“David said to all his servants with him in Yerushalayim, ‘Get up! We must flee! Otherwise, none of us will escape from Avshalom. Hurry, and leave; or he will soon overtake us, attack us, and put the city to the sword.”-2 Samuel 15:14
Have you ever found yourself in a terrible situation that just kept getting worse?
Maybe you were working at a company deep in the red and on the verge of bankruptcy.
Or you were in a broken marriage, and you sensed your spouse was gonna ask for a divorce at any moment.
No matter the situation, the writing was on the wall.
It was only a matter of time before things came to a head.
Well, for David, that critical point arrived in verse 14.
Absalom’s rebellion had reached the boiling point.
David couldn’t sit comfortably in his palace any longer
He had to flee Jerusalem.
Interestingly, we’re told he “left ten women who were concubines to care for the palace.”
David wasn’t being cruel or abandoning them.
Harems always went to the next king.
So he knew they’d be safe.
Next, we’re told…
“The king set out with all the people after him, but they waited at the last house for all his servants to pass by him in review; all the K’reti and P’leti and all the Gittim (600 men who had accompanied him from Gat) passed in review before the king.”
The “last house” mentioned was the outer boundary of Jerusalem.
David stopped there as he waited for his servants and the royal court to pass him by.
Why did he do this?
I imagine he was pausing to deeply reflect on the current situation.
He was also probably in a state of disbelief and devastation at how his life had turned out.
Next, notice the “K’reti and P’leti and all the Gittim” mentioned.
We’re provided a little footnote saying they were the “600 men who had accompanied him from Gat.”
These men were David’s bodyguards.
What’s interesting is they were NOT Hebrews.
They were gentile mercenaries who decided to side with David.
What’s also amazing is that the majority of them were Philistines who had joined David when he was an outlaw.
Now, do you remember what the Greek word for “Philistine” is?
It’s “Palestinian.”
That’s right.
This band of Palestinians decided to cast their lot with the God of Israel’s anointed king.
Or another way to put it, they were grafted into the commonwealth of Israel through faith in God’s son.
Remember, all kings of Israel were called sons of God.
This leads to today’s takeaway.
God is no respecter of persons.
Outside of being an Amalekite, it doesn’t matter what your ethnic background is.
If you reject your ancestors’ false gods and trust Israel’s God through His Messiah, you too will be saved.
For instance, recall Rahab.
She was a Canaanite prostitute.
Yet, she wisely betrayed her countrymen to help the Hebrew spies.
The result?
She was grafted so deeply into Israel that her name appears in the Messiah’s genealogy.
The same could be said of Ruth the Moabite.
Once she declared to Naomi that…
“Your God shall be my God,
And your people shall be my people”…
Her eternal fate was changed that very instant.
And she was also grafted into Messiah’s line.
This is a testament to the love and fairness of the God of Israel.
And it’s also a testament to what He can do for you…
If you will just come to Him.
Even if you’re a prostitute…
Or even if you hail from an enemy race.
God wants a relationship with you.
And wishes to save you.
But you have to come to Him on HIS terms…
Not yours.
Ya feel me?
See ya next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Calling for lights, the jailer ran in,
began to tremble and fell down
in front of Sha’ul and Sila.
Then, leading them outside, he said,
‘Men, what must I do to be saved?’
They said, ‘Trust in the Lord Yeshua,
and you will be saved —
you and your household!’
Whereupon they told him and
everyone in his household
the message about the Lord.”
-Acts 16:29-32
“For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish,
but have everlasting life.”
-John 3:16
“The Messiah will suffer and
rise from the dead
on the third day,
and repentance for the
forgiveness of sins will be
preached in his name
to all nations…”
–Luke 24:46-47
“All things have been committed
to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father
except the Son and those to
whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
–Matthew 11:27
“Yeshua said, “I AM the Way —
and the Truth and the Life;
no one comes to the
Father except through me.
Because you have known me,
you will also know my Father;
from now on, you do know him
— in fact, you have seen him.”
John 14:5-7
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