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. That's one word, LoveIsrael.org. Now, here's Baruch with today's lesson.

Dr. Baruch Korman: David is running for his life. You'll recall last week that David did something. Once he heard that the king of Gath by the name of Achish, that he knew that he was the king over the land, what land? The land of Canaan. And we also know that the Philistines dwelt in this same land which means they had been at war against one another for many years.

And it was David that did something. David had killed their hero, the hero of the Philistines, and we're talking about Goliath or Goli-at in Hebrew. And you'll remember that it was Ahimelech the priest that gave to David the sword of Goliath in order to defend himself against King Saul.

Well, in the end, because of David's response, when David heard that the king of Gath knew about this story, what story? How the women were singing Saul has killed his thousand, but David his ten thousands. David when he heard this, the scripture says that he became exceedingly fearful. Why?

He understood that this king knew that David was a threat to the Philistines. That he was anointed king and therefore was seen as an enemy of the Philistines. And therefore, what did David do? Well, you'll recall that David pretended to be insane.

And what else? The scripture says that he let saliva go down upon his beard. And why did he do this? Well, remember what we said. David was exceedingly fearful. And he knew something. In that culture, a man of valor, one of respect would not kill a person who was insane. It just wasn't done in that culture.

You should have mercy and pity on such an individual. And therefore, David pretended to be insane, letting that saliva run down on his beard why? Because he did not want to be put to death. And in the end, we find that King Achish, the king of Gath, did not allow David into his household meaning, he did not provide for him any protection whatsoever.

So, what was David forced to do? Well, that's what we're going to find out in our study today. So, I invite you to take out your Bible and look with me to 1 Samuel and chapter 22. 1 Samuel and chapter 22 where it says: And David went from there meaning, he departed from Gath, this city, and he went elsewhere.

Keep reading. And he escaped to the cave of Adullam. And what happened once he came to that location? The scripture tells us, and his brothers, these would be part of his family, his brothers heard and all the house of his father, and they went down unto him there. So, there was a type of reunion for the family of Jesse, that is David's father, with all of his brothers.

Look now to verse 2. And I want to translate this literally because in many times when we look at a translation, they do games with the word order. So, I want to translate it literally. It says here: And there was gathered unto him meaning, unto David, every man of distress and every man that was to him a debt or who was indebted, and every man who had a bitter soul.

Now, we're talking about those who were in distress, they would be unhappy. Those who were indebted meaning, indebted to King David, and those who had a bitter soul. All of this, even though we're talking about three different groups of people, they all had something in common and what was that? They were not pleased with how their life was going.

They wanted a change. And when we look at the situation, they probably were blaming one individual and who was that? The king. It's the king's empire, he's over everything. So, if things are not good for you, you're probably going to blame the king and that's what has happened.

And notice what it says at the end of our verse, verse 2 where it says, and there was with him and that means, together with him meaning, those who were going to be loyal to King David, there was approximately 400 men. Look now to verse 3. And David went from there and where did he go? He goes to a place called Mizpah Moab.

Now, a Mizpah is a lookout point. It's probably elevated. So, he went to this place that is located in regard to the place called Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, please let my father and mother be with you until that I should know what God that He will do for me. Now, what I see here is faith.

David knew something. What did David know? David knew that he was in a covenantal relationship with the God of Israel. And he also knew that God is faithful. God does not leave us, abandon us. He's not careless with us, but God always demonstrates His love. And His love produces the faithfulness of God in our life, everyone, especially those who are in a new covenant relationship with God through Messiah.

We can have that same faith. We can believe those same things that God will be there for us, that He will supply all of our needs. And when I say all of our needs, what am I talking about? All those things that we need to do God's will. When we are committed to obeying God, serving God, doing His will, being faithful to the purposes of God, we can be assured that God will provide everything that we need in order to accomplish His will.

So, we see here in this passage of scripture that he was waiting to see what God was going to do for him. There was never a doubt in David's mind that God was going to do something for him in this situation. Look now to the next verse, verse 4. And he brought them before the face of the king of Moab.

Now, notice it's singular, that verb, so it's David, David brought them meaning, his father and mother and his brothers meaning, his family. He brought them before the king of Moab and they dwelt with him all the days that David was being in the citadel. Now, maybe your Bible will say the stronghold, but it was a place of safety.

Now, remember David said something. He was going to wait to see what God will do for him. And so frequently, when God moves in a person's situation, He does so by providing prophetic truth. And that's to teach us something. We are very, very dependent upon prophetic truth.

We need to pray for an understanding of the biblical prophets, but also, even today, God can speak and give prophecy through individuals. Now, we need to be careful. Just because God gives someone's prophecy doesn't mean that they are prophets like the biblical prophets.

