1 Samuel, Chapter 29 - No Way Out | Prophets of Israel Daily

[music] Shalom friends. Welcome back to the Prophets of Israel Daily. This is 1st Samuel [music] chapter 29. My name is Jeremy Gel. I'm here with my Kafa, my study partner, Arya Bramitz. And this series is brought to you by the land of Israel network at the land of Israel.com. Ari, how you feeling today? >> Thank God. I'm doing well. Jeremy, >> can you give us a little bit more what's going on in your life? >> Um, this this the prophets of Israel Daily. We spend so much time on this that I actually love it. Every time I talk, there's not a time I talk to a friend and he doesn't share something. I'm like, exactly. Samuel 1, chapter 15, the second part. Like everything is seen through the prism of this. I love it. >> I'll tell you, when you do it every day, it literally starts to change the paradigm through which you see the world. And so, let's like let's go. Let's go to the next one. Oh, friends, before if you want to do a mitzvah, click like, hit subscribe to the channel, and leave a comment. It's quick. It's easy because the more you engage, the more these words reach the more people and it's literally spreading the Torah from Zion. And so, thank you for that. >> Okay, just one thing, Jeremy, that is a great thing to do and it does help us. I wouldn't say it's a mitzvah. It's not like one of the 613 commandments in the Torah. >> I think spreading is a mitzvah. Spreading the Torah is a mitzvah. >> This is the way that they can do that. >> Okay, fine. Go ahead. >> All right. Let's not call it. We'll call it a good deed. >> Okay. >> It's what they can do to participate. It's to help us on our mission. We work hard on this. They can at least click on the like button. [laughter] >> All right. Go ahead. >> All right. This is it. All right. Let's go. Let's go right to it. David. David. David before he's the king. The last time we saw David um we saw he was about forced across enemy lines, living among the Philistines. Um he's in some ways acting like Samson, living in the Philistines, attacking Israel's enemies on behalf of Israel. He's deceiving King Akish, who now believes that David is his servant forever. And so now is the time where the truth is going to be exposed. The Philistines are gathering for war against Israel. And so now Aisha expects David to march out and fight alongside him against Israel, the same people he's been raiding for so long. And so David has talked himself into arguably one of the worst corners of his life. And this chapter is the story of how God reaches into that corner and pulls him out without David lifting a finger. So let's dive in. This is verse one. And now the Philistines gather all their armies at a Israel encamped by the spring of Israel. And so the two armies are lined up and the Philistine lords are marching forward. And David and his men are marching at the rear with Akish. >> Yeah, Jeremy, I just want to pause here a second where David is physically standing because I I think the text here is using his body in some ways like to show us his soul. He's marching in the rear behind Akish toward his own brothers. And here's what I just keep envisioning. Silence. Right? Think about who David's been up until now. Whenever he's cornered, he inquires of Hashem. He calls for the ephod the you know the the priestly garment that the cohane has and he uses it to ask God what to do and he asks God which way to move and that's always his instinct reach for the audit spot of his life possibly marching towards a war against his own people nothing no aod no question he's just walking and I don't think that silence is panic I I think it's I think it's the opposite You know, there are moments when you've asked every question you know how to ask and you've just run out of moves and the only thing left is to keep putting one foot in front of the other and trust. David can't see the exit. He has no plan at least that we can detect that we know of. But he keeps walking quietly, steadily into the unknown because somewhere underneath he knows that God hasn't let go of him. The silence isn't David abandoning Hashem. It's David trusting Hashem enough to stop asking and just to keep walking. >> Yeah, that's exactly right. I think that David had a lot of thoughts through his mind and he was just walking in trust saying, "Let's see how this thing unfolds and at every moment I'm just going to do what's right." And so, you know, you have to think like what was going on through his mind like maybe he would find a reason to retreat. Maybe he thought that he would turn against the Philistines and attack them from behind once they started battling. And so, you just never know. But David's scheme to find refuge among the Philistines, it's kind of trapped him right now in this impossible situation where something's got to give. And what's remarkable is that his men are so loyal. They don't know what the plan is. They just know that God is with David and it's all going to work out. And so without having to break cover, the enemy itself saves David. Look at verse three. Mah. And then the princes of the Philistines said, "What are these Hebrews doing here?" The Philistine