“David said to Akhish, ‘If you are now favorably disposed toward me, let me have a place to live in one of the cities in the countryside. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?’”-1 Samuel 26:5
Are you familiar with the old feudal system in Eastern Europe?
It’s an arrangement where one party supplies military assistance to a king and in return, the king provides safe territory to live in.
Well, that’s exactly David’s situation here in chapter 27.
David had become a faithful and favored vassal to the Philistine king Achish.
However, there was just one little problem.
David and his troops lived in the same capital city as the gentile master they were serving.
Why is that a problem you ask?
Well, think about it from King Achish’s perspective man.
You have a foreigner…
And not just your average run-of-the-mill foreigner…
But a prominent Hebrew leader with his loyal army sitting pretty in your backyard.
It couldn’t have looked good for Achish.
And I’m sure both parties were a bit nervous at the current arrangement.
So in verse 5 when David approached Achish and asked for his own territory, King Achish immediately agreed.
The Scripture says “That very day Akhish gave him Ziklag, and that’s why to this day Ziklag belongs to the kings of Y’hudah.”
So this move of David and his men into Ziklag killed two birds with one stone.
It solved the uncomfortable issue of having a bunch of potentially dangerous Hebrews living in Achish’s backyard.
And this solution gave David and his men some breathing room as well.
It couldn’t have been that comfortable for David to live in such a restrained environment.
It would’ve been like a Jew living in a Palestinian neighborhood today.
But you know what also made this move the perfect and logical choice?
Ziklag was originally land that belonged to Judah.
To be more accurate, Moses and Joshua originally assigned Ziklag to the tribe of Simeon.
This just goes to show there was neverending internal tribal warfare even among the Hebrews.
Don’t think that Simeon being dominated by and eventually swallowed up by Judah during Saul’s reign was some mutual cooperative effort.
Hell to the no homies.
It was brought about by violence and warfare.
This is also evidence of the following prophecy Jacob uttered on his deathbed coming true:
“Simeon and Levi are brothers,
related by weapons of violence.
Let me not enter their council,
let my honor not be connected with their people;
for in their anger they killed men,
and at their whim they maimed cattle.
Cursed be their anger, for it has been fierce;
their fury, for it has been cruel.
I will divide them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel.”
-Genesis 49:5-7
True to Jacob’s word, Simeon was indeed divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel.
Once David passed his kingdom over to his son Solomon, Simeon ceased to exist as a tribe any longer.
This goes to show you shall always reap what you sow my friends.
That’s one takeaway you can extract from today’s post.
But there’s another lesson we’d be remiss to overlook.
I can say it in one, well actually two words:
LEBANON BABY!
Ziklag, the city that David and his men moved into, originally belonged to Israel.
I see this as divine providence in action.
God orchestrated events to return land that originally belonged to Israel back to His people.
In due time, the same will happen with Lebanon.
The separation of Lebanon from ancient Israel occurred a long time ago.
It involved a series of conquests involving Phoenician, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, and Ottoman control before it became a distinct nation in the 20th century.
Under the French mandate, Lebanon achieved full independence in 1943.
But it doesn’t matter.
According to Holy Scripture, Lebanon is part of the Promised Land and belongs to Israel.
This means if God lives, in His perfect timing, this territory will be returned to God’s people.
I leave you this verse from the Book of Joshua:
“All the land from the desert and the Lebanon to the great river, the Euphrates River — all the land of the Hittites — and on to the Great Sea in the west will be your territory.”-Joshua 1:4
When Messiah returns, then all this mishigas will be made right, but until then, well…given what the people living in Lebanon have done to it, heck! They can keep it!
As history has shown, when Gentiles occupy land God has reserved only for His Chosen People, disaster ensues and the land is not productive.
But when God’s People live in the Promised Land set aside ONLY FOR THEM, the land flourishes!
That’s how it will be with Lebanon when Israel takes it back…and they will take it back.
Let the Gazians know that they are the occupying state and not vice varsa.
One day Messiah will reign from the river to the sea in the kingdom of shalom. Israel will get back all her territories. Meanwhile she will suffer until she says; “blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai”.
Jerusalem will be the capital city of the while world.
I will be given 10 cities to rule in Kenya (not heaven).
“Let the BABY be given to the first woman. She is the real owner.”
Keep ’em coming Rich.