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: We're going to see David's faithfulness in action. That David is led by God to do the right thing and how much that is in contrast to Shaul, the current king of Israel, even though God has turned away from Shaul. Take out your Bible and look with me to First Samuel and chapter 23. First Samuel and chapter 23.

Now, we're going to focus in on a location. This place is in Judah. You'll recall that the prophet Gad told David to depart from Moab and go into Yehuda. Why? Because this is where the promised land is. David should be in the land of Israel if he wants to experience the promises of God, God's faithfulness. So David obeyed God.

Notice something else. Let's begin in verse one, where it says, "And they told David saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting at Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors." What did David do? Well, press on to verse two. "And David inquired of the Lord saying, Shall I go and strike the Philistines, these Philistines? And the Lord said to David, Go and strike the Philistines." Notice something else. God responds with a promise. He says, "And you shall save Keilah."

What we find here is that God is going to use David for the purpose of salvation. Because we find that the Philistines, they are attacking this town, Keilah, and we see there that David is going to go and deliver them. But again, the victory is not through man but through the word of God. Because it's God that is telling David to go and to fight this battle.

Let's move on now to the next verse, verse three. Now, here we're going to focus on David, and not just on David, but also his faithful men. Where it says in verse three, "And the men of David, they said to him, Behold, we are here in Judah, and we are fearful ones. Now, shall we go to Keilah to the front lines of the Philistines?" Now, this term for front lines is really a term that speaks of the battleground where the war was taking place. So they have some hesitancy. They have some fear to do just that.

Notice the response. Look now to verse four. "And again, David even more so inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered him and said, Rise up, go down to Keilah because I am giving the Philistines into your hand." So what David is going to do doesn't come in a vacuum. He is responding to the word of God. What more do we know? Well, notice what God says in this verse. Looking again where David is told by God, "because I am giving the Philistines into your hand."

There's something very important because when we look at this, we see that the word for giving is in the present tense. Let me share with you that when that present tense appears—now, some Christian scholars, they call it the present participle. The term is not important. What's important is that you recognize when that grammatical form is used in the scripture, when it appears in the word of God, it has significance.

It is to tell the reader that this is being emphasized. And that's what's happening here. God is emphasizing that it's He who is going to give this enemy, meaning the Philistines, into the hand of David. Look now to verse five. "And David and his men went" and where did they go? They obeyed God. They went to this place called Keilah, "and he fought against the Philistines." It says, "And they took their cattle and they struck them with a large blow."

This is the word makah and it means basically a death blow. Whenever this word is used in the scripture, more frequently it speaks of someone being put to death or, in this case, many people being put to death. It says here, "and strike them with a great blow and David saved the residents, the inhabitants of this place called Keilah."

Now, verse six. "And it came about when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David in Keilah," and notice what it says, "He went down with an ephod in his hand." Now, he comes from a priestly family and what are we told? He comes to David and he's bringing in his hand an ephod. This is a priestly garment and it has some significance. We see that it shows that this one is coming to David and with that ephod in his hand, it means that he's there to serve.

Isn't that a wonderful thing? That this man is coming and the intent here is that he's pledging allegiance to David. Why? Because he sees a man of God. He sees someone who is responding to the instructions of God. And this is so rare and certainly that tendency does not describe King Shaul. But it does, in contrast to Shaul, it does indeed describe David.

When we look at this passage of scripture, and let's press on, look if you would to verse seven, where it says, "And it was told to Shaul that David came to Keilah and Shaul said, God has delivered him into my hand." Now, notice that Shaul is seeing this differently, is he not? When he finds out that David has entered into this town in Judah, the town by the name of Keilah, what does he think? He thinks God is on his side.

No. We have seen repeatedly in the word of God that God has turned away from Shaul. That God does not recognize him as king any longer. God is making a change, a very significant change, and that is that He's turning away from Shaul and He's going to be working and blessing and empowering and lifting up and edifying David.

That's the change, but Shaul doesn't see that. He misinterprets what's going on because he looks at it from human eyes rather than by hearing the word of God. That's really the difference. David was responsive to God based upon the word of God. What God was instructing David to do and the promise that God was making to David.

Shaul, he's in darkness spiritually. He does not know the truth and he's not going to behave in light of God's word. Look again, verse seven. "It was told to Shaul that David had come to Keilah and Shaul said, God has delivered him into my hand because he has been closed up, coming into the city and this city is known for having doors and bars." Now, these bars are places that secure a gate. It reinforces a gate.

