“And please forgive the offense your servant has caused; because Adonai will certainly establish my lord’s dynasty, for my lord fights Adonai’s battles, and nothing bad has been found in you all your life long. Even if someone comes along searching for you and seeking your life, your life will be bound in the bundle of life with Adonai your God. But the lives of your enemies he will fling away as if from the pouch of a slingshot.”-1 Samuel 25:28-29
Following yesterday’s post, let’s review the part where Avigayil promises David that if he tempers his fury and forgives Naval, the Lord will bless him in return.
The Hebrew word for “blessing” is BERACHAH or בְּרָכָה.
The four blessings Avigayil pronounced are as follows:
First, the house of David will rule over Israel forever.
Second, David will have the privilege to continue fighting God’s holy wars, and he will never lose.
Third, God will protect David from his own failures that would’ve destroyed him without divine intervention.
Finally, no person or thing from above or below will be able to capture and destroy David’s soul because his life “will be bound in the bundle of life.”
Okay, let’s stop there for a second.
“Bound in the bundle of life”?
What in the heck does that mean?
Let’s examine that a bit more.
The usual term for “life” in Hebrew is CHAYYIM.
But that’s not the word being used here.
The word being used here is NEPHESH.
Does it ring a bell?
It should.
It’s the word usually used for “soul” or “spirit.”
It refers to one’s life essence.
So we’re being told that David’s life essence (his soul) will be bound up in this “bundle of life.”
But that still doesn’t fully answer our question, does it?
What exactly does “to be bound in the bundle of life” mean?
Well, it turns out it’s an ancient Hebrew idiom.
The original Hebrew is BISROR HA-CHAYYIM.
The word BISROR or בִּצְרוֹר is not common in modern Hebrew.
As used in the phrase BISROR HA-CHAYIM, it refers to being bound or protected in the care of God.
But let’s dig a little deeper.
See, it’s a mistake to think “bundle” means a bag or a package here.
Instead, it means a “document.”
And what was a document in those days?
It was a written scroll.
To be more precise, it was animal skin with words etched onto it.
It was then rolled or bundled up and then tied with a leather string.
So the final product was indeed a bundle.
Are the light bulbs going off in your head now?
A better way to say this is “Document of Life” or “Document of the Living.”
In other words, this “bundle of life” is a heavenly list where God writes the names of people He chooses, keeping their souls safe for eternity.
Hmm…where have we come across this concept before?
Could this not be referring to the “Heavenly Book of Life”?
You know the one referred to in the Book of Revelation?
Golly gee, I believe that just might be the case homies.
Remember, the dead were written in the Book of Life based on “what they had done.”
This fits with Abigail telling David that by forgiving the insult, changing his mind, and not killing anyone, he would be written into the bundle or “Book of Life.”
And that’s your takeaway for today.
The bottom line is that many ideas in the New Testament, like “eternal life” and the “Book of Life”, started in the Hebrew Bible, even if they were not very clear at first.
This means the New Covenant ain’t really new.
It’s a RENEWED covenant based on what God has established before.
Ya feel me?
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“And I saw the dead,
both great and small,
standing in front of the throne.
Books were opened;
and another book was opened,
the Book of Life;
and the dead were judged from
what was written in the books,
according to what they had done”
-Revelation 20:12
Solomon wrote in the Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) that there is nothing new under the sun, and that goes for whatever is in the “New” Covenant, as well.
To begin with, the actual New Covenant is in the Old one- Jeremiah 31:31.
Next, the idea of a Messiah is in the Tanakh (“Jewish” Bible), as well as the Book of Life, and every other, single, solitary thing that Yeshua (Jesus) ever said or taught.
And everything that Shaul (Paul) and the other Apostles ever said or taught comes from the Tanakh, as well.
In fact, the only place where God, himself, tells us exactly what he wants us to do, with regard to worshiping him and treating each other, is in the first 5 books of the Bible, called the Torah.
Everything after the Torah, from the Book of Joshua to the Book of Revelation, is just commentary.
Amen.