“The cohen said, ‘The sword of Golyat the P’lishti you killed in the Elah Valley, is over there behind the ritual vest, wrapped in a cloth. If you want it, take it; it’s the only one here.’ David said, ‘There’s nothing like it; give it to me.'”-1 Samuel 21:10
Upon his request for a weapon, Ahimelech tells David that Goliath’s sword is wrapped in a “cloth”…
And is behind the “ritual vest”.
Let’s examine the original Hebrew for these words for a second.
The word for cloth is SIMLAH or שִׂמְלָה.
It refers to the everyday clothing worn by your typical poor Israelite of the blue-collar class…
Usually a shepherd, a carpenter, or someone who labored in the fields.
Next, the word for “ritual vest” is one you should be familiar with from our Torah studies.
It is EPHOD or אֵפוֹד.
Recall it was originally a type of apron worn by the High Priest of Israel.
Later its meaning changed to refer to the undergarment that all priests wore.
We’re not exactly sure which one is being referred to here.
Okay, so in terms of a takeaway, I feel the Lord sending me a kind of messianic reference here.
We have David, who is a Messiah of Israel, taking hold of two items…
One representing a humble commoner…
And the other representing the holy priesthood…
These two items are being fused as one in a sense.
This accurately reflects David’s life because he started life as a humble shepherd but God anointed him to become King of all Israel.
Now who else could we say that about?
That’s right!
Yeshua, the Messiah.
See you all next time.
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