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: Today in the passage of scripture that we're going to study, we are going to witness truly a tragedy. Why? Because of the behavior and actions of King Saul. Now, we have seen that Saul has no regard for the word of God. He is obsessed and committed to one thing and that is what he desires. And what is that? He wants to remain king over Israel. He's not willing to have anything change that desire, that passionate thing that he wants to hold onto in pride and also, and this is the key, in disobedience.

Now, these two things unfortunately are related. And I'm talking about pride and disobedience. What do I mean by that? When you are motivated by pride, you will most certainly disobey God. And not only that, when you are fully committed to your wants, your desires, your plans, your purposes and you set aside the will of God, what can you expect? I can tell you what you are going to expect. You should expect to be manipulated by the enemy.

When we want our will and we're so obsessed with it, we will be easily manipulated by the enemy. And I'm talking about Satan, the devil. And what will happen? We will act in a way that is shameful, a way that is disgraceful, whereby we will not be servants of God, but we will become servants of the enemy and live shamefully. We don't want that. So the only way, and hear that, the only way to avoid being manipulated and used in disgrace by the enemy is to be committed to the will of God.

So let me ask you: Are you passionate and committed to God's will? Or are you in bondage to what you want, what you think is best, how you see things for your life? Don't be deceived by the enemy. Let's begin. Look with me, if you would, to 1 Samuel chapter 22 and we're now ready for verse 12 where it says, "And Saul, this is of course King Saul, Saul said, listen, please, Oh son of Ahitub."

Now, remember that name? We came across it last week. Ahitub. Now, what it means is, my brother is good. Now, whenever we come across this word good in the Bible, what should come into our mind? The answer is the will of God. What is good? God's will. And I want to ask you: Do you really believe that? You should. God knows everything. God is all powerful. And God is everywhere. And therefore what God desires in the end, it will most certainly be. And what does God desire? That which is good. Good for who? For everyone, especially those who are in a covenantal relationship with him. And the best covenant is what Messiah's blood ratified and established, and that is that new covenant.

So look again. Saul said in this passage, "Listen, please, Oh son of Ahitub." And notice the response of this man. Now, the son of Ahitub is the one that we've been talking about for a couple weeks, and that is that one called Ahimelech. What does that mean? The king, Melech is king, Ahimelech, the king is my brother. It expresses a loyalty, a faithfulness. And certainly this man, Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, he was an individual that was loyal to God first and also the Lord's anointed.

In this case, this Lord's anointed was Saul. But not everyone understood that now David was his replacement. That God had turned away from Saul and now David was the rightful king in Israel. And what did he say? Well, look at the end of verse 12 where this one, Ahimelech, says, "Behold, my Lord." Now, this word behold literally is Hineni in Hebrew and it means, here am I, my Lord. That term was normally said by the patriarchs. Now also Moses said it, Isaiah the prophet said it, and it expresses a submissiveness. An emptying of one's own self in order to do the will of God.

So the patriarchs were the primary ones who said Hineni and they were men of faith and they were individuals that were pursuing the promises of God. And we learn another principle. It is only when we are walking in faith, then and only then, can we pursue the promises of God. And the promises of God are the outcome of obedience to the will of God, the plan of God, the purposes of God. So this priest, by the name of Ahimelech, he says, "Hineni, Adoni," meaning, here I am, my master.

Look now to verse 13. "And Saul said unto him, Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, which we call in Hebrew Ben Yishai, by giving to him bread and a sword and inquiring for him with God, to rise up against me?" Now, we have to be accurate here because if you look at this previous chapter, we learn something. Yes, David went to Ahimelech. He asked for bread, he asked for a weapon and the priest did indeed give him bread and also gave to him Goliath's sword.

But never in the biblical text does it say that this priest by the name of Ahimelech, that he inquired for David unto the Lord. That simply did not happen in the biblical text. So Saul is lying. And again, learn another principle. When you are committed to what you want, you are going to do things that are against the commandments of God. Your passion and commitment for your desires are going to cause you to fail God. You will bring disgrace upon yourself and you will do things that are forbidden according to God's word to do. And we're going to see an example of that in a few minutes.

Well, let's press on. Look, if you would, to the next verse, verse 13, where David is accused or literally the priest is being accused of giving to David food, meaning bread, a sword and inquiring with the Lord to rise up against him. And notice how this verse concludes. Look at the end of verse 13 where it says, "La'orev," that is, to wait in ambush as this day. Now, this is not what's going on. Nowhere in the scripture does it say it. Now, King Saul thought it and we read about it last week, but this is not the reality. David has fled. He is not waiting in ambush in order to kill King Saul. This is simply not the case.

Look now to verse 14. "And Ahimelech answered the king and he said, who among all of your servants is faithful like David?" Now, David had a good reputation. He had a good testimony with others. And what's the first thing that the priest said? Ahimelech said David is faithful. And not only that, it says that he is the son-in-law of the king. And notice the next thing. "And he has turned to your obedience." Meaning this: anything that you command him, David has turned to that in obedience. That's literally what the word of God is saying.

