“David said to the young man who had told him, ‘Where are you from?’ He answered, ‘I’m the son of a [resident] foreigner, an ‘Amaleki.” David asked him, ‘How is it that you weren’t afraid to raise your hand to destroy Adonai’s anointed?’ David called one of his young men and said, ‘Go over to him, and kill him.’ The man struck him down, and he died. David said to him, ‘Your blood is on your own head. Your own mouth convicted you when you said, ‘I killed Adonai’s ‘anointed.’”-2 Samuel 1:13-16
After hearing of the death of King Saul and Israel’s defeat at the hands of the Philistines, David and his men broke out wailing and began tearing their clothes in grief.
Soon their grief turned to mourning and they started fasting because of the disaster that had fallen upon Israel.
Their worst nightmare had come true.
Most of Israel was now under gentile control.
After several hours passed, David again turned to the young messenger who had brought him such horrible news.
He asked him again:
“Where are you from?”
The boy repeated the answer he had given before:
“I’m the son of a [resident] foreigner, an ‘Amaleki.”
David then asked the boy a question that would prove fatal.
“How is it that you weren’t afraid to raise your hand to destroy Adonai’s anointed?”
One can just sense the rage boiling up within David ready to explode.
Of course, the boy had no answer to this question.
In response to the boy’s silence, David called over one of his soldiers and ordered him killed.
So what’s going on here?
There’s a profound theological takeaway being communicated.
It’s one of those lessons no gentile pastor, preacher, or teacher will get unless he’s well-versed in the Torah.
The key to understanding this situation lies in the boy’s answer when he says:
“I’m the son of a [resident] foreigner, an ‘Amaleki.”
The boy told David he was the son of an Amalekite foreigner living in Israel.
In Hebrew, he said he was an Amalekite ger.
The word GER or גֵּר is the key that unlocks the door to understanding this situation.
It can be translated as “stranger,” “sojourner,” or “foreigner.”
The point is a GER is a person who lives among the Israelites but NOT as an Israelite.
He retains his resident alien status so to speak.
Of course, a ger does have to obey the basic laws of the land of Israel…
But here’s the thing.
He is NOT bound to Israel’s covenants with God.
Read that again because that’s the key to this whole situation.
A ger is not a foreigner who comes to Israel to become a citizen of Israel.
A ger is a stranger who partakes of the benefits of living in Israel without being grafted into Israel.
Ya feel me?
He or she arrives in Israel as a stranger and desires to stay a stranger.
But again, he is still obligated to understand and obey most of Israel’s ways.
Why is understanding this distinction so important?
Because it sheds light on the following passage from the book of Ephesians that’s often misunderstood.
These verses clarify what our relationship with Israel is supposed to be like after we’re born again.
Let’s take a look:
“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at that time you were separate from Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him, we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household…”-Ephesians 2:11-19
So here’s the thing.
This Amalekite was allowed to reside in Israel as a resident alien, but NOT as part of God’s chosen people.
He was NOT grafted in.
Could he have been grafted in and become a citizen of Israel if he wanted to?
Absolutely.
But apparently, he didn’t want to, and neither did his father.
Notice he didn’t identify himself as a Hebrew when asked.
He clearly said, “I’m an Amalakite ger.”
This is something I’ve said before but it bears repeating.
Remember, ALL gentiles are born with the spirit of Amalek.
A gentile’s status from birth is different than a Hebrew.
A gentile is born as an enemy of God and of God’s Kingdom.
The only hope for a gentile is to accept the God of Israel’s mercy through faith in His Son Yeshua.
This is core, foundational theology I’m amazed most gentile churches don’t understand.
Retake a good look at those verses from the book of Ephesians.
It says you were “foreigners”.
But foreigners to what?!
It says you were foreigners to the “covenants of promise.”
The COVENANTS homie!
The COVENANTS!!!
Are you feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeling me here?
And with whom did the Lord make those covenants?
Ever heard of a lil ole country called Israel?
That’s right folks.
In the history of mankind, the only true living God of the entire universe has only made covenants with ONE nation or people group…
And that one nation or people group is Israel and ONLY Israel.
Never, ever forget that.
A ger is OUTSIDE of Israel’s covenants even if permitted to live in Israel as a foreigner.
But here’s the thing.
When a gentile accepts the Hebrew Messiah as his or her Lord and Savior, they are grafted into the covenants that again God has only made with Israel.
The uncircumcised gentile undergoes a circumcision of the heart.
After being born again, he or she now lives and moves INSIDE of Israel’s covenants as a fellow citizen and a member of God’s family.
So let’s get this straight.
BOTH the “Old” Testament and the New Testament make it clear you can’t be a “Christian” or “Follower of Christ” and reject God’s covenants.
Heck, when ya think about it, it doesn’t make any sense now, does it?
Because outside of Israel’s covenants, the word “Messiah” or “Christ” is utterly meaningless.
Let me close with a quick word about Ruth.
Remember she was a Moabite who completely changed her status from being a GER to being fully grafted into the commonwealth of Israel.
She was so grafted in, that the Messiah himself comes from her line!
Check out the genealogy in the first chapter of Matthew if you don’t believe me.
Now the question is WHY was she grafted in?
It’s because she said to Naomi:
“Don’t urge me to leave you
or to turn back from you.
Where you go I will go,
and where you stay I will stay.
Your people will be my people
and your God my God.”
-Ruth 1:16
Notice she didn’t say…
“Your God will be my God,
but your people will NOT
be my people, and I will
NOT go or stay where you
go and stay.”
This is the position of most gentile Christian churches if you think about it.
They want Israel’s God but they don’t care for God’s chosen people or the Torah of Israel.
They don’t respect the REAL holy trinity which is…
God, His People, and His Land.
I’ll leave you with that today.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“He answered,
‘I was sent only to the
lost sheep of Israel.'”
-Matthew 15:24
“If some of the branches
have been broken off,
and you, though a wild olive shoot,
have been grafted in among the others
and now share in the nourishing
sap from the olive root,
do not consider yourself to
be superior to those other branches.
If you do, consider this:
You do not support the root,
but the root supports you.
You will say then,
‘Branches were broken off
so that I could be grafted in.’
Granted. But they were broken
off because of unbelief,
and you stand by faith.
Do not be arrogant, but tremble.
For if God did not spare
the natural branches,
he will not spare you either.”
-Romans 11:17-21
“Salmon the father of Boaz,
whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed,
whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,”
-Matthew 1:5
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