Love Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom and welcome to Ve’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 Abraham 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. Now here is Baruch with today’s lesson.

Dr. Baruch Korman: We have seen that King David is on the run. He knows that Saul, who is the king of Israel but not the legitimate one because we know that God has rejected Saul and has anointed David to be the legitimate king. But Saul is rebelling against God and he wants to put David to death.

And what does David do? The Bible says that he flees to a specific location. And where is that? One of the Philistine cities known as Gath. Now, Gath is where Goliath is from. And we’re going to see, if you remember our last verse where we completed last week, we saw that David was asking Ahimelech the priest if there was any weapon.

He asked specifically for a spear or a sword because of what the king said. And remember, in actuality, the king never said this. King Saul, that is. David was fabricating this. Why? Remember the principle that we learned last week, called in Hebrew, Pikuach Nefesh. And what that means is this: that in certain times, and they're rare, but when it’s a matter of life and death, we’re able to do something.

We certainly would not want to provide information to someone who is going to lead to another’s death. The fundamental principle of Judaism is that we want to save a life. As Messiah taught, it is proper to do good and not to do evil. And so we don’t want to be connected with anything that is going to bring about something that is against God’s will.

So David is speaking to this priest by the name of Ahimelech and he says to him: because the word of the king, meaning King Saul, was very important, I did not have opportunity to take anything with me. No sword, no weapon of any type, because I had to flee. And now he’s asking Ahimelech the priest if there is any weapon that he has access to.

And what does he say? When we look at the text, it says that there's only one. Look with me, if you would, to 1 Samuel chapter 21 and we’re now ready for verse 9. In the Hebrew text, it’s actually verse 10, but in most English Bibles and other languages, it’s actually verse 9. So let’s begin in that location.

We read: "The priest said, 'The sword of Goliath the Philistine, which you struck in the Valley of Elah...'" Now, this is going to be recounted in a few more minutes. Why? Because we’re going to see that that event of David killing Goliath had a lot of implications. For example, it’s going to be recounted as the means which caused King Saul to feel insecure and to view David as an adversary and want to put him to death.

But more than that, we also learn something else. We learn that this is the event that brought David fame among not only the children of Israel, but also even the Philistines. They heard about this great event. Why? Because Goliath, he was a Philistine. They understood the battle that they had hoped to win to destroy Israel was lost because of this one individual, King David.

So let’s continue on. This priest is saying to David, "Behold, there’s only one sword and that is the sword of Goliath whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah. Behold, here it is." And then he says, "It is wrapped up in a garment behind the ephod." Now, the ephod is a priestly garment. David is speaking to a priest, so none of this should surprise us.

It all makes sense based upon what this priest is saying. Then he goes on, keep reading in the middle of verse 9 where it says, "If it," meaning if this sword, "you will take, take it. For there is none other except it in this place." And David said, "There is none like it. Give it to me." So David has now access to a weapon, the sword that belonged to Goliath.

And we’re going to see that it’s going to be very, very significant based upon what David is going to do not just in this lesson, but in the lessons to come. Let’s press on to the next verse. Look now to verse 10 where it says: "And David got up and he fled on that day." Now, remember that phrase "on that day."

I’ve shared with you this term in Hebrew, "beyom hahu," usually brings into a passage a context of judgment. And notice what it literally says: that he fled on that day from before Saul. Now, the implication is this: what we can expect to happen is simply that this judgment that’s going to come about from God is going to be upon Saul.

Why? Because Saul is not the rightful king. He has been replaced even though Saul is in rebelliousness and does not want to give up his position. He wants to continue as king, but God is not going to allow that. We’re going to see over and over in the weeks to come God’s faithfulness to David.

That David is going to have God’s favor and therefore Saul will not be successful in putting David to death even though that is his objective. He wants to put David to death, but God is not going to allow it. God, who is sovereign, God who is in control. And what is against God’s will, God is not going to allow to take place in the life of David.

Well, let’s move on to verse 11. We see here that the servants of Achish. Now, who is Achish? We’ve learned he is the king of Gath. And his servants said unto him, "Surely this one," and which one are we speaking about? David. In the Hebrew language, when we have this term "this one," it makes it emphatic. What is that to tell us?

It’s to tell us that David is being emphasized in this passage. And the purpose is this: that God is going to do something. That God is going to work in David’s situation to bring about David into the will of God. And this is not something unique for David. The reason why this is being emphasized to us is very simple.

And that is because that’s how God behaves to all who have a call on their life. Let me point out to you that if you have accepted the Gospel, there is indeed a call on your life, that is this: that God wants to use you. He is going to provide for you everything that you need in order to carry out his will, meaning to do his purposes, to be faithful to his objectives.

Realize that God is for you. You enter into a covenant, specifically that new covenant, you can expect God’s favor to be in your life to lead you into his will so that you can do the things that are pleasing to God. Move on where it says in this verse, the servants of Achish said to him, "Surely this one, David, is king of the land."

