Today we begin 1st Samuel Chapter 22.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click HERE.
For the King James version, click HERE.
So David left the town of Gath (Philistine territory) and traveled to a place called the Cave of Adullam in Judah.
It was a journey of about 10 miles to the southeast, halfway between Gath and his hometown of Bethlehem.
Adullam (meaning “closed in place) was a stronghold in the Shephelah region, which is a plain near the coast.
Now, here’s the situation.
It wasn’t just David who was in danger from Saul.
It was his entire family as well.
When David’s family heard about David’s whereabouts, they didn’t hesitate for a second and fled to join him.
And not just his family, but 400 others also came.
They weren’t coming to start a fight against Saul.
They came because their lives had been ruined by Saul’s flawed leadership and his oppressive measures.
They needed safety and hoped to find it with David.
So it should be obvious by now that Saul was no different than the harsh Middle Eastern dictators of his era.
All Saul cared about was his authority, wealth, and making sure his family stayed in power.
God’s Torah, which was supposed to benefit the Israelites, had been tossed aside.
Let’s take a look at some interesting Hebrew words that appear here.
We’re told the men who came to David were “people in distress”.
The Hebrew for this is ISH MASOQ or אִישׁ מָסוֹךְ.
And why were they distressed?
They were distressed because of pressure from creditors and debt collectors.
The Hebrew for these oppressive money lenders is NASHA or נשה.
We’re also told the people were bitter in soul or spirit.
The Hebrew for this is MAR NEPHESH or מַר נֶפֶשׁ.
So here we see a prophetic picture of the Messiah taking shape most folks don’t even know exists.
Picture the poor and persecuted commoners who gathered around Yeshua to hear his words of comfort when he delivered his famous Sermon on the Mount.
These common folks were the ISH MASOQ (people in distress) and the MAR NEPHESH (bitter in spirit) of their time.
The takeaway for today is this.
When Yeshua said, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me”…
He wasn’t kidding.
A ton of Messianic foreshadowing is contained in not just the Torah, but also the rest of the Hebrew Bible.
Let’s not overlook these scriptural gems!
See ya all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Now when he went to Natzeret,
where he had been brought up,
on Shabbat he went to the synagogue as usual.
He stood up to read,
and he was given the scroll
of the prophet Yesha‘yahu.
Unrolling the scroll, he found
the place where it was written,
‘The Spirit of Adonai is upon me;
therefore he has anointed me
to announce Good News to the poor;
he has sent me to proclaim
freedom for the imprisoned
and renewed sight for the blind,
to release those who have been crushed,
to proclaim a year of the favor of Adonai.'”
-Luke 4: 14-19
P.S. Moses didn’t write the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel. It doesn’t matter. My point still stands homie. Be aware of the messianic references that are all over the place in the Hebrew Bible. Ya feeling me here?
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