We continue onward with our review of the key events leading up to the book of Kings.
So what happens next is that Absalom hatches a devious plan to take over the throne of his father.
He attempts to win the hearts of the Israelite people through false displays of warmth and kindness.
Absalom travels to Hebron with the support of David’s chief counselor and Bathsheba’s grandfather Achitofel.
There, Absalom’s rebel followers proclaim him king.
David is shocked and flees Jerusalem with his men.
The people weep as David marches barefoot through the countryside with his head covered in a traditional sign of mourning.
During his departure, David runs into an interesting cast of characters.
These will be the same folks he will run into when he returns.
One of the folks he meets is Tziva, the gentile caretaker who managed Mephibosheth’s estate.
Recall that Mephibosheth was Jonathan’s lame son.
Tziva shows up with food and supplies for David.
However, Mephiboshesh is conspicuously absent.
When David asks why Mephibosheth didn’t come, Tziva tells an outright lie and informs David that Mephibosheth stayed behind in the hopes of regaining Saul’s kingdom.
“He thinks today is the day the tribe of Benjamin will get the throne back,” Mephiboshesh informs David.
David, believing Tziva, gives Tziva Mephibosheth’s estate on the spot.
This leads us to today’s takeaway, and is something I spoke about before.
Here’s the thing.
In this interaction between David and Tziva, and then later between David and Mephiboshesh, there are certain prophetic elements I want you to catch here.
It’s this:
Tziva and Mephibosheth’s relationship with King David points to Yeshua’s future relationship with His own people, the Jews, and with the eventual grafting in of the gentile church.
I know what I just said seems like a stretch, but that is absolutely the case.
See, Tziva lied to David about Mephibosheth staying behind in Jerusalem
Tziva told David he never showed up because he was hoping to regain Saul’s kingdom.
However, afterward, when David met Mephiboshesh, the truth came out.
Mephibosheth explained that he wanted to go with David.
But because he was lame and dependent, he told Tziva to saddle a donkey for him.
Tziva never did.
Instead, Tziva went alone, brought supplies to David, and slandered his master Mephiboshesh.
David believed Tziva’s lie.
The result was that the scheming gentile Tziva took control of an estate that was always meant for the Hebrew Mephibosheth.
As we look back over the centuries, we see that Biblical history has unfolded according to this very pattern.
The gospel (the Hebrew estate) was delivered through the Jewish Messiah to Israel.
But then, eventually, the Gentiles took over and dominated.
In other words, they are the equivalent of the gentile servant Tziva, who stole what rightfully belonged to the Hebrew people.
This happened despite Yeshua making it crystal clear that his priority has always been his own people.
“He answered,
‘I was sent only to the
lost sheep of Israel.’“
-Matthew 15:24
The gentile church has lied about the Jews.
They falsely claimed they rejected their messiah.
The gentile church accused the Jews of deicide (those who murdered God) and called them “Christ killers.”
This is equivalent to how the gentile Tziva lied about the Hebrew Mephibosheth and said that he betrayed David.
The truth is, when Yeshua, the son of David, and the anointed king, came to his people, many of his Jewish brethren accepted him as Messiah, but the ruling religious establishment at that time didn’t.
The New Testament testifies to the fact that there were thousands of Jewish believers.
In fact, you know that event the Gentiles call Pentecost?
Well, Pentecost is just the Greek word for the Jewish feast called Shavuot, which means “Weeks.”
On that eventful day when the Holy Spirit came down in power, guess how many Gentiles were in that upper room?
The answer is exactly zero.
So it is complete BS that the Jews rejected Yeshua (even if the ruling religious establishment did).
However, a big shift happened once Paul’s mission to the Gentiles got underway.
Gentiles not only started accepting Yeshua in droves, but these homies began to outnumber the Jews.
In less than a century after Yeshua’s death, the Gentiles had taken over Israel’s spiritual estate.
They had become masters of a Hebrew house that does not belong to them.
By the first half of the 2nd century AD, things got really bad.
The gentile Bishops who controlled the institutional church decided that Jewish believers in Jesus needed to do away with their Jewishness completely.
They needed to stop observing the Biblical feasts and Shabbat and embrace an unkosher gentile lifestyle.
So here’s your takeaway.
Just as Mephibosheth was robbed of what was rightfully his, the Hebrew people were robbed of their spiritual inheritance.
Yeshua came first to Israel, yet over time, Gentiles claimed authority over an estate that was never theirs to take.
Remember, to the Jew first, and then the Gentile.
Gentiles are grafted into the Olive Tree.
They don’t become, nor do they replace the Olive Tree.
Knowing this truth challenges us to honor the Messiah’s original plan and the people He first came to save.
And that’s exactly what this blog is all about.
Ya feel me?
See ya all next time.
As usual, you have provided an excellent message and, for me, a new way of seeing the Gentile takeover of the movement within Jews who accepted Yeshua as the Messiah.
One other factor I believe is also part of the Gentile takeover is that there had been rebellion against Rome (there were three of them, the second one in 73 AD resulting in the destruction of the temple) and so the Gentiles entering into a Jewish lifestyle (which is what they were doing when they accepted Yeshua) were concerned that by putting on a kippah they were painting a target on their backs, decided it would be better to disassociate themselves from the Jews who were pissing-off Rome.
By the end of the First Century there weren’t any more Jews entering into this movement, and the ones who were had died off.
The takeover and mutation to a Christian religion started in 98 AD with Ignatius of Antioch, declaring the Sabbath to be on Sunday. The next century found Tertullian introducing the idea of a Trinity, something Jews would never go for (and still don’t).
By the time of Constantine, what had been a Jewish led movement within Judaism, welcoming Gentiles, had become a Gentile movement creating a totally new religion, which rejected Jews.
Thanks for this nice and tight breakdown of how a purely Jewish messianic movement morphed into an unkosher Gentile movement.
I believe and pray HaShem is going to reverse the order of things in His perfect timing.
As Rabbi Shaul said…
“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.”-Romans 11:25-26