray it as something that there's no biblical evidence to support, something that's ungodly, something that is an abomination to the Lord.

So again, what is the scripture telling us? That God is at work, that God has once again and He's always faithful to provide help, that He has raised up Yonatan, a man of God, even though that he is King Shaul's son. We see that once more God is showing His sovereignty by using individuals that from a family standpoint we would think would be more faithful and more loyal to the father, but we see both Yonatan and also the daughter of King Shaul, Michal, who has been given to David, both of these are acting in an obedient way to the will of God, the purposes of God.

Look now to one more verse, verse 23 where it says: “And the matter which we spoke of, I and you, behold, the Lord is between me and between you,” and again, we have that same expression “ad olam” which means forever. Now, that expression we see it here at the end of verse 23 and then we also saw it at another place in the scripture. We saw it being given to us where? Well, we saw it in the middle of verse 15 where it says, “And the Lord will not cut off your grace from my house forever.”

Now, these two terms that are mentioned in verse 15 and also in the end of verse 23 just has a hermeneutical significance. Now, what is hermeneutics? It is a methodology for interpreting the scripture. And because we see that word or phrase “ad olam,” this tells us that this has kingdom implications. And when we talk about kingdom implications, what should come into our mind? Well, the king of that kingdom and of course I'm speaking of Messiah Yeshua.

When we look at this account in 1 Samuel, there are many things that give us a hint that we're not so much speaking about simply what's going on at that time in the life of David and Yonatan and King Shaul and others, but we see that this time has a prophetic significance. God is revealing things in order to give us some insight and wisdom and understanding of what He's going to do in the future. Now, I say all this for one primary reason and that is to show us that God is at work.

He's at work nearly 3,000 years ago when this was happening and guess what? He's also the same God, the God of Israel is also at work today. And what is He doing? He's working to accomplish His purposes, His plans, and His will. And He is moving things in this world. We see much in regard to antisemitism. Why? Well, if you understand the prophets, none of this should surprise you. Why not? Because we know something.

We know biblically that Israel is the key to the establishment of the kingdom of God. Now how do we know that? Well, Messiah taught in Matthew chapter 23 at the end of that chapter, He says this: “How I wanted to gather you up,” who's He speaking of? Israel. “How I wanted to gather you up, but you were not willing.” Now He wanted to gather up the children of Israel, the scripture says, as a mother hen gathers up her chicks. But again, the problem was that the people were not willing.

So what does God say? Well, the Son of God says, “I will not come again until you should say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’” Now literally, it is the one who is blessed and the one who is brought in the name of the Lord. All of this speaks to the purpose of Messiah. What is His purpose? To bless us. To bless us with a kingdom experience. And then He's the one that is made to come, not the one who comes, that would be active.

If you look at this verse, it's in the passive. What does that signify? It signifies that Messiah is always humble, always obedient, always submissive. He does nothing of His own initiative and the Son of Man is an example for us. We need to realize that we don't do things on our own initiative but we should be waiting and listening and responding to what God has said. That is how a servant, let me say it differently, that is how Messiah's disciples behave.

And Yeshua Himself, I'm speaking of Jesus of Nazareth, was a perfect example of this. So when we look at this scripture, we see something. We see that there are examples, there are hints, there are certain terms that appear in this passage that lets us know that it has end-times significance. And what I mean by that is this: in the same way that God is showing Himself faithful to David in all of his circumstances and in the end what do we learn?

Well, that God is going to move mightily in order that none of the enemies of David are alive, are on this earth. Now when is that going to happen? Well, it's not so much going to happen just with David, but it's going to happen with primarily the Son of David. And of course the Son of David is the Messiah. He is the Savior of the world. That's what God wants to do. God is going to move, He is going to act faithfully, He has said in the last days He's going to bring the children of Israel back to the promised land.

That's happening. And we see that the world is all in uproar over that. Why? Because those who belong to this world, they do not want the kingdom of God. But when we look, be encouraged. Don't be second-guessing, don't be doubting because God is at work. He is moving in this world and He is going to establish His promises, He is going to establish His kingdom.

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 Yeshua, that is Jesus, as you walk with Him. Shalom from Israel.