The land that’s being spoken of here is the land of Canaan. And we see that David, even these Philistines understand that rightfully, David is the king of the land. This is so significant because the king of Israel, Saul, he won't recognize that, but the Philistines are. And they go on to say, "Surely to this one," what one again?

This word "this" is speaking of David. "Surely this one, they answered with dancing, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands.'" Remember, this has to do with David’s victory over the Philistines when he put to death in the Valley of Elah, when he put to death Goliath.

What are we being taught? This repetition of this thing that the women were singing to David, that Saul has killed his thousands but David his ten thousand, what does that point out? David is greater. And that God has a greater purpose for David than he did with King Saul. Why? Well, it wasn't that God was rejecting Saul from the beginning.

That’s not true. What did we learn? God said if Saul would have been faithful, he would establish his kingdom through him and his family. But because Saul was not, what happens? What happens is God is going to replace him. And what was the outcome of God replacing Saul with King David?

Remember that concept that we emphasized: that God was comforted. Why? Whenever we see this word "comfort" in the Bible, and it’s the word "nechamah," that word speaks about a restoration to the will of God. It was not God’s will for Saul to be the king. However, because of the desires of the people, God allowed it.

It wasn't what was best, it wasn't his will, but God allowed it. And whenever God allows something that’s not his will, understand that it’s a teaching moment for us. We’re going to see how our thoughts, our desires, what we want, never work out well. We should always exchange our desires with the will of God. That’s where wisdom is.

Well, move on if you would to verse 12 where it says: "And David set these things into his heart." Now, what does that mean? That David was paying great attention to what was said. And what was said? That same expression that the women sung, and that was, "Saul has killed his thousands, but David his ten thousand."

David knows that there’s significance in this. That this is foreshadowing David’s future. And that’s why the scripture says, look at it again verse 12, "And David set these words into his heart." And notice what it says: "And he feared exceedingly." Now, this is the expression "vayira me’od." "Me’od" means exceedingly.

What does that mean? Well, because of this, David is learning something. Whenever we talk about fearing, what is fearfulness in the Bible? Fearfulness in the Bible has to do with giving God priority. That’s what we’re called to do. Always give God the priorities of your life. When you do, it is going to end well for you.

But when you are in bondage to what you want, what you believe is best, how you see your life going, when we are not willing to exchange our plans for the plans of God, it is going to be disastrous. And that’s what we’re going to learn in the weeks to come. Because King Saul is not willing to change.

He’s in bondage to what he wants, what he thinks is best, and he is committed totally to carrying that out. And what are we going to see in one example after another? How God is going to frustrate Saul. Learn a principle. What is that principle? When a person is committed to what he wants and rejects the will of God, what is going to be the outcome?

King Saul could testify, the outcome is going to be frustration. That is where most believers are, in fact. Many years ago, I was reading a survey and they asked believers—now these were individuals that had a relationship with God, that knew the word of God—and they were asked, "Describe your predominant feeling that you have as a servant or as a follower of the God of Israel or Jesus Christ."

Their answer was frustrated. They feel frustrated. Why do they feel frustrated? Because they were committed to what they wanted, rather than submitting to the priorities of God. As I said, when we are stubborn spiritually, when we are defiant against God and we want what we want rather than the will of God, it is going to produce frustration in our life.

That’s simply a spiritual law. You reject God’s will and you are committed to your will, you are going to be frustrated. And you’re not going to experience the favor of God. And you are going to find yourself in a downward spiral into depression, into anxiety, into being paranoid. And we’re going to see in the weeks to come, this truly describes King Saul.

He became paranoid. He didn’t want to trust anyone. And as we saw a few weeks ago, he was even willing to put his own son, his firstborn son, to death because he understood of this relationship, a godly relationship between Jonathan his firstborn and David. And he was not pleased about it.

Notice what it says: "And David set these words in his heart and he feared exceedingly from before Achish, the king of Gath." Why is that? Well, he knows something. This repetition of that famous statement, "Saul has killed his thousands, but David has ten thousand," this would mean, and Achish understood this, that David was going to be the replacement.

That David was greater than Saul. In other words, what we’re learning is this: that David is a greater threat to the Philistines than Saul is. And therefore, that is why the scripture says, and David was exceedingly afraid. He knew that that statement being repeated in the king’s presence would convey that David was greater and therefore would need to be eliminated.

Look if you would to verse 13. Notice what David did. And what this is, is showing humility. He is not emphasizing himself but he’s humbling himself and we could even say shaming himself. Now, David is doing something and this has a purpose. I made mention to you that in a general sense, we should always speak the truth.