What was Shaul thinking? Again, he was thinking from a human perspective. He was looking at this with the eyes of man and he says, This town has lots of gates and on these gates they have reinforcements and of course in the nighttime and certainly at the time of the war, what would they be doing? Locking everything in for security. So the fact that David went down into this place, Shaul misinterpreted this as God giving him victory over David.

Well, that's not going to happen whatsoever. Let's read on to verse eight where it says, "And Shaul"—and we have an expression. Most Bibles will say call, but what it literally says is that he in an intense way caused to be heard. He didn't call but he caused to be heard and this is all the people there for war. So he was making them hear that it's wartime and to go out to the battle.

What did all the people do? It says here, "to go down to Keilah and do what? To besiege David, meaning surround him, get him into the city and don't let him out. And also not just David but notice what it says and the ones, meaning the men, who were with him." Verse nine. "Now, David knew that concerning him Shaul had devised evil."

We're not told how David knows this. But David knows that Shaul is devising evil against him. What does that mean? This gives the reader a very, very clear indication of how Shaul is thinking. Now, remember we talked about two Hebrew words that you need to learn. It's true also in the Greek language when these same words appear. I'm talking about the word good and the word evil.

They have a significant meaning. Whenever we come across this word good, what should come into our mind? The will of God. Whenever we come across the word evil—and unfortunately, many times translators translate this Hebrew word ra or if it's feminine raah, they translate it in a variety of ways and this is shameful. Why? Because it conceals the meaning of the word.

They translate it as a calamity or something that is bad. Whenever this word appears, it speaks about something which is contrary to the will of God. This is most informative because David realizes something. He realizes that Shaul is devising evil and he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring me the ephod." Here again, there's an emphasis on this.

It is a priestly garment and here's what we need to understand. This priestly garment is associated—and this is very important—with one concept and that is worship. Why? Well, the priest would put on the ephod in order to serve God in the temple and all of that brings into this passage a context of worship. That's what David was committed to.

In any situation, whether things were going good for him or going very difficult for him, David was someone who was passionate about worshipping God in all circumstances. Look at what it says. Move on to verse 10. "And David said unto the Lord, O God of Israel, listen to your servant for Shaul is seeking to come to Keilah in order to destroy the city. Why? On account of me."

Again, David has already had an experience where? In this place called Nob. Now, in Nob what happened? Because David went there, he sought some provisions, primarily food. There was an emphasis on bread. We know that this priest, what priest? This one called Ahimelech, he gave him holy bread. Now, if you read carefully, we talked about this, the showbread.

In one sense, this was only lawful for who? For priests to eat and their family. But we see here that this priest Ahimelech gave this sacred bread to David. Why? Because he saw something. Remember we talked about this expression pikuach nefesh, meaning to save a life, literally to have a concern for someone's well-being.

That should be our nature. Whenever there's an instance of pikuach nefesh, we do whatever it takes in order to save a life. This is what David is talking about here. We find that Shaul came and he was going to put to death all the residents of Keilah. Why? Because of David. This vindictive attitude that Shaul had against David.

Move on, look at verse 11. It talks about Baalei Keilah. Now, this would be the masters, that's literally what it means, the ones who have authority. So we're talking about leaders. It says, "The leaders of Keilah, will they close me in by his hand? And Shaul, the one who goes down just as he has heard your servant. O Lord God of Israel, declare to me please to your servant."

David wants to know what's going to happen. Is in fact these people, the leadership of Keilah, where David's going to save them, are they going to betray David and turn him over to Shaul? This is what he wants to know and he's inquiring of the Lord. Notice the answer that he gets. Look now to the end of verse 11 where it says, "And the Lord says to David, he will go down," meaning Shaul will go down.

Verse 12. "And David says, Will the leaders of Keilah deliver me unto the men and the men that are with Shaul? And what did the Lord say? The Lord said, They will deliver." Meaning they are going to betray. Even though David is risking his life, risking his men's life, but what's happening? Well, what's happening is this: that David is willing to die for righteousness.

He understands something. It's the right thing to do to respond, to not let these people be killed by the Philistines. The Philistines are the enemy of the people of God. Let's move on to verse 13. "And David and his men rose up." Now, how many men were with him? Notice what it says: "about 600 men."

This is important because I would suggest to you—excuse me—I would suggest to you that the number six is a very significant number in the Bible. Why? That number six speaks about the grace of God. That grace reconciles us, that grace works in our life, and that grace will bring us into the will of God. That's why the number six is so important.

Many times I hear people say that it's the number five that relates to grace. But when you look, for example—and let me give you one example of this—the seraphim in the book of Isaiah, they have six wings. We are told that one of the seraphim, they flew over using their wings to the altar where they took a coal from the altar and they touched with it the lips of Isaiah the prophet.