See, when the biblical prophets spoke, they spoke the word of God. It was very common for them to say, thus saith the Lord, and that was scripture. There was perfect authority to these biblical prophets and what God was conveying to them, teaching them, sharing to them. And it's the word of God.

Today, we need to see that we need to test the words of the prophets. Why? There are many people who call themselves prophets, but they are not. And we need to see that we are living in a time, yes, the Spirit of God is still moving, yes, the Spirit of God is still empowering and providing us all the things that we need to serve God, to carry out His will.

But we are living in a time that yes, the Spirit of God gives prophecy, but we need to verify that prophecy and make sure always that what someone is saying and proclaiming as prophecy is in line with the word of God. That is foundational in order to check or to test or act in discernment in regard to what people are saying. Look now to the next verse and you'll see why I'm talking about this.

Look at verse 5 of chapter 22 it says: And Gad the prophet said to David, do not dwell at the citadel, but rather he says, go and you shall come to the land of Judah. And David went and he came to the forest of Hereth. Now, what does this show? It shows something very important and that is this: that David was faithful to God's prophetic truth.

David, he knew Gad and therefore when he spoke, David was quick to obey what he said. He thought that there would be safety there in the citadel which is the stronghold of the king of Moab. But when God's prophetic word came to him to tell him do not remain there, David was quick to obey. And that's a message for us.

When God reveals something to us, whether it is a prophetic utterance that comes from an individual or it's something that we read in the scripture and we feel led to obey that, and if we're walking in the Spirit and God reveals something, whether it's through His word or through some prophetic utterance, if we're under the authority of God, this is God's word, we're going to be quick to obey.

Let me just simply encourage us: be obedient to the word of God. Notice what it says in the next verse, verse 6. And Saul heard that it was made known that David and his men that were with him, and Saul was dwelling in the hill underneath the tree at Ramah. Now, why was he there?

Well, remember Ramah was tied to the prophet Samuel. Samuel was there with this place in Ramah, that was where he was from. And notice what it says about King Saul, that he was there at Ramah, and his spear in his hand and all of his servants meaning, the servants of King Saul, were standing over him.

Now, that is an expression that they were there at his disposal. That these were men who were supporting King Saul in this conflict. And notice what it says, and they heard, the Benjamites heard also all of you, that the son of Jesse, will he give you fields and vineyards to all of you?

Now, what is Saul speaking of? Well, Saul's intent, he's king, he's wealthy, and therefore he's offering these individuals a bribe. There's no other way to see it. Now, when we look closely at this scripture, let's read it correctly. It says, please hear oh the Benjamites, this is those from the tribe of Benjamin, also all of you.

And then there's a question, will the son of Jesse give fields and vineyards to all of you? Will he set you as a high official over a thousand or a high official over a hundred? And so Saul is bribing the people for their loyalty. What does he want? He's going to tell them immediately. Look at our next verse, verse 8.

For you all have conspired against me. There is no one that reveals in my ear the fact that my son has entered into a covenant with the son of Jesse. And then it's interesting because, and there's no one who is sorry, but it doesn't say that. It says and choleh. Choleh is sick. And what it means is, no one is sick over this.

That there's someone who is against me as Saul sees it, King David. And therefore, we see that he says there's no one who is sick from among you, but rather you're all against me. And no one has revealed, and he says it again, no one has revealed into my ear that my son has risen up with my servant meaning, David against me.

For what purpose? Well, here again, I made mention last week that when we are not committed to God, we will act and behave with a sense of paranoia and this is what he says: to ambush today as this one meaning, as this one intends. So, what is Saul saying? He's saying that my servant, and he's talking about David was his servant, that he has risen up with my son in a conspiracy against me.

They have entered into an agreement, the biblical word covenant. And what it's saying here is that Saul feels that his son and David, they are going to lie in ambush against him to put him to death. And he's saying to people, if you are loyal to me, if you are faithful to my purpose, my objective, my desire, then I will give to each one of you fields meaning, a bribe, and vineyards in order that you have wealth.

And then secondly, you'll also have prestige because I'll set you over a thousand or over a hundred. So, all of this was trying to buy loyalty, in making people important and making people wealthy. Well, keep reading. Notice what it says in verse 9. Now, among those servants who were there loyal to Saul, it says there was one and we've come across his name before, his name is Doeg the Edomite.

Now, this is important because Edom are the descendants of Esau. And Esau is a man that was deceitful, a man who did not want to serve God. You'll recall back in Genesis and Genesis chapter 25 when Esau did something. He sold his birthright, which was forbidden to do. He sold his birthright to his brother Ya-akov or Jacob.

And do you remember what he says at the end? He says two things. Why is this birthright unto me? Why do I have it? And secondly, it says that he despised his birthright. What does that mean? It means that he was not interested in serving God. And we see, if you look for example in the prophecy of Malachi, the first chapter, we see that God came against the people of Edom.