And then finally, he concludes the fourth thing by saying, "and is honorable in your house." Meaning of those that live in your house, he is the most honorable because he is faithful, he is obedient, and he is no threat to you. Now, why is he saying this? Oh, because this is not an enemy of Saul that came to him asking for help. It is a servant of King Saul who has proven himself to be obedient, faithful and honorable before the king, King Saul.

Look now to verse 15. "Today did I begin to inquire for him with God?" And notice there's a response. He says, "Khalila li," which means, God forbids me. Meaning he never did that. And he says, "Do not place, the king should not place against his servant," who is he speaking about? Himself. So he says, "The king should not place against his servant a word in all of the house of his father." Meaning, don't blame me and don't blame my father's house. "For your servant did not know any of this." A very important statement.

And then notice how the verse concludes. "Davar katan or katan or gadol," which means, I didn't know even a little about it and I certainly didn't know much about any of this thing that you are accusing me. This is simply not a matter that I am familiar with. Now verse 16. "And the king said," notice, this man is a faithful man of God, Ahimelech. He's a friend of the king, but nevertheless, notice what King Saul says. "You shall certainly die Ahimelech, you and all your father's house."

So we see here that it's not enough just to put this man to death, but he wants to exterminate the entire family of his father, all the relatives of Ahitub. Why? Because Saul is out of control. He is not faithful to anything other than his own sinful desires. We can say that differently. What is he committed to? His plan of rebelliousness. And that's what Saul is doing. He is rebelling against God because he wants to maintain his position as king even though God has turned away from him. And we're going to learn that Saul is not going to be successful in doing this at all.

Look now to our next verse, verse 16, where he says again, "And the king said, you will certainly die Ahimelech, you and all your father's house." Now we're ready for verse 17. "And the king said to the runners." Now, I don't know how it's translated in your Bible, but it's the word ratzim, which means the runners. And who were these individuals? Yes, they were servants of the king and they were the ones that would run into different cities proclaiming what the king has said.

So notice, the king said to the runners, the ones standing over him. And this is an expression we talked about last week, where it means those who are standing ready to serve, their loyal ones. And he says, "Turn to all of these servants. Turn and kill the priests of the Lord for also their hand, meaning the priests, also their hand is with David for they knew that he flees and did not reveal into my ear." But notice the outcome. "But the servants of the king did not want to stretch forth their hand to strike the priests of the Lord."

So these men didn't want to carry out this order to strike and to put to death all the priests of the Lord. Now, again, we're reading this for a reason. Not just that it's scripture, but it is to illustrate something. And what is that? It is to illustrate how far Saul is from the will of God. What is he doing? He is killing innocent men. Now, it is true that Ahimelech gave to David bread, gave to him the sword of Goliath, but the other things, he never inquired for him as he's being accused, and he had no knowledge of any of this matter whatsoever.

Therefore Saul is out of control and he's obsessed and he's paranoid with one thing, again, rebelling against God and holding onto his position as king. And we're going to learn that Saul is not going to be successful in doing this at all. Look now to our next verse, verse 18. Now, remember what we were told. We were told that the servants of the king did not want to carry out this order to strike and put to death all the priests of the Lord. But someone is only too glad to do that. And who is that? Well, look now, if you would, to verse 18.

"The king said to Doeg," and we're talking about this one who is an Edomite. Why is that important? Because in the Bible, God is forever against the Edomites. Why? Well, remember who their patriarch is. It's Esau. And Esau, the brother of Jacob or Jacob. Jacob's name means to pursue the things of God. Meaning to do so in a victorious way. That you understand that victory is in God's will. But Esau, what was he? He hated his birthright. He did not want to serve God. He was not committed to the things of God. In fact, Edom, that people, are a people of defiance. They're not interested in submitting to God.

So we see here, look again at verse 18, "And the king said to Doeg, turn you and strike the priests. And Doeg the Edomite, he turned and he struck against the priests and he killed on that day 85 men who wore the linen ephod." Now, the ephod was a priestly garment. So what it's telling us is that he killed 85 priests of the Lord. Look now to verse 19. "And Nob, the city of the priests," meaning it was a priestly city and in there dwelt primarily priests. And notice what he says. "He struck this city of Nob with the edge of the sword, both man and woman." And not only that, also we have the word olel, which means a small child. Perhaps three, four, five, six years old, but a very small child. And not only those who are of that age, but also it says "ve'ad yonek," which means until and then we have the word for the nursing child. A child who perhaps is just a baby, still are not eating full food, nursing from their mother. And he also put them to death. And notice, he goes on. "Both oxen and donkey and sheep, he killed with the edge of the sword."

