“Then he swore, ‘May God do the same and more to David’s enemies if I leave alive even one male of everything he owns.'”-1 Samuel 25:22
Here’s something you need to know about most English Bible translations.
They significantly water down many phrases in the Scripture so they appear less crude and vulgar.
But here’s the thing.
The Bible doesn’t mince words and doesn’t have a problem with profanity.
Verse 22 is a perfect example.
The Complete Jewish Bible has cleaned it up substantially when it says “if I leave alive even one male of everything he owns.”
On the other hand, the King James version does a great job of keeping the vulgarity firmly intact in this verse.
Let’s take a look at it.
“So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.”
You read that right folks.
It means exactly what it says.
Most Bible versions to keep things tame will say “males” or “men.”
But the KJV is much more in alignment with the original Hebrew.
Again, David may have been God’s anointed king…
But the picture being painted here is anything but admirable.
The truth is David was both crude and rude AND cultivated and refined.
He was both a gentle shepherd and a ferocious warrior.
It sounds a bit schizophrenic, doesn’t it?
Yet that is also the same strange mixture that existed in the Messiah.
The problem is Christianity focuses too much on Yeshua being a gentle shepherd and ignores the fact he’s also a fierce warrior.
This is probably because it’s hard for folks to think of him as simultaneously possessing conflicting attributes.
The takeaway here is we’ve got to accept the complete picture of how the Scriptures portray the Messiah.
Like David, Yeshua too possessed both rough and refined attributes.
Many folks have correctly pointed out that Yeshua in some situations seems to be a very hardcore Jewish patriot as evidenced in these verses:
“Leaving that place, Yeshua withdrew
to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
A Canaanite woman from that
vicinity came to him, crying out,
‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!
My daughter is demon-possessed
and suffering terribly.’
Yeshua did not answer a word.
So his disciples came to him
and urged him, ‘Send her away,
for she keeps crying out after us.’
He answered, ‘I was sent only to
the lost sheep of Israel.’
The woman came and knelt before him.
‘Lord, help me!’ she said.
He replied, ‘It is not right to take
the children’s bread and toss
it to the dogs.’
‘Yes it is, Lord,’ she said.
‘Even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from their master’s table.’
Then Yeshua said to her,
‘Woman, you have great faith!
Your request is granted.’
And her daughter was
healed at that moment.”
-Matthew 15:21-28
See ya all next time.
First off, maybe the KJV is more accurate in this instance, but when I review the history of how the KJV came to be, I do not trust it’s interpretations, at all! It is called the King James version because it was King James (1st of England and 6th of Scotland) who determined what the Bible would say, despite a bunch of “experts” to help him translate it from the Greek.
One major example is the use of the word “church”, which scholars agree did not exist when Yeshua lived on earth, but Jimmy wanted it there.
OK, enough of my diatribe on the KJV.
As for the duality of Messiah, the Talmud, itself, recognizes this by saying the Messiah will come as the suffering servant of Isaiah (Machiach ben Yosef) and then as the conquering king, Machiach ben David.
It was this duality, I believe, that was one of the major reasons for his rejection by the “power elite”, because the people wanted a Rambo, and they got a Ghandi.
If they had been better schooled in who the Messiah was to be and his purpose, they might have understood that he was there, at first, to provide the pathway to salvation, so that when he came to destroy evil, the people would be on the right side of the fence.
Interesting explanation about the non-existence of the word “church.” Yeah, that word church always rubbed me the wrong way.
Well, for the folks who want the Rambo version of the Messiah, that’s the version that’s gonna be coming back soon.
Be blessed brother