And He says what you're doing I can't allow. And God tore down what they were building up. And what did they do in a spirit of defiance? They said you can tear down God, but we're going to go back and build it up again. When we look at Esau, when we look at his descendants, the Edomites, one thing is being emphasized: they had a spirit of defiance.

They did not want to serve God. And this is what we see for this same man Doeg the Edomite. And it says and he was standing over the servants of Saul meaning, he had a position of authority. Keep reading. And he says, I have seen the son of Jesse come to Nob to Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub. Now, this means my brother is good.

Now, why is that important? Because we see that these two men that are named here, and let's look at them again, we're talking about Ahimelech which means the king is my brother, so it's not someone who is disloyal. And then we have Ahitub which means my brother is good. Now, this is who this priest is under.

What I mean by that is he's of this heritage. He's not a disloyal man, he's not an enemy of King Saul, but he wants to be faithful to God. So Doeg the Edomite, he understands what is going on. Look now to verse 10. And it says, and he inquired for him unto the Lord and not only inquiring, but also provision or equipment.

He gave to him and the sword of Goliath the Philistine he gave to him. Now, all of this is for a reason. We find that Doeg the Edomite wants to sow dissension among these priests to Saul. Why? Doeg is an individual that does not fear God, he's not interested in the things of God.

What does he want to do? He wants to serve his own personal objectives. And that is exactly the type of man that King Saul is as well. So, let's conclude, look now if you would to verse 11. Notice what it says. And the king sent to call Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, the priest. And this man was faithful to God.

This man was serious about being a priest. Now, it's very important that we understand the word Cohen or priest in Hebrew. If you go and you look at this word Cohen, they'll have some definitions of it and what is it? Well, the best understanding of a priest is with the Hebrew word mesharet which is a servant.

So, what is a priest? A priest is a servant of God. One who puts God first and that is the will of God first. And that's what he was doing because he understood, this man Ahimelech the priest, he understood that God had anointed David. That David was the legitimate king over Israel even though King Saul did not want to acknowledge that.

And go on where it says, and this one, the king has sent to call Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, the priest, and all the house of his father's meaning, all the priests which were in Nob and they came all of them to the king. Now, what we see here is that this call for all of these priests to come before King Saul had a purpose behind it. And what was that purpose?

Very simply, the purpose was to intimidate them. What the scripture is sharing in this passage is this: Saul is obsessed with one objective. He sees his greatest opponent, his adversary is David. This is far from the reality of the situation. David wants to be faithful to God. And David understands as many other people do that Saul is not the legitimate king.

That David has been anointed and therefore, what is Saul doing? He is trying to bribe, he is trying to threaten, and he's trying to coerce individuals to be loyal to him and to help him do his objective which is what? Which is to put King David to death. Why? He doesn't fear God, he's not committed or interested in the plans of God, he's only interested in his own personal objectives which is to hold on to being king. Why?

Well, if you'll recall when Saul was being looked for by the people in order that he would be anointed, what was he doing? He was hiding from that. But wow, have things changed and changed quickly. This man who was timid, this man who felt a degree of insecurity about being king now, he's doing everything possible to hold on to that position.

Why? Well, it was all about self. And this brings us to a very important biblical principle. You are either going to serve self or God. You can't serve both. Now, Messiah said it in a different way. You're either serve money, which is for your own interest, or you will serve God.

Now, in that passage in Luke chapter 16 where Messiah says this, he calls money here unrighteous. Why? Because money belongs to this world. We see that righteousness, that concept is associated with the kingdom of God. You say, where's that taught in the Bible? In the book of Matthew and chapter 6 where it says, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, the righteousness of God.

So, if we want to be committed to the kingdom of God, we're going to be committed to righteousness. And who defines what is righteous? Not you, not me, but God does. Righteousness is inherent to the characteristic of God. It's not that God, and I said this not too long ago, it's not that God fulfills this standard of righteousness, no.

If you are a good student of theology, God is righteous, therefore whatever God does is righteous. That's what we need to understand. That God Himself defines what is righteous, what is holy, what is good, what is just. All these things are part of who He is. They originate in His character.

And that's what we need to do. We need to understand the character of God. How do we do that? By understanding the commandments of God and then submitting to God's perfect instructions. Everything that God says, it is good. Everything that God commands, it is to move us away from ourselves and into the will of God so we can serve God and be the people that God wants us to be.

So, what we're finding is this: we're finding in this passage that those who are frustrated with life, they are going to side with King Saul. But those who are committed to the will of God, the purposes of God, the plans of God, they're going to be on David's side and we're going to see more and more this conflict is going to grow and we're going to see that Saul is going to want to persecute and pursue David for the future.

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.