Verse 20. Now, we're going to see something and that's this. God always has a remnant. And we're going to see that there's one man from the family of Ahitub, that is from the family of the priest by the name of Ahimelech, that is going to escape. And we're going to find what he does. He is going to go immediately to share what has happened in this city and he's going to share this with David. Look now, if you would, to verse 20 where it says, "And one son of Ahimelech, he escaped and this is the son of Ahitub and his name was Abiathar. So this man Abiathar, he fled after David." Meaning he pursued David to come to him.

And then look at the next verse, verse 21, where it says here, "And Abiathar told to David that Saul killed all the priests of the Lord." And notice David's response to hearing about this tragedy. Look now to verse 22. "And David said to Abiathar, I knew in that day that there was Doeg the Edomite, that he would certainly tell to Saul. And therefore because of that," notice what David says. "And I," and the word here is a word which means accountable or guilty. David feels guilty about all of these priests. And not just the priests, but all of these children, both children who were young and children that were still nursing, being put to death. So he says, "I am the cause of every soul of the house of your father," being put to death.

What does David say to Abiathar? He says, "Stay with me and do not fear for the one who seeks my soul, he will seek your soul as well." But David's going to promise him something. And what is that? This last part of the chapter is very important because we find a very key word. We see the word mishmeret. What is mishmeret? Well, it comes from a word to guard. Now, it says something in this passage. This word guarding, normally we guard what is important, what is valuable, what is precious to us.

And what David is conveying to Abiathar, this one who has escaped from the family of Ahimelech, is this: that God sees you and His people as precious, as valuable. Why? Because these individuals, remember a Cohen, a priest, is a servant of God. And whenever someone is committed to God, putting forth his own desires, setting those aside in order to walk in obedience with God, to do His purposes, His plans, and His will, we can be assured. And this word mishmeret, well, it is a rotation of protection.

The word mishmeret is used in a secular sense today if you're working, for example, at a factory. You have different shifts. So you might have the night shift, the morning shift, and then the afternoon shift. Well, all of this comes within the context of the word that David used for protection. That God is going to guard, that God is going to defend. And we need to remember that. Now, here's the principle that we need to always be mindful of and that is this. If you want God's deliverance, you want His help, you want His protection, then how do you ascertain that? One way. And what is that way?

It is by being committed not to your desires, what you think you have coming to you, but rather being committed to the will of God. When you are a servant of the God of Israel, God will move in your circumstances. He will show himself faithful to whatever occurs around you. Now, if it's your time to die, you may die. But we need to remember what Messiah said to those who were being put to death for their faith in Messiah in the last days. Remember what he says? Not a hair on your head will be harmed. What is that meaning? Well, your hair has no feeling.

And what I believe from that statement is this: Yes, there will be people who are violently put to death. But God will be gracious, God will supply, and God will move in a mighty way to help us overcome. We don't need to worry about our safety. What should we be consumed with? One thing. And that is being faithful to God. Demonstrating ourselves to be committed to His will, His plans, His purposes. When we are, we don't need to give attention to the enemy. Now go back up to this verse. Remember what David said to this individual, Abiathar, where he says, "Stay with me and do not fear." It's a commandment. Why? There is no need to be fearful. Why?

If God is with us, it doesn't matter who is against us. If God is providing the protection, the deliverance, it doesn't matter what happens to this body. Why? Because we believe in a wonderful promise from God. We read about it in the book of John and chapter 11 where Messiah said, "I am the resurrection and the life." What is that teaching us? Well, it's only by means of resurrection can we have life in the proper sense. And what do I mean by that? Kingdom life. Learn this principle: no one is going to enter into the kingdom of God unless by resurrection.

So it doesn't matter how you die. It doesn't matter where you die. But if you die in the Lord, you can be assured that Messiah, His return at the time of the Rapture, what will happen? That those who have died in the Lord, they will be resurrected. And not just resurrected. What else does Paul say? That also we will be changed in a twinkling of an eye. What is that change? We're going to receive a new body. I want to share with you a scripture. It's one of my favorites from the Philippians, from the epistle to the Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6, which says, "And the good work which God has begun in you, he will complete it."

And he's making a promise, the God who cannot lie. And what does he say? He will complete it in the day of Christ. What a comforting thought. Why? Because we should always be ready for the day of Messiah. Not for the day of the Lord. I make you a promise. If you have received that gospel, you will never experience the day of the Lord. Why? The day of the Lord is synonymous with the wrath of God. But for those who are in Messiah, who have received the gospel, we will never, ever, ever experience the wrath of God. Why? When Messiah was crucified, he took all the judgment of God, all the punishment of God, upon himself where the scripture says he became sin for us, this one who knew no sin.

So what can we experience? By means of resurrection in a twinkling of an eye, we will be changed. We will receive that new body, that kingdom body. And those who are still alive, they too in that same twinkling of an eye will be changed where they will inherit that which is incorruptible, that which is immortal, so that we can spend eternity where? In the kingdom of God. For those who are in Messiah, we have a wonderful 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.