2 Samuel, Chapter 5 - One King. One Nation. | Prophets of Israel Daily

[music] Shalom friends. Welcome back to the Prophets of Israel Daily brought to you by the land of Isisrael Network to the land of Isisrael.com. This is the book of 2 Samuel chapter 5. Shalom Jeremy. Good to see you. It is good to see you. It's good to be seen. [music] Um so, okay, for an entire book, the whole book of Judges, we kept hearing this like this refrain, right? In those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes, right? A nation of tribes. They were fragmented, right? Each one guarding its own corner, its own interests, its own story, um its own what's the word to use today? Uh >> agenda. >> Yeah, they've got their own agenda. That's not the word I was looking for, but you bailed me out. Anyways, everybody's got their own thing. And then came Saul, and his story ended in tragedy on Mount Mount Gilboa. And after that more fracture, years of civil tension, brother against brother, Israel against Judah. And now in little old chapter 5, we arrive at the moment this entire historical arc has been bending towards since the days of the judges and maybe in some ways since the first days of creation itself. The moment Israel finally becomes one. They're unified not just politically but unified in their hearts under the eternal monarchy of King David. It opens like this verse one. Then all the tribes of Israel came to David and said, "Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. We are your bone and your flesh. All the tribes together. For the first time in generations, the nation of Israel is speaking in a single voice. And where does this happen? Not in some random administrative capital somewhere in Hevron. In the holy city of Hebrron, right? Yishi Fleer. He's the spokesman. You got to meet. He talks. He calls it the city of the mamas and the papas. The city of Ara, Yeitzak, and Yakov. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Sarah, Rebecca, Leia, right? Hebron was the first place of land Abraham ever purchased. The city Caleb, right? The original settler of Judea. That's where he demanded as an old man. That's what he requested. That was his wish. This is where David is crowned. Verse three. And they anointed David as king over Israel. and uh and friends, you know, where we're broadcasting from. Living where we live in these Judeian hills, just up the road from Hebrron, reading this is not abstract. I mean, Jeremy, how far is he from? It's not as a drive, but as far as the crow flies, >> it's 15 minutes, >> 15, 20 minutes, right? That's where we're talking about. That's we're right here. And it's so it's not abstract for us. The coronation of the king, the coronation of Messiah begins in the heartland of Judea in the very mountains many people today tell us we have no business living in right here. You know, I I I just want to talk about this for just a minute. The book of Zechariah. Now, we're not in Zakaria yet in the Prophets of Israel Daily. Please God, we will get there. But the prophecy says the tents of Judea will be saved first. I mean, everyone now knows about the 200 plus farms that are in Judea and Samaria that are now pioneering out into the promised land, settling the land, guarding the state land from Arab encroachment and from land theft, going and just making the desert and barren land blossom. And there's no better way of describing the people living there as living in tents, simple homes, mobile homes. The tents of Judah will be saved first. That's exactly how the Arug goat farm started in the mountains here in Judea. It started off in a tent. But Ari, you know what I think is really important for people to pay attention to are the words bone of your bone of flesh of our flesh because they could have said, you know, you're a brilliant general. You're the strongest leader available. Instead, um, you are us. And I think that that right there is the secret to Hebrew Jewish biblical leadership, kingship. And you know what's so amazing about David is that he never asserted his power. He waited for the people to come and crown him as king. He waited for God's timing entirely. And he emerged king from the people. And that way he taught us that the king of Israel, he's never above the people. He is the people. And if you compare that to ancient times to the kings of old in Europe, let's say, I mean, it's not that old. Much like later on in the Bible, there was like the kings and then the peasants, the common folks, the pharaohs in Egypt. They acted like they and they were treated like gods in the way. The Torah is just an absolute revolution in those times. And it's exactly what we're yearning for today. More than anything, it's like a leadership. It's not disconnected from the nation. It's not elevated from the nation. It emerges from Israel. It carries its pain and ultimately it answers to the same God we all answer to. >> Exactly. And and the text pauses to that I I think in in order to tell us something somewhat I think technical but if you if you really consider it it's actually significant verse four Benim sha David was 30 years old when he became king and he reigned for 40 years right he ruled for seven years in Hebron over Judah alone and 33 years in Jerusalem over a united Israel right what starts in Judea ends in Jerusalem anyways but that little detail is in some ways a big part of this story because