This is when he was being called to serve God. What happened? Well, remember what Isaiah said. He says, I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people with unclean lips. We see that that angel, he took one of those embers, these coals from the altar and he touched the lip of Isaiah and what happened? We find that his iniquity was forgiven.

That comes to us within the context of six because again, the seraphim have six wings. We see six relates to forgiveness, a forgiveness that is only possible by means of the grace of God. Look at this scripture again, verse 13. "And David rose up and his men, approximately 600 men, and they went out from Keilah and they went wherever they could go and it was told to Shaul that David had fled from Keilah."

What happened? Well, notice where we end. It says, "and Shaul ceased to go forth," meaning he ceased the pursuit of David. Why? Because he knew something. He was wrong. I want to share with you a very important biblical principle and it's this. When we are committed to our ways and we are obsessed in accomplishing what we want to accomplish, we're going to be unprepared for the future.

What does that mean? We are not going to have success. We will not see things correctly. We will be deceived and we will not have victory. Over and over we're going to see today and in the weeks to come that Shaul never has victory. God is never with him. God's favor is never upon him. Why? Well, we talked about it. Because King Shaul was not interested in the word of God.

Let me just promise you this: unless you revere this book and unless you become trained in how to understand, meaning the laws of biblical exegesis—and what is that? Well, that is a word that speaks about bringing out the truth from the text. Not superimposing what you think it says, what you want it to say, what you need it to say.

Rather it is allowing the word of God, using the proper methodology, to speak to you according to the truthfulness of God's word. And God is always truthful. We all know the verse that God cannot lie. So let's ask ourselves, are we going to be committed to the things of God?

Are we going to be listening through prayer and through reading the scripture for God to move us, redirect us, and to teach us His ways so that we can walk in—and here's the key—to walk in obedience to Him? Let me just simply say that if you're going to study a passage of scripture, which is the right thing to do, you need to come to it in the proper frame of mind.

What is that? You need to pray and you need to pray sincerely, honestly, and say to God, God, whatever you reveal to me in this text, I am going to obey. Doesn't matter what it is. Doesn't matter how hard it may be. Doesn't matter if I think that I'm not going to be successful, I am going to trust in you.

I'm going to approach the study of God's word with a spirit of obedience, with a spirit of humility and submissiveness, saying, God, whatever you reveal to me, this I will do. If you come to a biblical text with that commitment, I assure you, God is going to speak. God is going to move. God is going to direct you and you will have access to the provisions of God.

We're going to see over and over as we move further and further into this book of First Samuel how God was so faithful to David. Was David a perfect man? No, he was not. No one is perfect. Nevertheless, David loved God. David was moved by the word of God and David was led to pursue the purposes of God.

I can say that differently: David wanted to do God's will. When you come before God with that submissive, humble, and obedient spirit saying, God, I want to serve you, I want to obey your word, you're going to find that God will move mightily in your life. He will bring changes. What type of changes? He will bring godly changes into your life.

Changes that you need and changes that if you're going to accomplish His will, that He's going to have to make in you. He will do so. Why? Because God is an edifying God. What does that mean? That God delights in building up His people, changing us so that we can be more successful in accomplishing His will.

That's how the Holy Spirit works in a person's life. So let's realize that and follow the biblical truth in order that we might display faithfulness, so that we can receive the faithfulness of God in order that we accomplish the will of God. God is always good. God is always true. God will not lie.

For those who love Him and those who are called according to His purposes, God will supply all of our needs. He will move mightily in our life and He will do things for one reason: that He might be glorified. Ask yourself, do you want to be used by God as a vessel that brings Him glory and honor and praise? That's what a true believer desires.

Doesn't matter what's going on in our life, doesn't matter whether we're going through a difficult time or a wonderful time, we want to bring glory to God. We want to walk in His will. We want to do the things that are going to be pleasing to Him and to testify of our faith to others. That's what being a disciple is about.

Now, we are disciples of Yeshua Hamashiach, that is Jesus Christ. What does that mean? We want people to see our faith in action. We want them to behold our behavior and realize that we think differently. We're not like the rest of the world, but we are unique. Why? Because we have a kingdom hope.

We believe in the kingdom of God. Our emphasis is not in this world or the things of this world, but rather we are committed to the wonderful truth of God. We want to be led by His word, we want to be anointed with His spirit, and we want to accomplish His purposes, His plans, and His will so that we are that instrument that brings Him glory, that He is well pleased with. We want to be people that do the things that glorify Him. Well, I'll stop with this until next week. Shalom from Israel.

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 Christ, as you walk with Him. Shalom from Israel.