commanders look back and see Hebrews in their ranks and they're just not having any of it. Akish defends David. He says, "This is David. It's the servant of of Saul, the king of Israel. He's been with me for years, and I found no fault in him since the day he defected until now." But the commanders of the police team, they don't trust David for a second. They're not going to allow him to attack his own people and not think that it's somehow going to turn on them. Look at verse four. And the princes of the Philistines were angry with him and said, "Send the man back. Send him back." I mean, how can he reconcile himself to his master better than the heads of our own men? I mean, they accept David has just defected from Saul, but now they're afraid that David is going to turn on them in mid battle and attack them from behind to win Saul's favor back. Yeah. By the way, the irony here is just is is really sharp, right? The Philistine generals are exactly right. And at the same time, they're completely wrong. They warn that David might turn on them in battle to win back his master's favor. And they have no idea how true I believe that they have no idea how true that instinct is. David's heart obviously never left Israel. Not for one day, not for one moment, not for one raid. His loyalty was always pointed home. But they think his master is Saul. They have no clue that David's true master is the God of Israel. The same master standing behind their own mouths right now putting the words of David's rescue onto the lips of his enemies. Right? They're actually uttering, "He doesn't know how am I going to get out of this?" And they're saying the words that are getting him out of it. Right? Listen to what's actually happening here. The sworn enemies of Israel are sort of prophesizing without even knowing it. They think they're being shrewd, but they have no idea that they're reading from a script written by the creator of heaven and earth. Yeah, that script, Ari, that is the whole secret of the chapter. David couldn't refuse to fight or he'd exposed his whole deception. He couldn't fight or he'd be raising a sword against Israel. I mean, that's obviously not an option. And so, really, there was no way out. And so God built the door for him by using their own distrust. And what I love about this story is that David and his men were just quietly walking. They're just walking behind a thousand of Philistine soldiers. They didn't know what was going to happen. They trusted David and David trusted Hashem. And so now look at how Akish breaks the news to David in verse 6. And then Akish called David and said to him, "Surely as the Lord lives, you have been upright, and you're going out, and you're coming in with me, and the army is good in my sight. For to this day I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me. Nevertheless, the lords do not favor you. Therefore, return now and go in peace that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines." So I just want to point out Aisha is speaking now in the name of Hashem as the Lord lives as Hashem lives a Philistine king swears by Hashem by the God of Israel and he tells David he's Yashar he's upright go in peace I mean what the Tanakh is showing us is that David didn't just hide out among the Philistines he was doing holy work there he was setting an example he was living as a keshashem he was living as a sanctific ification of God's name wherever he went. And you can see the impact. I mean, David was a reflection of Hashem's light and it shined on everyone around him, even on the Philistines, the sworn enemy of Israel. >> Yeah. And listen, Jeremy, to how David answers, because I don't think this is David trapped in a lie. I know many commentators and people talk about that and he has to deal I I think on some level it's the exact opposite. I don't know if you've ever heard this sort of take on it, but you know, he says to Akish, "What have I done? What have you found in your servant that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king? Now he hears precisely what he wants to hear that David is begging to march out against Israel with him his lord the king. But look at the words David actually chose. He never said against Israel. He never said you aish are my lord the king. He says the enemies of my lord the king. And who is David's lord the king? not Aish, not Shaul. David's king is Hashem. And the enemies of the king of Israel are the very Philistines that David is standing among. Right? And here's what I want to speculate. This is my own thing. Okay? Because if David's true Lord is the king of Israel, which obviously we know is right, then maybe these words aren't only a clever double meaning. Maybe David really means them quite literally. Maybe he's saying, "Yes, send me out to fight the enemies of my Lord." and the enemies of my lord are standing right here in this very camp. Maybe David is angling to march out, wait for the battle to begin and turn on the Philistines from within. Not to win back Saul's favor, but to strike for Israel from behind enemy lines. It just seems that at least the words leave that door of possibility open that that really was his intent. >> Yeah. I