the next thing David does is the move that changes everything. Verse six, the king and his men went to Jerusalem to the Jebusites who dwelt in the land. Now think about this strategically. David is king of Judah in the south. The northern tribes have just anointed him. If he rules from Hebron, the north feels like an afterthought. If he picks a northern city, Judah feels abandoned. So David does something uh brilliant. I mean clearly divinely guided and inspired, right? He conquers a city that belongs to no tribe. Well, it's sort of in between two tribes. But either way, Yusha, Jerusalem, a neutral capital that can belong to all of Israel at once. That deep in the soul in the heart of Israel does even then belong to Israel. And the Jebusites, they mock him. They're so confident in their fortress walls that they actually taunt King David, which is a bold move. Verse six, you will not come in here. Even the blind and the lame will turn you away. Meaning, you you couldn't take this city if we defended it with our blind and our lame. That's the message they're broadcasting. And doesn't that sound exactly like Jericho, right? The fortress that thought it was invincible, right, before it becomes the gateway through which Israel marches right into the land. Right? Right. So David takes it. To to really see this come to life, by the way, you really need to go to our good friends at the city of David where it all happened. Zev Ornstein, Duron Spielman. You got to we can connect you to them. But anyways, you really see it the way it happened. But but he captures Mitsudion, the stronghold of Zion, and renames it Davided, the city of David. And then comes a verse that tells us everything we need to know really. And it it it it's a phrase that we remember from the book of Joshua. Verse 10. And David grew greater and greater for the Lord God of hosts was with him. That is the secret of David's rise. It wasn't strategy alone. It wasn't military genius alone. It wasn't it wasn't even political skill. Hashem was with him. Just like Yeshua said, "As I was with Moshe, so I will be with you." Now, we see that same divine presence resting upon David. The kingdom is not being built merely by the strength of man, but by the hand of God guiding history forward. >> Yeah. You know, just those words going and becoming greater and greater. It's such an important Hebrew idea. It's not like David has arrived and he lived happily ever after. It's like David kept going. He kept on growing. He kept becoming greater. It's like greatness in Israel. It's never a destination that you arrive at. It's the direction you keep walking. And that's why the kulah, the redemption, it's not something that just happens all at once. It's a process of growing and becoming. And that's true in our personal lives. And it's also true in our national lives as we're watching the nation of Israel flourish into what it needs to be today. >> Yeah. So true. You know, and here's actually what makes David David, right? The very next verses, Kirram, king of Tyres, sends cedars and builds him a palace. success is pouring in and a lesser man would start believing in his own political acumen, his own wisdom and his own strength but not our beloved king David. Verse 12 Israel and David knew that the Lord has had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. Read that again. For the sake of his people Israel. David understood that the crown was never about David. The throne wasn't a prize. It was a responsibility. He didn't say, "Look what I built." He said, "Hashem did this and he did it for the nation, not for me." That's the difference between a king of Israel and a king of the nations. And I really believe that is the humility that is what earned David this eternal dynasty that Hashem blessed him with. And then of course a test because the moment you become a real threat, the world reacts. The moment you start to shine real light, there's going to be that darkness push back. So the Philistines here, David is king over a united Israel. And they come up to destroy him before he gets too strong. And here is where David shows us the I I think the deepest secret of his whole life. Verse 19. And David inquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?" He asks, he doesn't presume. Remember Yeshua and the Gonim. The one time Israel didn't ask Hashem and they got tricked. David never makes that mistake as king of Israel. He's winning. He's anointed. He's got every reason to be confident. And still, he asks first. God says, "Go." And David crushes them at a place called Bal Pratim because he says, "Hashem paratz. Hashem broke through my enemies like a bursting flood." But here's a detail that we shouldn't really let slip by, Jeremy. The Philistines come back a second time. And you think David would just repeat the winning play. Instead, he asks again. And it's good that he did because this time God gives him a completely different answer. Verse 23, you do not go up. circle around behind them and come at them opposite the balsam trees. Right? And then a um I think a very beautiful and almost mysterious instruction. Verse 24, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then move quickly for then the Lord has gone out before you. >> You know, Ari, I really want to talk about this for just a minute. I just love it because the whole theme of the prophets, it's like right now in