Remember that exception. When it’s a matter of life and death, if we volunteered the truth to someone and spoke it, it would put someone at great risk. Their life would be placed in jeopardy. In those cases, we don’t have to tell the truth. I gave the example last week that if there’s an undercover police officer, for example, he has infiltrated an organized criminal endeavor.

Well, if he’s asked, "Are you a police officer?" he’s going to say no. Now, is that true? Obviously, it’s not true. But if he did, they would take him out and kill him. And therefore he doesn’t want to risk his own life or the others who perhaps brought him into this organization. So it is acceptable in rare times that we do not volunteer information that is going to cause someone else to be put to death.

What did David do? Look at our next verse, verse 13. Now David, as the scripture is going to say, he’s pretending because he’s going to show himself before this king, Achish the king of Gath, that he is crazy. Is David crazy? No, he’s not. Now, why is he doing it? Well, to save his own life.

Remember the context. It says in the middle of verse 12, David paid attention to these things, he put these words into his heart and David became exceedingly fearful before Achish, the king of Gath. That’s how the previous verse ended, verse 12. Now we’re in verse 13. Notice what it says: "And he changed," and we have a very important word, "tam."

Most of the time, that Hebrew word "tam" means taste or flavor. But we also have an expression in Hebrew, "beli tam ve-cheshbon," which means, if we translate it as an idiom, without rhyme or reason. But the word "tam" can be "without thinking." So without thinking or calculating.

When we are supposed to be merciful, the expression "belo tam ve-cheshbon" or "beli tam ve-cheshbon," it means you are gracious, you are forgiving, and you don’t think much about it, nor do you do a calculation doing a lot of thought process. No, you simply forgive. But here, look at verse 13: "And David changed his thought before their eyes and he pretended to be crazy in" — and then it says "beyadam," meaning under their authority.

David was recognizing their authority. What authority are we speaking about? Well, they could have killed him on the spot. David was there. He’s the king over the land. Get rid of him and you have a tremendous victory. But David did what? David changed his thought before their eyes.

He pretended under their authority to be crazy and he scratched upon the doors of the gate. And what else? "And his saliva goes down his beard." All of this was a way of saying that he was crazy. Was he crazy? No, he was pretending this. Why? Well, one of the purposes that the rabbis give for this is to show us in the same way that David said things that were not perfectly honest, but he did it to save his life and to save the life of others.

In the same way, David is behaving in a way which is not accurate — he’s not insane, he hasn't gone crazy — but he’s pretending this. Why? In this case, it’s clear: in order to save his own life. So he did these two things. He scratched on the doors of the gate and he had his saliva go down upon his beard. Look now to the next verse.

"And Achish said to his servants, 'Behold, you see a man that is crazy. Why have you brought him unto me?'" So why have you brought this crazy one unto me? And then he goes on, look at our last verse, verse 15. "Lacking crazy ones am I, that you have brought this one" — and in this passage, David to emphasize, David is always called "this one" — "you have brought this one who has behaved in an insane way unto me? This one will come into my house?"

The implication is no. Now, here’s the important truth. What we’re seeing is this: in that culture, it was not acceptable for one who was insane to be put to death. David knew this. That’s why David is behaving in this way. David knew that if he humbled himself, recognizing their authority over him in this given situation that they had the power to put him to death, if he would have simply been normal and not pretended to be crazy, he would be dead.

David is saving his own life by humbling himself, acting as though he’s insane, having this saliva go down on his beard, scratching the doors of the gate. All of this is in order to teach us why David had not spoken truth earlier and why he was pretending to be crazy now. All of this is for that same reason, Pikuach Nefesh, in order to save a life.

David’s behaving in this way and he’s doing so because he knows something. He knows that God has a future for him. That he has been anointed king and that it’s God’s will for David to become that king, be recognized by all of Israel as the one that God has selected to be king over Israel.

The Philistines have stated as much when it says, "He is the king of the land." What land? The promised land, the land of Canaan. So they understand this. But the question is this: what about the children of Israel? God is going to work in the chapters to come to demonstrate and even when we get into 2 Samuel, he is going to demonstrate that David is God’s choice to be king over Israel.

David is submitting to that. David is humbling himself. He’s pretending to be insane in order that he would not be put to death by the king of Gath. I want to conclude by saying this. When we look at the Philistines, I’ve made mention there’s five primary cities in the land of Canaan that belong to the Philistines.

We’re talking about Gaza, we’re talking about Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and the fifth is Gath. And what we see here is that the Philistines were in control of these locations, but it foreshadows a change. Under David’s authority, under his rule, we’re going to see that the Philistines are going to be defeated. Not by man, but by a man of God.

Who is that man of God? Remember what the scripture says over and over: this one. What one are we talking about? We’re talking about this David, that God has anointed, that God has selected to be the leader and the replacement of Saul. With God, there’s going to be a successful conclusion. But we have to submit, we have to have faith, and we have to walk in obedience.

Guest (Male): Well, we hope you have benefited 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.