mean, so the way that I understand that is that either David was just keeping his cover until the very end. He's just sticking to his character and showing his total loyalty, begging to go out to war with Akish. And I think that the other option is that David actually wanted to go out to war and attack the Philistines from behind and save Israel. I mean, not to win favor with Saul, but to just to defend Israel. But either way, Hashem spares him and saves him from that tricky situation. So, providence has it that David is sent away. And the chapter ends with him and his men rising early in the morning to return to Philistine territory while the Philistines go up to Israel to fight the war that will ultimately end Saul's life. And so, David is just removed from the battlefield entirely. And so, what's really good is like he won't be there when Sha falls. He won't have a single drop of Sha's blood on his hands or any Israelite blood on his hands. And that's really critical for his throne because when David becomes king, no one in Israel will ever be able to say, "You help the Philistines kill our king." God didn't just save David's body in this chapter. He guarded David's legacy. I mean, even if David would have attacked the Philistines, he would have been in the battle that took down the king of Israel. And I don't think he would have ever really been able to recover from that. >> Yeah, that's not something that he could recover from. I think even if his reputation could, I don't think he himself could recover from being involved in that war on any level. Nike Kapim, he wanted his hands really to truly be clean, you know. And Jeremy, you just said that God guarded David's legacy. And I think just maybe even a level deeper than that we should go because I think on some level this chapter is is like inverting the the the whole story here, right? Think about how Saul lost the kingdom. He lost it by acting when he should have waited. Offering the sacrifice he wasn't permitted to bring, sparing Agog when God told him otherwise. Saul's tragedy is a man who couldn't stop his own hands. And now look at how David gains the kingdom in this very chapter. Not by anything he does, but by what he doesn't do. Right? The founding act of the Davidic dynasty is a non-act. Right? David is held back. He held himself back. pulled off the field, kept from lifting his sword. And that restraint is the cornerstone. The house that Messiach, right, the Messiah that we're praying for, will one day, it will come from David. I It isn't built on David's strength here. It's built on God's strength. David thinks he's just scrambling to survive another bad week in the exile, but Hashem is laying a foundation that stretches a thousand years past anything that David can see. Yeah, I totally agree. And this is the prophecy embedded in the chapter for our generation. I mean, we've spoken about that through this series, the transition Israel's living through from the era of Saul to the era of David. And one of the hardest things to swallow for a proud people return to its land is how often modern Israel finds itself entangled with the nations dependent on alliances marching so to speak in formation with the powers whose interest only sometimes align with ours. And it can feel compromising. It can feel like we've lost our independence. We've lost our dignity, our clarity about who we are at all. And chapter 29 is telling us, listen, there are seasons in the unfolding of redemption where it looks like Israel is caught in the wrong camp, entangled with the wrong allies, unable to find just the honorable way out. When Israel wants to stop the but the administration is in talks with Iran, Israel is stuck between a rock and a hard place. They're shooting drones onto Israel. What is Israel going to do? It's in exact those moments that Hashem is working. Sometimes through the suspicions of our enemies. Sometimes it's going to be through the nations attacking us blatantly. It may look messy or even impossible. And David and his men just walk confidently and quietly into the unknown, knowing that God will guide them and that they will find a way. I mean, David doesn't pray his way out of this one. He doesn't fight his way out of this one. He was carried out. carried by providence working through people who hated him. I mean, he just emerged. Nikapim, clean hands, ready for the throne. And when you look at Israel today, it seems like we're tangled up and dependent, marching at someone else's formation. Remember that God is the one who guarded David's hand and he's guarding ours. And he's clearing the way even now for the king who is soon coming. All right, friends. If the prophets of Israel is a blessing in your life, I would love to invite you to please become a sponsor, honor a loved one, a milestone in life, celebrate an occasion, honor a soul, and share in the merit of broadcasting the words of the prophets from the land of Israel to the world. And of course, I want to invite you to join our global [music] community at the land of Israel network. You can find out everything there at the land of Isisrael.com. [music] My friends, we will see you [music] tomorrow for chapter 30.