one image, you know, remember we saw throughout the book of Joshua, there was this spiritual transition, really a spiritual transformation. The nation of Israel moved into the land of Israel and was moving away from this world of miracles to being divinely guided within the natural world. And so now, Hashem has established the house of King David. He doesn't split the sea for King David. David has to go out, take Goliath's sword, and go to war. But at the same time, David has to listen to the whispers and the branches. David has to be aware enough spiritually awake enough to listen to the whisper and hear it and then act upon it. And that is the blueprint for all of our lives. We need to listen to the marching in the tree chops. >> Yeah, I I love that. And we should actually, Jeremy, we should coin that phrase. You know how we coin spice carts from the story of Joseph that he was sold down. You got to be a part of part of the fellowship to know. Um we should coin listen to the marching in the treetops or listen to the whispering in the balsam trees. I don't know. Anyways, um I don't even know. >> Yeah, it is catchy because that's really a big part of the beauty that's playing out here. The same God who told Yahosua that the priest had to step into the Jordan before it split now tells David, "Wait for the sound, then move." Hashem is in a beautiful partnership with David and with us. Hashem goes first into battle, but we still have to march faithfully behind him. Okay, so let's pull it all together, my friends. Okay, let's look at what chapter 5 actually is here. And I think it's the resolution of everything broken in the book of Judges, right? The tribes that couldn't stop fighting, united, the every man for himself is being replaced by we are your bone and your flesh. The city that would become the eternal heart of the Jewish people is finally ours. Right? A king who doesn't grab power, that doesn't fight for control and authority, but receives it humbly for the sake of his people. A leader who never moves without asking God first. And the parallels to our own times in at least in my mind are clear as day. We too are being reathered from splintered fragments around the world. We too have made Jerusalem our capital again after thousands of years and watch the nations of the world howl about it, nash their teeth in anger and rage just like the Jebusites mocking from their walls. Right? We too are the godel, right? that we're going and growing. Still in the middle of the story, still listening for the footsteps in the trees. The the book of Judges asks the question over and over. Can this people become a nation worthy of a king? And in the second book of Samuel, chapter 5, for one shining moment, the answer is yes. The shepherd from Bethlehem becomes the shepherd of all of Israel, anointed in Hebron, reigning from Jerusalem. And you know what I think is perhaps the deepest truth of of all of this is that the throne never really emptied. The covenant David receives here is olam is eternal. Which means that the story isn't behind us. And if the throne is never emptied, then the call never ended. Because the story of David is not just the story of a man who once ruled from Jerusalem. It's the story of the kingdom Hashem is still building step by step, war by war, return by return, right? To in our hearts, this is happening and we see it happening all around us, especially where we're sitting. Our job is to become the kind of people who can recognize it. Who have the eyes to see it. To stop living like the days of the judges, every man doing what's right in his own eyes. And to start living like the people of David, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, united under Hashem, the God of Israel. To ask before we move. To ask before we move. To turn our hearts to Hashem and not just think our politicians and our military people, they know it all. No. To to listen before we charge in. to be to be strong enough to fight but humble enough to know that victory belongs to Hashem and to Hashem alone. And maybe most of all to hear the footsteps in the treetops, right? To sense when Hashem is moving before us and then to have the courage to rise, to march, and to follow. Because the God who is with David is still with Israel. The God who brought David from the fields of Bethlehem to the throne of Jerusalem is still gathering his people home. And the kingdom that began in Hebrron, was established in Jerusalem, and was promised forever, is growing stronger every single day, and being reestablished at this very moment in ways that we could never even imagine. May we be worthy to see it. May we be worthy to hear it. And may we be worthy to take our place in it, my friends. Anyways, if you're walking this journey with us and something is stirring within you, come come deeper. The simplest step is to become a cav a friend. It's $10 a month. You join the family. It's a great beginning. You support everything we're building here as far as like really standing with us and strengthening us and helping to get this message out and and you get access to our archives and weekly fellowship straight from these hills. So come find the tier whatever is right for you. The land of Israel.com my friends will see you tomorrow for chapter 6 with Jeremy when David brings the ark home to Jerusalem. Shalom from the mountains of King David. Oh, [music] heat.