“While on his way to the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah, the Spirit of God fell on him too; and he went on, prophesying, until he arrived at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah. He also stripped off his clothes, prophesied in Sh’mu’el’s presence and lay there naked all that day and all that night. Hence it continues to be an expression, ‘Is Sha’ul a prophet, too?'”-1 Samuel 19:24
Let’s talk a little bit about Saul taking off his clothes in the presence of the prophets at Naioth.
This is connected to the time when David did the same thing a few years later in front of the Ark of the Covenant.
So here’s the thing.
Royalty always wore distinctive clothing that set them apart from the commoners.
Whether it was a unique pattern that was sewn into their garments or a majestic, flowing robe…
The attire of royalty represented their supreme authority.
So when the Word of God compelled Saul to remove his clothing, he was forced to remove the symbols of authority he no longer possessed.
A similar thing happened to King David when he took off his clothes in front of the Ark of the Covenant.
He removed his royal clothes and put on a linen ephod which is a garment only reserved for priests.
This action symbolized two things.
First, David acknowledged who the real king of Israel was: God.
Second, a priest is ultimately God’s earthly servant.
So by putting on a priest’s ephod, David was saying there’s no way he could in good conscience present himself as royalty in the presence of the real king of Israel and the universe.
Oh and by the way, David did NOT strip down completely naked as some folks like to think.
The original Hebrew is…
וַיִּפְשַׁ֨ט גַּם־ה֜וּא בְּגָדָ֗יו וַיִּתְנַבֵּ֤א גַם־הוּא֙ לִפְנֵ֣י שְׁמוּאֵ֔ל וַיִּפֹּ֣ל עָרֹ֔ם כָּל־הַיֹּ֥ום הַה֖וּא וְכָל־הַלָּ֑יְלָה עַל־כֵּן֙ יֹֽאמְר֔וּ הֲגַ֥ם שָׁא֖וּל בַּנְּבִיאִֽם׃ פ
So, contextually speaking, the word “naked” is a poor translation here.
For example, the same word is used in this verse:
“For thou hast taken a pledge
from thy brother for nought,
and stripped the naked
of their clothing.”
-Job 22:6
How does it make any sense to take clothing from someone naked if the word means nude?
Do you feel me here?
Instead of “naked”, a better word is “disrobed”.
As I said, David removed his kingly garments as a gesture of humility…and his wife Michal despised him because of it.
Now there was a HUGE difference between what Saul and David did.
Saul was called out for being a fraud and pretending to be something he was not.
But David willingly removed the garments that symbolized his power.
Saul was ashamed and embarrassed when his royal clothing was taken away.
David, on the other hand, took off his royal clothes as a gesture of humility…
He then replaced them with simpler garments that a priest or servant would wear.
This dovetails nicely into the takeaway for today.
Are you still wearing the garments of authority over your life instead of surrendering them to God as you should?
Will you decide to humble yourself as a servant?
Or are you gonna keep holding on to your fleshly garments of pride and power?
And eventually, be put to shame when you’re forced to remove them by the King of the Universe?
That’s the bottom line folks.
Either do as David and Messiah did and willingly submit to the King of the universe by voluntarily taking off your worldly robes of authority…
Or be forced to do so on judgment day.
Finally, notice the divine pattern being established for both the Messiah and the anti-Messiah.
The anti-Messiah will be put to shame and forced to remove his robe of authority.
In contrast, the Messiah humbly removes his robe of authority in submission to God.
I’ll see you all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“And being found in
appearance as a man,
he humbled himself by
becoming obedient to death
— even death on a cross!”
-Phillippians 2:8
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